The Video iPod: Watchman 2005?

There is an quote attributed to George Santayana that proceeds as follows: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This verbal nugget may seem to encapsulate a lot of wisdom in a mere eleven words but the notion ultimately fails. Santayana’s quote is erroneous because at this point in the still brief reign of Homo sapiens sapiens there is enough of recorded history to, using post hoc reasoning, find an example of why you should or shouldn’t do something with ten or so minutes of research. To wit: Coca-Cola was rightly derided for introducing New Coke but history is replete with businesses that were once thriving but later failed to adapt to changing markets. It is, therefore, not too much of a stretch to imagine a Coca Cola executive deciding to go with New Coke because the one time soft drink leader Hires Root Beer had failed to change as consumer tastes evolved. In short the Coca Cola Company did not want to repeat history. Which brings us to the long rumored, but rapidly gaining in credibility, supposedly forthcoming video iPod (referred to henceforth as the viPod). If we use history as our guide all the pieces seem to be place for a tepid reception when Apple introduces said device to the hearts, minds and wallets of consumers.

Taking the historical perspective we note that the iPod is often associated with the Walkman. The reasons for the association are obvious: both are personal music devices, both are/were wonders of miniaturization, and both were massive hits for their respective manufacturers. There, most folks might opine, the similarity would end. Yet the path followed by Apple and Sony after the iPod and Walkman introductions are remarkably similar. Sony followed up the Walkman with a tape-playing jacket complete with integrated speakers (the name of the product escapes me). The allure of such a piece of clothing remains mystifying. Whereas the Walkman was a personal experience the jacket suddenly broadcast your music to anyone unfortunate enough to be in your immediate vicinity, the freedom allowed by the Walkman’s diminutive size was negated by the onerous piece of clothing, and, finally, while the Walkman was the epitome of cool the jacket practically screamed “beat me up and take my lunch money.” (It is worth noting that the latter was a responsibility taken very seriously by Judas Priest fans.) Fortunately Apple chose not to follow that path… wait, wait… that isn’t quite true. Steve Jobs did, with a fair amount of the patented iCEO enthusiasm, introduce the Burton Amp Jacket at a MacWorld in 2003. While the jacket probably is a profitable venture few would maintain the erstwhile über hip article of clothing is anything more than just another iPod accessory.

Here the paths, for now, diverge. Sony, hoping to recapture the market magic of the Walkman, introduced the Watchman (for those who don’t remember, or are link adverse, the Sony Watchman was a very small black and white TV). The Watchman was seemingly a hit waiting to happen. After all if people were enthralled by the notion of listening to their music on the go the certainly the same individuals would be positively enraptured at the thought of carrying an entire television with them. Unfortunately for Sony that proved not to be the case. The Watchman was undoubtedly profitable but it never captured the imagination of the masses in the same numbers as the Walkman. Hence when Apple introduces the video Pod the Trifecta will be complete and the question will be: should Apple expect results equivalent to the results seen with the introduction of the Watchman?

The answer is likely no. While the Watchman suffered from a small screen (the screen produced a incredibly sharp picture but the images were so small that watching a football game was next to useless) the biggest factor holding the Watchman back from mass acceptance was the question of content. Whereas the Walkman allowed complete control over the content when you used a Watchman you were limited to over the air broadcasts, a galling situation in the age of cable. Couple the over the air limitation with the content provided by the broadcasters during the hours a Watchman was most likely to be used and you’ve got a device that appeals primarily to inveterate gamblers and those who cannot miss a moment of Lucas and Sami.

Hopefully the video iPod won’t suffer from the same limitations as the Watchman. Any such device from Apple will surely feature some sort of connectivity with larger screened devices so users wont be stuck looking at sweeping vistas via a playing-card sized screen. Even more important is the question of content. The content potential is nearly unlimited for a video iPod, everything from DVD’s to network programming sucked off (one way or another) your Tivo. And if the video iPod gains any market traction content won’t stop with just the video people are already enjoying. It is not hard to imagine a viPod spawning a new form of podcasting (which I hereby dub eyegougecasting) where people will record their likely awful shows specifically for the viPod. The democratizing of visual media will likely prove fairly popular and, perhaps, the newfound content coupled with a viPod can push Apple towards another personal media revolution. Historically speaking, it is anyone’s guess.