iPods: The Love / Hate Relationship

MMMmmmmm iPod I love you. GRRrrrrrrrrrrr iPod I hate you!

Cool, hip, trendy, a must have. Or toxic fumes, explosions, muggings , and battery failures that make you curse at the iPod gods above. It's truly a love / hate relationship.

Today Apple announced they have sold 100 million iPods. That's a lot of love (and cash). Not everyone agreed back in 2001 that the iPod was a good idea, let alone push Apple into a major player in the MP3 field and give them a very powerful marketing tool for pushing their Mac computers as well.

While watching the first episode of season three's Apprentice (UK version) with Sir Alan Sugar (which is bloody brilliant in the fact it's profanity laced and no lack of bullshitting) there's a board room scene that grabbed my attention:

...if I invented the iPod, I wouldn't be sitting here.

Yes, the Alan Sugar who is worth about 800+million pounds (which are worth much more than dollars) wouldn't do a silly reality TV show if he had made some serious money with the iPod. Of course this is the same Alan Sugar thought that Apple was doomed:

Apple have been in the pits, they've nearly been bankrupt, they’ve had three CEOs? and then suddenly the iPod pulls them out of trouble again. As sure as I’ve got a hole in my bloody arse, in three or four years’ time, it'll be 'Apple who?'

Well, Sir Alan is certainly not sweet, but he knows business, at least some of it. Truly the iPod is a love / hate object of Sir Alan's eye.

The iPod is huge and huge as a marketing ploy on it's own. Buy a house - get a free iPod. Buy a car - get a free iPod. Free iPods from your job for a bonus. You name it, it's been done and done with an iPod. And the amazing thing is it works. The people dig the iPods.

100 million worth.

strauss said:
jack said: