I also like Squeezebox the way it is, but it can always be better. Didn't we hear "good is the enemy of great"? :-) Honestly, big does not necessarily beats small, but fast can beat slow.
Slim has been an innovative company and it has to continue staying way ahead of others to even maintain its niche market. The reason is obvious: other commodity players will eventually figure out ways to do exactly what Squeezebox does today with a lower cost. That's exactly why Slim should stay ahead by continuous innovation and not play Linksys's commoditization game. Linksys is mostly a middleman, a business based on the ODM model. It does not have a substantial R&D inhouse, and has to rely on Asian manufacturers who have no deep insight into U.S. consumer behaviors to design and develop products targeted for U.S. consumers. The result is evident. On the other hand, Apple has been a rather innovative company. Despite it's a lot bigger than Slim, it's still a small company in its market segment. And it is fast too. Apple have been beaten many times by itself and competitors if looking at its overall history. It has its dark past: sit on its success in its niche for too long and stopped innovation. I would encourage Slim to tackle the so-call giant by playing smarter and faster, and continue innovating. Mark Lanctot Wrote: > > In summary, I like the Squeezebox the way it is. :-) > > Slim would be in danger trying to compete > head-to-head with Linksys. Apple is entering this > market too, with a stationary iPod device. The > very words "iPod base station" would likely > revolutionize this product category and get it > into the mainstream. Slim cannot hope to compete > with Apple and Linksys on their own turf. Apple > has chewed up and spit out their competitors in > the portable market. Slim does have a niche for > itself - making players capable of extremely > high-end performance, powered by free, open-source > software. Apple or Linksys couldn't and wouldn't > meet either of those requirements, so Slim will > live on provided it doesn't try to tackle these > giants head-to-head. > -- wei ------------------------------------------------------------------------ wei's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2414 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=19943 _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
