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iPod Shuffle vs. Rio Forge Sport |
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Thursday, 07 April 2005 |
iPod
Shuffle vs. Rio Forge Sport: an iSuppli MP3 teardown
analysis
EMSNow / iSuppli - West
Yorkshire,UK
In the trendy market for MP3 players, the "cool factor" counts for a lot. But
what makes one MP3 player cooler than another?
A dissection of two hot products-Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod Shuffle and Rio's
Forge Sport-conducted by iSuppli Corp.'s Teardown Analysis service, shows the
design tradeoffs and marketing choices made by MP3 manufacturers as they strive
to attain coolness, while attempting to balance off other considerations, such
as cost and power consumption. The teardown also illustrates how a small, simple
and elegantly designed product can be more appealing to consumers-and cheaper to
manufacture-than a larger, more complex device with a less sophisticated design.
The MP3 player represents one of the fastest-growing electronic products today.
Shipments of flash-memory based MP3 players will rise to 75.8 million units in
2009, expanding at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 22.9 percent from 27
million in 2004, according to iSuppli.
While the iPod Shuffle and Rio Forge Sport share the flash-based MP3 player
designation, the two products vary greatly in terms of appearance, features and
internal design.
The iPod Shuffle is extremely compact compared to the Rio. However, the Rio
sports a raft of features not on the iPod Shuffle, including a display, a memory
card slot and an FM radio with the capability to record radio broadcasts. The
Rio Forge Sport also employs an off-the-shelf AAA battery to deliver 20 hours of
play time. In contrast, the iPod Shuffle uses a built-in custom lithium-ion
polymer cell battery, which contributes to its small size, but delivers only 12
hours of play time.
The iPod Shuffle appears to be rather bare-bones compared to the Rio, lacking a
display. A display is a fairly important feature in an MP3 player, allowing a
user to find a specific piece of music from a vast collection.
However, Apple has invoked some clever marketing to turn this apparent weakness
into a strength. Apple touts the iPod Shuffle's lack of display as a unique,
desirable feature, using the tagline "Life is Random" to promote the product.
But, despite this weakness, at $99 retail, the Apple brand mystique is still
likely to make the iPod Shuffle very popular and competitive with other flash
music players, iSuppli believes.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 07 April 2005 )
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