Filed under: iPod Family
iPod the Kleenex of MP3 players
Xerox.
Kleenex. iPod.What do they all have in common? They are all brand names that have come to define their category, at least that's what this article argues.
Xerox and Kleenex certainly have transcended being a brand, but are people now calling all MP3 players iPods? It seems like the answer is yes, and is that a bad thing? Certainly not for Apple, though other MP3 player manufacturers might not be so keen on it.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Tomm said 12:05PM on 3-31-2006
We (in the UK) still call them photocopiers and tissues. Although we do have "Hoovers". And yeah, iPod is becoming synonymous with MP3 Player over here too. The general public doesn't even know what MP3s are, but everyone knows what an iPod is.
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pedro said 12:06PM on 3-31-2006
Its actually bad for Apple, just like it is bad for Xerox and bad for Kleenex. While it is good to become the item that defines an industry, if you call all MP3 players "iPods" then people will come to associate ANY MP3 player iPods, and Apple loses brand identity and sales.
This is similar to google. They've defined the category, and when you say that you "googled" someone, you likely used the service. However, if "googling" becomes the generic term for searching, then Google loses a significant amount of branding power.
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Daniel David said 12:11PM on 3-31-2006
Can we add Rollerblade to the list?
I absolutely could not stand it when people called every pair of inline skates rollerblades. I have a feeling that I'm going to feel the same way when people start calling every portable media player an iPod.
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Ian said 12:12PM on 3-31-2006
This is just silly. A craptastic Lyra is not an Ipod. No one is going to mistake someone with generic black head phones for being an Ipod owner. Ipods get wows and comments on how cool they are. A wearable Nike MP3 player gets a shrug from the owner as if they are ashamed they didnt shell out the hundreds for the Ipod. Apple and all the Ipod owners of the world will lose out if we start calling all those other MP3 players Ipods. Whats next? Is that grey box under your desk going to be an Imac?
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Billy K said 12:17PM on 3-31-2006
What was Microsoft calling podcasts? Was it "blogcast" or something like that?
And didn't Creative have an um...creative was to explain "Podcast?" It actually stands for "Play On Demand"-cast.
Ha.
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Scott said 12:22PM on 3-31-2006
I can add one more: TiVo. There are cable companies actually marketing their lame DVRs to potential customers by calling them TiVos, when they're NOT. This is false advertising, but the general public really has no idea what a PVR or a DVR is. TiVo, they know.
TiVo has been very successful at selling the idea that "TiVo" means a digital TV recorder (or a verb, to digitally record a TV show). Unfortunately, they haven't been successful selling TiVo boxes, or the superior TiVo service (the TiVo interface runs rings around all the cable companies' stuff).
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crescentdave said 12:36PM on 3-31-2006
School aren't even listening to them, he says. They just stroll with one clipped to their hips so everyone can see it."
If you happen to be in a tragic age group- say, 50 or older, don't give up- advertising has convinced the world, or at least this reviewer, that there's still hope:
"If you have an iPod when you are 50, you are perceived as having more vitality -- that you really are young at heart and hip to popular cultural trends," he says. Of course, everyone who's 50 realizes just how important and essential it is to prove to other people how young at heart they are and how hip to popular cultural trends they are.
That's why I bought Barry Manilow's "The Greatest Songs of the Fifties," Billboard has it at #4 in popular cultures top 200 list. Think of it, #4. I'll be sure and flash it as I walk around- just to let people know how hip to cultural trends I am.
Obviously, the article is absolute fluff, a paen to the iPod. Likening my choice of music player to something I blow my nose in or xerox, a company which USED TO dominate a tech sector, does seem somewhat ironic, though.
Let's take a look at one of the few FACTS the article lists: "More than half of U.S. households have one or more of the different models." Now, we KNOW this isn't true. Or do we? Let's check this 50% plus figure with reality.
"11% of Americans over 18 own an Apple iPod or similar MP3 player and almost one in five of those under the age of 30 have bought a digital music device, a new study has found. The study, carried out by the Washington-based nonprofit Pew Internet & American Life Project, showed 22 million adults in the U.S. own a MP3 player. While younger people had a better chance of owning an iPod or MP3 device, the number dropped to one in seven in the 30-to-39 and 40-to-48 age groups."
Of course, the source cited here is that "terribly biased" The Mac Observer, devoted to all things and for all things Mac: http://www.themacobserver.com/article/2005/02/15.11.shtml
iPod, the new kleenex. iPod, the new Huggies. iPod, the new Toyota. I don't know ... call me old-fashioned, but I liked it when Apple carried the cachet of a BMW or a Mercedes.
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khawk said 12:37PM on 3-31-2006
It can actually be VERY bad for Apple, if the public begins to call any mp3 player and ipod, apple's competitors can say "ipode" is no longer a brand name and Creative can start making "ipods" -- this is why xerox sponsored workshops to have people stop calling a photocopy a xerox.
More info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genericized_trademark
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NetworkShadow said 12:44PM on 3-31-2006
I tend to find it annoying. I've had it happen before when talking to someone about my 5th gen iPod, and they said their kids had iPods. It didn't take me long to realize they were talking about some generic brand with it's small amount of storage and lack of scroll wheel.
I think it does hurt Apple's brand a bit, but then again most people call all cola drinks "Coke" and it's one of the #1 brand names.
At least it didn't happen with Macs and Wintels, in fact quite the opposite to the point where we don't call our Macs PCs anymore.
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freeskihp said 12:57PM on 3-31-2006
BAND-AID
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Jon said 12:58PM on 3-31-2006
I think the popularity of the iPod is directly correlated with it's branding. If you think about it Apple is the only company that gave it's Mp3 player an easily identifiable name. Look at all the rest such as Samsung and their SBH-300, or the iRiver E10. They give their products a product number, not a name. I think that is one thing that induces the public to use 'iPod' inappropriately.
The shortcomings of other companies manufacturing mp3 players is not in their product but in their marketing.
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diego said 1:07PM on 3-31-2006
Lego is another brand losing its identity (it also gains an unfortunate "s" by the less aware).
But to demonstrate the complete devaluing of a brand, try this one on for size: "Escalator".
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Jason said 1:39PM on 3-31-2006
Kleenex and Xerox only suffered when their brand became synonymous with all other products in the category because they were no longer sufficiently differentiated in quality. Brand name refers to whole category + consumer is insensitive to the difference between actual products = death.
iPod is safe as long as the other MP3 players keep totally sucking.
Microsoft's absurd, futile, and defensive attempt to redefine the podcast as the "blogcast" just shows how vulnerable and checked out that company is.
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matthew said 2:10PM on 3-31-2006
And Hoovers and Walkman
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Matty G said 2:53PM on 3-31-2006
Welcome to two years ago. If you work retail, people have been asking for iPods for the past two years, and not having a clue what to get. Another thing is, when your kid asks for an iPod, don't get him this piece of crap MP3 player, get him a damn iPod. Sorry, just had to rant about stupid people you run into working retail.
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jimmie geddes said 3:21PM on 3-31-2006
Add Palm to that list as well
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Virtuous said 3:52PM on 3-31-2006
This is a bad trend for Apple. Eventually Apple could lose its trademark protection for "iPod".
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Bo said 5:06PM on 3-31-2006
it's funny how people with iPods have to address their mp3 player as "iPods". including me. And someone else with a Creative, Sony, Dell, Samsung, etc. address theirs as "MP3".
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timothy said 6:21PM on 3-31-2006
@ Scott #6
Tivo is actively rallying AGAINST the term "Tivo" they threatened lawsuits if it's used as a verb on TV, they do not want brand dillution at all. Brand dillution is very bad. Kleenex can tell you, as can Xerox. Once everything of that type is refered to as the same brand name, there becomes no difference between them in the eyes of the consumer. Any tissue is as good as the next, since they're *all* Kleenex.
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guest said 7:17PM on 3-31-2006
NINTENDO or at least it used to be.
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