I know that way too much has been written about the already
Iconic IPOD, but I finally broke down a got my wife one for her
birthday and I now have a glimpse at what all the fuss is about.
(In case you’re thinking, like my kids, that buying it for my wife
was just a scam to get myself one, I got a pink mini)

I’ve discover that the popularity of this item goes way beyond
the cool factor. Cool factor is nice but, what makes this item
so popular from a marketing sense is this.

It does one thing and only one thing remarkably well. Its
marketing beauty is its marvelous simplicity.

So, the small business marketing lesson contained in the
amazing popularity of the IPOD is – Narrow your market focus
to serve a tightly defined market or niche, serve it like no one
ever imagined doing and communicate the benefits as simply
possible.

See Guy Clark’s – Stuff That Works for the music equvivalent
of this post.

Warning: I’ve read that Apple plans to take advantage of
the status of this device and add photo and video sharing –
surely a phone capability can’t be far behind – my advice, Steve,
please resist.