How do you win market share against the most popular selling portable media device on the planet? The answer from ScanDisk is to call the iPod user-base chimps, sheep and donkeys at idon’t.com.Their stance is that you can be part of the thinkless pack and buy an Ipod, or you can be a free thinker and purchase a ScanDisk Sansa e200. None of the features in the e200 are particularly ground breaking (a full review is available at anythingbutipod.com. It appears to be a nice device, but most of what it offers are available today in iriver, Phillips and Creative devices. What is particularly groundbreaking is the marketing tactics employed to get the attention of iPod users. If you don’t have the money to plaster the world with advertising (As Apple does with Ipod) perhaps a little negative guerilla marketing is the next best thing.
So will the tactics work? Only time will tell. While the iPod is a closed architecture (iTunes is the only legit e-store it is compatible with) it is also a damn nice device. Likewise, it works pretty reliably with iTunes without any real learning curve. There is a reason the “sheep” have flocked to it. I have a hunch that folks will start to migrate toward other devices as the full solutions become clearer and easier (Device, Music Store, Client Software). Perhaps Windows Media Player 11 is a step in that direction (Full disclosure: I have been using WMP11 beta with the Urge Music Service and my iRiver for a few weeks now and am pretty impressed. I do not own an Ipod. ). Insulting the clear winner in the market to tout a device that seems fairly equal to its peers may make a few waves, but I don’t think it will yield all that many converts. Winning the market would be much more successful if the sheep weren’t so damn happy being part of the flock.