“As anyone who has got one of these players will know, if you haven’t got the right music then you’d rather not listen to any music at all. So the iPod really changes the game because you can always guarantee that the thing you want to listen to is there. Apple was right to bet that this was something people were prepared to pay more money for.”
The article is premium content and I’m not a premium subscriber, but the print edition is quite clear: Apple’s strategy was designed to let you take all your music with you, rather than making your choose. Flash memory players won’t let you do that yet, and with 100,000 units of the ipod Mini pre-sold, even the smaller model — 25% smaller than the original model — is a winner. Couple that with Apple’s customary attention to stylistic detail and a pioneering interface, and nothing else comes close.