Since the iPod became the market leader for portable music players a few years back, no matter what features another company tried putting into their competing players, they barely had any impact on the percentage of iPod sales on the market. So, when HP decided to join the digital music player market early 2004, they decided that rather than develop yet another competing series of players, they figured that the only way to get consumers to purchase their products is if they see 'iPod' written on the box.
As a result, HP managed to make an agreement with Apple early 2004 to become a DRM dealer and start reselling HP branded iPod products. At the moment, HP offers 4GB and 6GB iPod minis, 20GB and 60GB standard iPods and has now introduced the 512MB and 1GB iPod shuffles to its series. HP call both of these the "Apple iPod Shuffle from HP". All six players are identical to the standard Apple iPod versions with the exception of the HP branding and HP's total Care customer support also supporting its own branded iPod series. HP also sells printable Tattoo's for both the iPod and iPod mini.
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(I-Newswire) - The Apple iPod shuffle from HP, the most affordable iPod to date, allows users to experience their music a million different ways. Smaller and lighter than a pack of gum, the Apple iPod shuffle from HP comes with its own lanyard, so it's ready to wear right out of the box.
Users can conveniently charge and transfer music from their PC by plugging the Apple iPod shuffle from HP directly into a USB port. The device also doubles as a portable USB flash drive to back up personal files or exchange them between computers. |
While iPod will not license its DRM technology to anyone else, it is interesting to see that they are happy to allow HP to resell its iPod series. Unfortunately while this means that HP can only sell what iPods Apple has to offer, they do have the advantage of being fully compatible with iTunes' features and its music downloads as well as carrying the iPod badge which many consumers believe is the only name for a handheld digital music player.
In my opinion, the main reason why consumers end up buying an iPod is due to them associating 'iPod' with a player that holds several thousand songs. During the last Christmas season, I remember quite a number of people mentioning to me about getting an iPod as a gift for someone, however when I asked them why did they decide on the iPod instead of another MP3 player, some got confused and asked me 'Ain't an MP3 player and iPod the same thing?" and a few others knew what an iPod was, but never heard of an MP3 player! :p
Source: I-Newswire
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