this just in. it's a money maker
Pod people
Popularity of iPod music players helps accessories market flourish
Monday, January 16, 2006
By John Boudreau SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
KEN JAMES | BLOOMBERG NEWS
Apple CEO Steve Jobs is keeping up with the iPod accessory makers. Last week, he unveiled a radio remote for the music player.
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Call it the iPod wealth-creation machine.
When Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs opened this yearÂ’s Macworld by announcing an expectations-busting quarter of $5.7 billion in sales and 14 million iPods sold, it wasnÂ’t just investors and company executives who were giving each other high-fives. The iPod ecosystem cheered as well.
The iPod-accessory world now is a multibillion-dollar industry, said Richard Doherty of Envisioneering Group. He estimates $1 billion worth of accessories were sold during the recent holiday period alone, from iPod protectors to speakers to car accessories.
"ItÂ’s the iPod economy," Doherty said. "And Steve Jobs is the Alan Greenspan of that iPod economy."
On Thursday, investors were showing their love for the Cupertino, Calif., company as Apple Computer shares traded at $84.63, a high. In a note to investors, American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu called Apple a company with "arguably the industryÂ’s most powerful and complete" set of products, including hardware, software and services.
In the Macworld exhibition hall at San FranciscoÂ’s Moscone Center, where about 20 percent of the 330 vendors are selling iPod-related products, there was equal delight.
Jobs used the Macworld Conference & Expo’s opening Tuesday to announce the company’s line of Macintosh computers, with the introduction of the Intel-based iMac and MacBook Pro laptop. But iPod goodies — art deco slipcovers and high-end iPod earphones that sell for more than the music players — were not far from the stage.
The company has a symbiotic relationship with accessory manufacturers. Apple receives a licensing fee and royalties from companies whose products access the iPod port. And even if the company does not receive direct payments, the creative accessories that independent businesses come up with make iPods ever more desirable.
Not to be outdone by the accessory makers, Jobs introduced an iPod radio remote control at the show. The attachment provides wireless remote control as well as an FM radio tuner for newer iPods.
At this point, there seems to be no end to the iPod-related business plans. Chrysler recently announced that it will offer iPod-friendly equipment as an option in most of its 2006 models. Levi Strauss said it will sell jeans — called Levi’s RedWire DLX Jeans — with a docking cradle for the music device in a pocket.
Gavin Downey, BelkinÂ’s director of product management for mobile devices, said iPod accessories account for a "sizable" slice of sales for the consumer-electronics company. The company makes an array of iPod addons, including an FM transmitter and its "Kick-Stand" case for the video iPod player that allows people to watch shows without holding the device.
The digital music player has, indirectly, provided a business model for individual entrepreneurs, as well.
Gary Bart began his iPod accessory company, XtremeMac, after reading the first Apple news release announcing the introduction of its digital music player. He quit his job at a Florida data-storage company, quickly designed an iPod slipcover and set up a tiny booth at Macworld in January 2001.
"We had people lined up four across, 30 deep," Bart recalled.
He since has expanded his product line from an array of slipcovers, including ones decorated with professional sports logos, to a connection kit that allows people to play their iPod audio and video on home televisions.
Bart, whose products are offered in AppleÂ’s retail stores, expects his growing company to employ 140 this year.
