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Gadgets SanDisk Confident About Taking Market Share Away from Apple
Brandon Hill (Blog) - March 20, 2006 10:10 AM

30 comment(s) - last by The Omen.. on Mar 26 at 11:49 AM

Sansa e200 Series

Sandisk to push the "more for your money" angle

SanDisk is taking a strategy similar to the one Hyundai is using now to gain traction in the North American market -- add more feature and undercut your more visible rivals in price. SanDisk is already the No. 2 seller of portable audio players behind Apple (a distant second I might add), but it wants an even bigger slice of the pie.

Apple's iPod has long dominated the portable audio scene, but Eric Bone, Sandisk's director of consumer products marketing feels that Sandisk can eat into Apple's core with better products. To do this, Sandisk is pushing the value angle. The company is touting such features as voice recording and an FM tuner to set it apart from the iPod. Not only that, the company also plans to undercut the iPod by at least $20 for a comparable music player.

Bone even goes as far as to say that not many retailers are at all happy with stocking iPods due to their razor slim profit margins. "However, they continue to stock Apple products because they know it's a good leader and that brings traffic. They can sell other add-on products on which they make their margin," said Bone.

I can attest to Bone's comments on retailer recouping their margins on accessories -- I found myself staring at a $39.95 price tag on a USB dock/cradle for my 5G iPod this past Saturday. I quickly put it back on the shelf.

I'm quite sure that Sandisk will have success with its new flash-based C100 and C200 series players, but the company still doesn't have an answer for Apple's 30GB and 60GB 5G iPods.

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There's a market for Westinghouse HDTVs, too

By shuttleboi on 3/21/2006 1:48:01 AM , Rating: 2

Of course Sandisk will do well. There are always idiots trying to live like bigshots on a budget. That's why you have no-name companies like Westinghouse selling HDTVs.

RE: There's a market for Westinghouse HDTVs, too

By Railroader on 3/21/2006 9:42:45 AM , Rating: 2

"No-name company like WEstinghouse"?!?! Are you serious? Ahhh the naivety of youth.

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RE: There's a market for Westinghouse HDTVs, too

By jconan on 3/21/2006 10:20:58 AM , Rating: 3

Westinghouse has been around since the 1900s and even earlier. Its primary business was in electronics but became somewhat a conglomerate. They also host annual science scholarships...

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RE: There's a market for Westinghouse HDTVs, too

By masher2

(blog) on 3/21/2006 11:20:05 AM , Rating: 2

Yep, next we'll have no-name companies like IBM selling computers!

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RE: There's a market for Westinghouse HDTVs, too

By mindless1 on 3/23/2006 11:45:40 PM , Rating: 2

Don't you mean idiot kids trying to fit in and look rich by buying the iPod? Really, I'm amazed that people who are otherwise supposedly tech-savvy, actually like a player that is DE-featured. Incredible, like buying a motherboard that has no USB or PCIe/AGP slot but has a sleek set of colored PCI slots, and a light blue color, LOL.

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iTunes

By Sanctusx2 on 3/20/2006 10:43:58 AM , Rating: 2

They still won't get too far without iTunes. There are plenty of other portable radios, and there's an iPod adapter for a microphone.

I find it funny that he complains about the $40 dock; that's actually one of the items that is probably almost worth that much. This is in sharp contrast to say say the freakin $40 armstrap that I just had to buy. :(

RE: iTunes

By Xenoterranos on 3/20/2006 12:24:43 PM , Rating: 3

"had" to buy...don't you mean "ha-aa-aa-aa-aaad" to buy :)
::sheep::

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RE: iTunes

By PLaYaHaTeD on 3/20/2006 12:47:20 PM , Rating: 1

hilarious :)

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RE: iTunes

By NFS4 on 3/20/2006 3:09:03 PM , Rating: 2

$40 for what amounts to a regular USB sync cable plus a piece of plastic to make your iPod sit upright? At least eBay is a bit more reasonable at ~$8 + inflated $8 S&H

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Did you know

By Mojohk on 3/24/2006 7:56:06 PM , Rating: 2

In China you can get an unbranded 2GB USB flash disk for 6USD. And this thing is half an inch. Similar capacity but larger size from Sandisk is ~85USD.

RE: Did you know

By mindless1 on 3/25/2006 11:30:10 AM , Rating: 2

That seems pretty much impossible unless these are made with defective or illegally (outright stolen?) obtained components, since 2GB of flash chips alone costs more than 6USD in volume.

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RE: Did you know

By The Omen on 3/26/2006 11:49:09 AM , Rating: 2

Currently living in China, I can tell you you're talking out of your ass...

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Brandon has the iPod...

By Tanclearas on 3/20/2006 11:07:40 AM , Rating: 2

The quoting and paragraph placement are a little odd, and at first I also thought that it was Bone that had the iPod and was complaining about the $40 dock.

Anyway, another news day, another company claiming to have an iPod killer. Unless there is a truly better device, with more features, and tons of accessories, AND it's labelled Google, no one will have an iPod killer. Mass market (brainless drones) will continue buying up iPod because it's iPod.

RE: Brandon has the iPod...

By PLaYaHaTeD on 3/20/2006 12:51:40 PM , Rating: 1

who wouldnt buy the ipod if it is only 20 dollars more expensive [paraphrased from the article]. Up until recently, nothing came close to being as aesthetically pleasing, or as functional, or as complete of a solution from hardware to software.

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RE: Brandon has the iPod...

By mindless1 on 3/23/2006 11:40:55 PM , Rating: 2

Anyone with common sense?
Let's see now, what does iPod actually HAVE?
A "look" that is irrelevant once in your pocket to use it.
A battery that will be difficult (costly) to replace.
Now a screen that scratches like crazy. No FM tuner. No voice recorder. Seems like only someone who has no idea about MP3 players would buy the iPOD because they merely recognize the name.

This player from Sandisk is going the wrong way though, they need to get rid of the fancy screen to cut cost and battery use, put the $ into more flash memory. As the news article mentioned, they dont' have anything to counter the HDD based iPod yet but 8-16GB of flash memory is nothing to sneeze at. Oh yeah, there's that part about the HDD breaking inevitably too, while it's almost impossible to destroy the flash unless the entire player was crushed.

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there are better

By NerV04 on 3/20/2006 10:47:05 AM , Rating: 2

if its just a 20 dollar undercut..i dont think it will still persuade most people from the big name ipod..
i personally prefer cowons iaudio line and irivers...cheaper and more features...
also i find it kind of funny that even sandisks director of consumer product marketing has an ipod

RE: there are better

By theapparition on 3/20/2006 11:09:26 AM , Rating: 2

I think its the author of this article who had the complaint, not sandisk's director.

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hmm

By ksherman on 3/20/2006 10:16:54 AM , Rating: 2

Interesting... I kinda like it. I just hope that the battery life and UI is as good or better. Also, would be nice if they INTEGRATED on of those FM transmitters... so many people use them, one less thing to buy!

LOL

By Nocturnal on 3/20/2006 2:13:03 PM , Rating: 2

In their dreams. No way. Their craftsmanship has gone down the crapper lately. I just bought one of their new Cruzer Micros. I also owned their original Micro. Comparing the two, the second gen version is CRAP quality compared to the first. Good luck trying to dethrone Apple lol.

looks interesting

By randomlinh on 3/20/2006 2:15:02 PM , Rating: 2

But at only $20 under... it's all iPod. Now.. if they undercut apple by $20, but also include ac adapter, dock, and other misc accessories that tend to add up fast on the ipod... it might be viable.

I thought it looks alright...

By PQX on 3/20/2006 3:22:04 PM , Rating: 2

I personally would go with the e200 for the following reasons:

1. It looked alright. It scores the same in terms of aesthetic compared with the ipod nano. (It gets extra point for being different since ipod is so popular now, having an ipod doesn't make me feel like a stylish geek anymore ;D)

2. The e200 actually has a microSD expansion slot, which can be very useful for both storage expansion and transfer of pictures (from a digital camera) or music.

