Feature Design or Experience Design?
March 21st, 2006
SanDisk has announced a new MP3 player, which Eric Bone, SanDisk’s director of consumer products marketing, feels can eat into Apple’s core.
SanDisk is already the No. 2 player in the MP3 space.
SanDisk’s Sansa e200 Series
In my opinion, what will keep SanDisk a distant second at best is they are trying to fight Apple on the feature front.
What sells the iPod is not features. Competitors like Rio, Creative Labs, Samsung, Motorolla, and Sony have been rediscovering this annually for years. SanDisk will discover it too.
What sells the iPod is the experience. The combination of iPod/iTunes/iTunes Music Store, plus the fashion statement Apple has made with the products, has created and maintained its dominance.
Owning the latest iPod is a source of pride for people. They take it out and show it to their friends, much like a new parent shows off their infant. Ooohs and aaahs follow. Envy results.
The experience of owning something others really desire is a key component.
We’ll have to see what SanDisk’s strategy is for getting these key experience elements to the surface. Then, and only then, do I think they’ll have a chance of eating anything substantial away from Apple’s solid lead in the personal audio device marketplace.
March 22nd, 2006 at 4:23 am
Very true, and the archetypical thing is that to participate in the iPod experience the masses overlook the absence such a basic music player functions like gapless playback or a decent customisable equaliser. It shows that if you hit the sweet spot somewhere you can forget about a lot of other details.
March 22nd, 2006 at 6:33 pm
I totally agree. Marketing today is all about creating personal image. People buy products because it adds to their identity. I once read in a book(think it is Emotional Design by Don Norman) that women can be very loyal customers if they settled with a specific brand.
iShuffle can be a good example as well. You can find MP3 Players with a similar price range which can offer more functions(such as a nice LCD display and a world where life can be non-random once in a while). Yet, I still bought the iShuffle because of the brand. I am crazy about my powerbook and love iTunes, what’s more perfect than having my gadgets belong to the same family?
March 29th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Let’s just call “Experience Design” what it really is – great marketing. Creative Labs and many other players far surpass Apple in creating better quality, lower-priced players than Apple. But I’ll buy a Creative Lab player that works wonderfully over an iPod any day if it means they put their money into R&D instead of blowing it on marketing hype and gimmicks.
July 7th, 2006 at 5:46 pm
[...] As I suggested back in March when SanDisk announced their intention to do the same thing, any competitor to Apple is going to need something more than a device with better technology. They are going to need a better experience. [...]
July 8th, 2006 at 9:51 pm
Brand doesnt matter for me. A) does it WORK properly ALL the time? B) is it well put together? C) is it LESS EXPENSIVE than its peer products? D) does the manufacturer back the product with upgrades, expandability and easy connectivity? E) am I pigeon-holed into using services and ‘experiences’ that I shouldnt HAVE TO use in order to enjoy the product?
I dont download music and I wont pay a dime for songs I already own and paid dearly for since the mid-1970’s. Yes, mostly vinyl stuff and its in perfect condition. If I cant use my own music then I dont want the product.
Brand means nothing to me. Envy? Thats for the weak. I tend to use my brain before my heart – as a result, 99.99% of the time I make the right choice.