| staticneuron said: Happy, what one reason did you initial purchase your computer for? Are you saying that if your computer did nothing else you would be satisfied? If people purchased Ipods just to play MP3 players.... why does it trump the other Mp3 players that do the same thing? If people purchase cell phones just to talk on cellphones why don't you see everyone carrying around barebone nokias? Two things.... fad's and the fact that people actually do consider the additional functionalites/features of phone/car/cell/video game system.
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The computer is a slightly different purchase than most of the other things I mentioned. A computer is a necessary tool which I "need" to own (I'm a software developer), and I choose to keep it up to date because it is important for several of my hobies (graphics programming and videogames). Basically, the computer is one of the few truly multi-function devices in the world; I think you'd be hard-pressed to find another similar device.
The iPod was dominant for several reasons ... It was (one of) the first hard-drive based portable MP3 players on the market, it was the only one of these players that had a well designed user-interface, and it was well marketed. After it became popular sales took on a life of their own and people continue to choose it mainly because it continues to be a well designed MP3 player and it is cool to own one. A thing to consider is that soon after the iPod was released there were several companies offering similar devices with colour screens, video playback for a small ammount more than the iPod ($50) and the iPod still outsold these devices.
If you know of a barebones cellphone that has good call reception and can be used with one of my local providers please tell me of it. About a quarter to half the people I talk to about this are on the exact same page as I am; cellphones have too many buttons, overly complicated user interfaces, low battery lives and are too large because of what they put into them and I really don't want these extra features. Cellphone companies do not like barebones phones because they can not charge as much (and thus do not get the same level of profit) from a barebones phone as they do from a Camera + MP3 phone; most customers do not care that much about the price of the phones because they are heavily subsidized by the phone company.
