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< Esato Forum Index > Sony Ericsson / Sony > General > Sony Ericsson’s W880 competitive threat to Apple’s iPod Bookmark topic


you'd probably find your answer here: - Official W880-W888 discussion -
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Posted: 2007-03-07 14:16:35
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I think the main advantage with iPod is the association it has towards mobilemusicplayer. The interface you are using when you play the songs, when you transfer your songs are so easy that my grandmother can make it.

If you compare this part to Walkmanheadsets they offer more functionality which is harder for some user to understand and getting involved in.

I do own a W950i and it has a lot to offer, but I believe there are many "stupid" users out there who will not try to understand what the devices can offer you. Hence they choose several devices to satisfy their needs.

Personally I believe in convergence!
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Posted: 2007-03-07 14:16:50
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So does Apple, hence the iPhone

I can certainly appreciate carrying one gadget instead of three (phone, music, camera). But the point remains, what happens when said gadget is lost, broken, or out for service? Case in point: I shipped off my W810 this past Saturday for a F/W upgrade + region change (something the Update Service won't do). I don't get it back until Friday. That's a whole week without my multifunction device. Luckily, I have an old T637, an old 4th-generation iPod Photo (60 GB), and a 7MP digital camera. But then, what was the point of the W810? (Again, one reason why I'm now looking for an iPod Nano plus non-music phone.)

Anyway, this is all a matter of personal preference, and has little to do with the topic at hand.

Now, back on-topic. As someone stated earlier, the real question is can music-playing phones compete with, even threaten, the iPod? Based on my observations, I would say, not yet. Despite prevalent marketing for mobile music devices and services from our different mobile carriers here in the US, one sees very few such devices, and few of those are even used for music. Most have chosen to carry both a mobile phone + iPod (for some, phone + non-Ipod dedicated music device), so all-in-one convenience is clearly not a strong desire. The iPod has become firmly entrenched, due to its value (look at e.g. Nano prices vs. memory card prices), long battery life, ease of use (great UI, great software, seamless integration of the two), vast accessory market, increasingly good looks, and increasingly smaller size.

So for now, music-playing phones have to compete against the iPod, as well as non-iPod dedicated music devices. Leaving several phone manufacturers to fight over a very small market. With said "aggressive marketing" (which is utterly lacking in the US!), phones can dominate this niche, but only if enough people remember and can connect with the "Walkman" name and logo.

Thus, to answer the question: for now, the W880 is no threat to the iPod. To reiterate, the app isn't as good as the iPod's UI, and D2P is a joke compared to iTunes.

Notice earlier I said, "not yet." The writing is on the wall: humans are lazy and increasingly convenience-oriented, so the tide will turn towards multifunction devices. clearly sees this, hence the line of phones. Apple clearly sees this, hence the iPhone. The iPhone will inherit everything that makes the iPod great, and now adds full mobile phone (dare I say, smartphone) functionality, all in a package far in advance of 99.9% of the phones out there, included.

Once the bugs are worked out and some evolution takes place (mainly, 3G), I may just stand in line for an iPhone myself

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Posted: 2007-03-07 16:26:54
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Yeah, but if your phone break you loose more than just your music. What about the camera, video recorder, video player, radio, PDA functionality (calendar, notes, e-mail, br) etc. ?

With your reasoning one should probably buy a dedicated device for all above mentioned features.

I think most people would find it easier to have a spare phone rather than ten dedicated devices just in case your main phone break.

The only good reasons to buy an iPod at present time is probably its capacity and ease of use. Sound quality wise it may be better as well (have not compared my self), but I doubt the difference is that big one can use it as an argument.

Now I don't think W880 in particular is a greater threat to iPod than any other mobile phone, but I'm certain it can give it a good match. Not because it has the best UI or is the best music device, but because it is a very convenient music devices to carry around considering what it can offer beside its music capabilities.


[ This Message was edited by: Arne Anka on 2007-03-07 15:59 ]
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Posted: 2007-03-07 16:46:57
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Putting my two paisa worth, a W880 or any SE walkman phone for that matter are already competing with the shuffle/nano and definitely scoring above them for sheer convergence of features.

Now there are two points where a walkman phone will lose out against a stand alone music device:

1) The difference in sound quality between a full fledged ipod/zune/zen (have compared and tested all three) is quite obvious but again not enough to warrant carrying an extra device (bulky device) apart from my Walkman phone.

2) Space: I think its a matter of time before the walkman phones match above mentioned devices in space but for someone like me with a 2GB memory card and more than half a day of daily internet usage, rehashing my playlist every third or fourth day is not a big deal.

In conclusion and reply to the post, not yet but all in good time!!
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Posted: 2007-03-08 01:35:51
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Just saw an ad for the w880, it costs 489 euros! For that price you have a top-notch iPod!

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Posted: 2007-03-08 21:08:42
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Which holds 80 GB of music, photos, and videos.

What's the storage capacity of a W880 - or any other phone, for that matter? How much capacity can you add, and by how much does that added capacity increase the price of the phone?

Yeah, I thought so

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Posted: 2007-03-08 22:36:59
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I am sorry for being so vague in my reply, but I have a 2GB memory card. Now even if I had the attention span of a chipmunk, the data on that card would last me atleast 2 to 3 days before I get bored of it. I can simply connect to my PC and sync new data onto it.

I am not denying that additional space is not an advantage but is it so big an advantage that I would need to carry an additional bulky device for that?
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Posted: 2007-03-08 23:23:56
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I dont think this topic is suitable. Just to say a single music phone (w880) will be of threat to the i-pod is nonsense. It would be if music enabled phones will be a competitive threat to the i-pod and i believe it will, just not yet. It by far will take a good amount of years to do so. With a lot of things to take into mind, marketing of such products, ease of use, functionality, quality, means of gettin music on the device, UI etc.

a little off-topic- I personally dont need a 60GB i-pod nor 30GB and by far I love music a lot and i change my playlist each week, which my phone suits that need. It's not like I'm going to listen to 60 GB of music in a whole week. Plus i believe in convergense, I love having an all in one. It keeps me light.

My conclusion is that in time music phones will take a piece of the I-pod's market but it won't kill it (at least any time soon)
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Posted: 2007-03-09 01:18:27
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Yes, if you want quality. For W880´s price u can get a 80gb iPod. People are only talking about music here, they forget that the iPod also plays movies and with 80gb u can have a real video player. The ipod´s screen may have only 2.5´ but its a very bright and high quality screen, on top of that the sixth generation ipods support 640x480 30fps video playback with great sound quality, if you hook it up to a tv (very easy to find a cable for that, there are milions of accessories for the ipod) that´s dvd quality (very very near).
80gb of capacity also improves a lot the music experience cause u dont have to think about which albuns u wanna listen for that day or week, u just put all your songs in it so u can listen to whatever song u feel like listening at the time.
Thats why i think w880 is no threat to apple´s ipod. We should also consider design, hardware and software and ipod wins here too.
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Posted: 2007-03-09 01:21:11
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