NET RESULTS:The least we expect is a case for our iPods and iPhones. That Apple no longer makes them has sparked new businesses, writes KARLIN LILLINGTON
WHEN I bought my first Apple iPod in 2003, it came with a little case that could be clipped on to a belt or tucked in a pocket.
It meant there was something to protect both that shiny metal back and the front glass screen, straight out of the box.
You might think protecting the glass front was the priority, but with those earlier models, a lot of people fetishised the polished metal back, and keeping it pristine, scratchless and as shiny as a mirror was an obsession.
There was even a website to which people posted images taken using the reflection from the back of their iPods. So you didn’t look at someone’s snaps of the Eiffel Tower, but of the Eiffel Tower reflected in the metallic sheen of their iPod.
You won’t get a nifty little sleeve in the box to protect your iPod these days – or anything for your iPad, or your iPhone, except a little cloth to polish the (unprotected!) screen.
The lack of what many would consider to be a basic accessory is, at least for me, one of the niggling annoyances of buying an Apple product.
After all, the products are beautiful; their design is presented by the company as one of their unique selling points, and you don’t want them to get all scratched up. Yet there isn’t even a cheapo slip-cover supplied for these devices.
That means probably one of the first things an Apple gadget owner will think about is getting some sort of case or cover. Which, though frustrating to people who want and expect something in the box, makes third-party accessories makers happy.
Apple does a fairly good job of keeping the accessories people happy by manufacturing very few accessories of any sorts themselves, and instead leaving this field open to a support ecosystem.
The third-party accessories market for Apple products is massive, involving more than 1,200 companies and estimated to be worth more than $2 billion annually. And it’s not just about cases and covers. There are stands, speakers, microphones, chargers, cables and protective stick-on films to cover the glass. You can buy anything from a neon-coloured sock to a Prada saffiano leather case for your iPod. The iPad has a bevy of manufacturers vying to supply you with a specialised case in which to cradle your new toy. Your iPhone can fit neatly into a high-end Bose sound system. The opportunities to customise and pamper your i-device are endless.
The opportunities for third-party suppliers can be quite lucrative as well.
Consider Belkin, now one of the most recognised names providing a range of Apple product accessories. The company began as a two-party operation in the proverbial garage in the 80s; it now is a $1 billion company in its own right with millions in sales clocked up for its Apple-market products.
Other names well-known to Apple product users include InCase, Targus and Griffin, who make cases, carriers and various other add-ons. They join well-known electronics names such as Bose, Altec Lansing, Philips, JBL and Harmon Kardon, providing speakers and sound systems for iPods and iPhones.
Retailers such as Target in the US or O2 in Ireland that sell iPods – at a very small margin from Apple – are undoubtedly motivated by the chance for a high-profit accessory sale that might accompany that gadget purchase.
According to Businessweek, the iPod sector is still the largest overall for accessories. By all accounts, it is also sometimes a frustrating one for the manufacturers, given Apple’s propensity to change the shape and style of its iPod (and now, iPhone) family, and to do it without warning to manufacturers.
Manufacturers say they trawl the Apple rumour websites, trying to get some sense of what might be coming down the line. A different shape requires a new cover, and even when the shape remains the same, an earphone jack being moved slightly to one side or other or the jack shape being resized means a new product must be introduced.
“It’s a tricky business. You trawl the sites for rumours and speculation, and go into sixth gear to adjust the best guesses you made after a new product is officially announced,” InCase chief executive Tony Held told Businessweek a few years ago.
Apple also charges the “Apple tax” – a licence fee for third-party manufacturers to make Apple accessories, rumoured to be about 10 per cent of the sales price.
On the other hand, all of those shifts and changes create the opportunity to nab another customer and another sale. Plus manufacturers still have the residual market of owners who have the old-style devices and might be in the market for an accessory.
Consider the numbers: well over 100 million iPods were sold in the past two years. Some 21 million flew out the door of retailers just in the first quarter alone of this year, alongside nearly nine million iPhones. Every one of those represents a likely third-party accessory sale too, at minimum for some type of case or cover or screen protector.
Ker-ching! It is an ecosystem that seems to suit everyone – except perhaps sometimes the grumbling customer, who doesn’t feel a basic case should be an additional purchase.
