With the iPod celebrating it's 5th birthday, here's an interesting article looking at some of the products the competition offered where some failed:
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http://www.forbes.com/home/digitalen...23killers.html
Rio PMP300 (199
Portable music players had been around for nearly two decades before Diamond Multimedia line changed the industry with its Rio line of MP3 players. For $200, owners of the PMP300 got 32 megabytes of storage--enough to tote around 15 songs. The device riled up the music industry, but the Rio never made much a splash with consumers. In 2003, Diamond Multimedia's successor company SonicBlue filed for bankruptcy protection.
Creative Labs Nomad (1999)
Creative beat the iPod to the portable music market by two and a half years--long enough for it to establish patents that forced Apple to write a $100 million check in August 2006. Creative’s first effort, the Nomad, was actually a repackaged Samsung device with 64 megabytes of memory. Its next iteration, the Nomad Jukebox, sold 100,000 units.
Rio Carbon (2004)
In theory, D&M Holdings, which bought the Rio line in 2003, should have been good at producing a top-tier MP3 player, since the Japanese company owns high-end brands Denon and Marantz. But the Rio line of players never really caught on as hoped. D&M sold the line off in 2005, sending the Rio Carbon to the scrap heap.
Sony NW-HD1 (2004)
The company that brought the world the Walkman has been famously unsuccessful at replicating that success with a digital music player. After its flash-based players failed to pick up steam in 2003, Sony introduced its first hard drive units in the summer of 2004. But while the 20-gigabyte NW-HD1 was smaller than the iPod, it had a major flaw--it didn’t actually play MP3 files. Instead, it converted them into a Sony-branded file type using its sluggish and hard-to-use SonicStage software.
Dell Pocket DJ (2004)
Oprah Winfrey can sell books, magazines and just about anything else she highlights on her show. But even an Oprah plug couldn't convince buyers to pick up the Pocket DJ. The final iteration of the boxy, ungainly player held 5 gigabytes of music and sported a low price. But it lacked the features and style of more sophisticated players. A subsequent offering, the flash powered DJ Ditty, played its final tune in August 2006, officially ending Dell's foray into the MP3 market.
iRiver H10 (2005)
When Apple released its popular 4-gigabyte iPod Mini in early 2004, its competitors rushed to market with similar devices. IRiver’s H10, released in April 2005, was the best of the bunch, but it still couldn’t compete. Like many would-be iPods, the H10 offered more features than Apple's lines, such as the ability to record radio broadcasts, but it hasn't been enough to sway U.S. consumers. The South Korean company's devices are still popular in its home market, but the company lost nearly $37 million in 2005.
Creative Zen Vision (2005)
Creative hasn't thrown in the towel yet. One of its most recent attempts to take on Apple is the Zen Vision: M, a video player launched at the end of 2005 to compete directly with Apple’s video-playing iPod released in October 2005. The devices were very similar, and Creative’s version even sported a brighter, more-powerful screen. But as of Sept. 2006, Creative still only maintains a 4.3% share of the MP3 player market.
SanDisk e200 (2006)
SanDisk’s Sansa e200 is the current best retort to Apple’s year-old Nano line. Launched in January 2006, the line continues to garner respectful reviews, especially new versions such as an 8-gigabyte flash model and a unit branded with RealNetworks’ Rhapsody music store. SanDisk has been targeting the low end of the MP3 player market, with some success; it is now the second most popular seller of such devices in the U.S., with a 10% market share, according to NPD Group.
Microsoft Zune (2006)
Microsoft’s “better late than never” strategy has trounced Apple in the past--just look at the companies’ respective shares of the PC market. But an MP3 player is no operating system--it’s a status accessory. And Microsoft will have a hard time convincing consumers it has made a cooler gadget than Apple. When the Zune hits the market in mid-November, it be the first MP3 player to allow limited wireless sharing of songs. That one feature, along with some preloaded songs, is what Microsoft hopes will set its device apart. A new music store and proprietary content protection system give Microsoft a similar business model to Apple’s iTunes.
iPod Killers That Didn't
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