Cultural phenomena have rarely come in such an attractive package as the iPod. The slim and sleek appearance of Apple's digital music player belies its true character as an absolute marketing monster, soaring ahead of its hapless rivals, writes Robin O'Brien-Lynch
With well over 50 per cent of the American digital music market, the iPod's influence and importance can best be measured by the army of clones now appearing on the market.
In time, Apple's share will fall as these rivals catch up but, for now, the iPod reigns supreme as both a design classic and, more importantly for sales, a "must-have" lifestyle accessory.
The closest we have seen to this kind of consumer dedication to a new product was the introduction of Sony's Walkman in the early 1980s, when the little black box that allowed you to soundtrack your life became the most desirable thing on the planet.
In fact, the iPod could justifiably claim to be the "Walkman of the 21st century". That is, if Sony, famed for its jealous possession of its trademarks, hadn't plans of its own for that phrase. With its new PlayStation Portable (PSP), due to be released in Japan by the end of the year and worldwide in the first quarter of 2005, Sony wants more than just a slice of the handheld video game market, currently dominated by Nintendo. It wants to own your complete personal entertainment.
The chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment, Mr Ken Kutaragi, has focused on the PSP's ability to go beyond a mere games console.
"Along with the game applications, PSP will have a huge potential for delivering other forms of entertainment as well as live entertainment through the network, anywhere, anytime. This is the Walkman of the 21st century," he said.
As well as playing games on a 4.3-inch backlit screen that dominates the front of the player, the PSP will also play MP3 tracks and video on Sony's new format, the Universal Media Disc (UMD).
The UMD, touted by Sony as "the next generation of compact storage media", holds up to 1.8GB of data and resembles a large mini-disc - or, as Sony would put it, a small CD.
For networking and connectivity there is a wireless LAN adapter, USB 2.0 port (for connecting to a PlayStation 2), infrared port (for connecting to other PSPs), a headphone socket and a power socket.
It is not clear, however, exactly what Mr Kutaragi intends us to be watching when we're not gaming. "Other forms of entertainment" is a slightly vague term, but there are a few possible options.
The PSP supports Sony's memory stick - a device slightly smaller than a stick of chewing gum that could conceivably hold a feature length film recorded from a DVD - and, of course, the PSP will play and store thousands of songs, both in MP3 format and Sony's ARTAC format. Also, it is possible that Sony could sell pre-recorded UMDs with music videos, films or sports programmes.
Last November Mr Kutaragi also hinted that mobile phone facilities may be added in the future. Although Sony hasn't mentioned this recently, that addition would really back up claims that you can house all your technological needs in one unit.
Will the PSP really be able to live up to Sony's expectations and challenge the ubiquity of the iPod?
One conceivable problem for Sony is size. Some MP3 players can be as small as a cigarette lighter and, with the launch of the iPod mini, Apple gave customers an extra option. The PSP is the size of a long slim paperback and to go any smaller would seriously diminish one of its strong points, the generous screen. Sony are promoting a range of carrying-straps, but this might go down better in Japan than the rest of the world, where straps may be seen as cumbersome and an invitation to thieves.
The full specs for the PSP were released on Monday, but Sony is craftily holding back on two of the most important figures - battery life and price. With all its super features, the battery may need constant recharging and the PSP could also end up being quite pricey.
However, Mr Manfred Gerdes, Sony Computer Entertainment Germany managing director, let slip in an interview that the Japanese price was 33,000 yen (€240). The Sony PR machine instantly dismissed that figure as speculation, but even if it was slightly more expensive than that, it would represent a significant savings on an iPod (from €340).
One of the reasons the iPod has sold so well, despite its high price, is its design. Apple has built its reputation on beautiful machinery and the iPod is its in-house superstar at the moment.
Sony, on the other hand, does not have such a good pedigree. The PlayStation 2 looks jaded and clunky after only a few years and the original Walkman wasn't designed to dazzle either. There is a sharp contrast between the iPod's iconic white earphones and the fuzzy orange ones beloved of Sony in the 1980s.
Sony's record in games consoles is first rate and there is good reason to expect much from them on that front. When the PlayStation appeared first in Japan in 1994, Sega and Nintendo were by far and away the leaders in the console market, with the once-mighty Atari slipping back into third. By 1996, Atari ceased to exist at all in its original format and by 2001 Sega had been forced out of the hardware market altogether after the high-profile failure of two consoles, Saturn and Dreamcast.
Sony has since survived the entry of Microsoft into its market and is far and away the industry's console sales leader, with more than 16.8 million in the US compared to five million Xboxes and 3.8 million GameCubes. It is also responsible for opening up gaming to the older 18-35 generation.
To repeat its success with the original Walkman, and reach markets not connected with gaming, Sony will need to match both that product's innovation and the iPod's user-friendliness. More than 25 years later the world of technology expects better, faster and shinier products than ever before, and appearance will matter just as much as technical brilliance.
