Reasons There Won’t Be An iPod Killer In The Next 10 Years

Here is a place where all of us who are sick of hearing about the next “iPod Killer” can post our reasons why it will be years before anybody even slightly challenges the stranglehold that the iPod has on the personal handheld player world.

I can’t remember how many ‘iPod Killer” articles I’ve read in the past three years, but it is a lot. I think the reason for this is that the media outlets need something to talk about. Freelancers, who pitch articles to editors, see these as easy money (although the money a freelancer gets on most articles is a pittance, if your wondering). Slashdot and Digg like covering these releases, because they pull plenty of people to their websites (which equals more income). The PR people at the companies who will supposedly be releasing the next iPod Killer, pimp their product to “news” outlets in print, on TV, and on the web. After all, if a news outlet covers your product, it’s like free advertising. All these people never even have to leave their computers to do it. All this equals hype. Meanwhile, the rest of us are left wondering if all the people making the iPod Killer talk are awake.

So here goes. I’ll start the list and you can add to it using the comment form.

The Reasons There Won’t Be an iPod Killer in the Next 10 Years

Reason Number 1: You can buy iPods from vending machines. Seriously, I could not believe it when I saw it, but I got off a plane in Dallas and there it was - and iPod Vending Machine. When I think of vending machines, I think of Coke, Pepsi, and candy. Maybe some fruit juice. A pack of gum. Or even some condoms. But a vending machine for iPods? When you are selling 300.00 iPods with a machine, nobody is going to touch you (In all fairness, I did see a Sony Machine that was selling playstations and whatever iPod Killer that Sony makes, but nobody was even looking at that machine and I couldn’t even tell what was a personal music/video player).