But I'll have to see it in person and hold it in my hand before I make my final decision.

Nice but is it better than their last two?

By Staples on 3/20/2006 8:50:52 PM , Rating: 2

I had one of the old Sandisk players and it was either crap or defective. Either way, it broke 10 months later. Against my better judgement, I bought the current model for a cheap price. It is decent for what it does but far from perfect. I want a way to scroll through tracks. Until something else can do that, the iPod will be the best MP3 player by far.

nice but Samsung YP-Z5 was designed by Paul Mercer

By jconan on 3/21/2006 1:09:19 AM , Rating: 2

their interface doesn't seem to be well designed. samsung might have a chance with a commissioned design from the original ipod designer paul mercer
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/portabl e-media/samsung-...
and coupled with songbird once it get's out of beta, apple may have some legal brawls

iPod Empire

By dysonlu on 3/21/2006 1:22:50 AM , Rating: 2

Nice try but unfortunately, it won't stand a chance...

The single most powerful asset Apple currently has in the digital portable music player market is the iPod name. "iPod" is synonymous of this type of device and the market itself. When people think about buying a portable MP3 player, they think about the iPod. This is the fruit of: 1) effective marketing, 2) first to market and 3) good looks (in that order of importance). Along with this comes the "image" factor: "Everyone has one, so I want one too." It's fashionable!

With all these forces working together, the iPod is invincible in this market. Feature (of the lack of it) means zilch -- people don't know ("Creative Zen? Sandisk Sansa? Never heard of them...") and people don't care, they just want what their neighbors and friends have... and what's on TV.

The only way Apple would lose significant market share is when the market matures and gets saturated. When that happens, the iPod would have lost its "sex-appeal" (everyone has one) and at the same time, people gets more educated and discriminating.

Features or Experience

By jmspool on 3/21/2006 11:55:37 AM , Rating: 2

What sells the iPod is not features. Competitors like Rio, Creative Labs, Samsung, Motorolla, and Sony have been rediscovering this annually for years. SanDisk will discover it too.

What sells the iPod is the experience. The combination of iPod/iTunes/iTunes Music Store, plus the fashion statement Apple has made with the products, has created and maintained it’s dominance.

I wrote more about this here: http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/200 6/03/21/feature-...

No thanks

By dev0lution on 3/21/2006 11:34:47 PM , Rating: 2

That thing is gawdawful ugly. I won't buy their flash/sd/usb drives and I certainly won't buy this.

$20 is not enough

By pixelslave on 3/23/2006 10:50:26 AM , Rating: 2

>> Not only that, the company also plans to undercut the iPod by at least $20 for a comparable music player.

To counter a established brand name, a $20 price difference is not enough, especially Apple has already plant an impression to many people that their user experience is significantly better than others "no matter what" (translation -- even if they aren't better, people still think they are!)

This isn't the killer but for quite different reasons.

By mindless1 on 3/23/2006 11:49:21 PM , Rating: 2

Sandisk won't kill the iPod, but the reason is escaping most of you. Technological innovation itself will remove the need for a separate MP3 player. We'll have tablets or phones (if not the two merged) and not be wanting to carry around a separate MP3 player when that OTHER device can do it too.

Everything

By jtcartboy on 3/24/2006 5:33:29 AM , Rating: 2

I still can't figure out the glamour of IPods. I was an in store tech at best buy and shipped over 50 of them out a week for repairs. Then if they didn't have an extended warranty, people would just go buy another IPod. I had one guy who has been through 4 in 3 years. It seems they are just unreliable, due to the HDD, as HDDs like to be run from one position as they need to develop a pattern of use for proper operation.
I must agree though that IPOD means something and sandisk has no chance of undercutting that. people are naive, they hear the name and get all excited and think it must be great. But that doesn't matter, it goes the same for computers. Like the whole Dell is great issue. I do more work on Dell than any other machine. But when it breaks in 2 years the person just goes and buys another dell.
And what was the deal with that Westinghouse Comment, they make fine TVs and LCDs, and have been around since like the other guy said 1900.