by , 11:00 AM EDT, August 27th, 2004
According to long-time Apple doom sayer Rob Enderle, HP's branded iPod will be outselling the Apple's own product that has become a cultural phenomenon. HP introduced its iPod, called "Apple iPod from HP," today during a press event introducing many new consumer electronics products from the computer company (see TMO's full coverage for more information).
The Apple iPod from HP is the first iPod licensed by Apple to a third party, and marks HP's first serious foray into the world of music players. Mr. Enderle's comments come in a Reuters article covering today's announcements. From that article:
This year's unveiling is Palo Alto, California-based HP's third consumer electronics showcase since it launched the "Big Bang" three years ago, and it reflects PC makers' efforts to move into new markets as the overall PC industry matures.
"HP is certainly a major contender in this race to get into the living room," said Mike McGuire, an analyst at Gartner G2. "They already have a substantial installed base with printers, PCs and handhelds."
[...]
"The expectation on the iPod is that HP's version will probably outsell Apple's version relatively quickly," [analyst Rob Enderle of market research firm Enderle Group] said, due to HP's broad distribution at electronics retailers.
There's more on HP's push into consumer electronics in the full article.
It's not that we have anything against HP -- far from it -- but the notion that a company with little success in selling lifestyle is going to sell more units of a lifestyle product like the iPod than a lifestyle company like Apple is simply amazingly stupid.
HP is likely to have a lot of success with the iPod, and it is also likely that the company will be able to bring the music player to new segments of the market that wouldn't touch an Apple-branded product (think corporate), but outsell Apple? It's simply not going to happen.