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March 21, 2005

Making the world safe to dragrace again...

It sure is fun to see a real dragrace in action. This time courtesy of the platform that the iPod has made available for lots of new accessory and add-on players - a perfect dragstrip for others to pour gas into - all to the benefit of the iPod experience and ecosystem.

There's a truly classic dragrace taking place in the category of FM radio transmitters for iPods.

The incumbent is the iTrip from Griffin (have one and like it a lot). Enjoying the glow of praise and a first mover advantage Griffin extends it to a line of "iTrips" for different products and tastes.

Then along comes a challenger. The AirPlay from XtremeMac. And all the dragrace stops get pulled out. I have to hand it to these folks, they are using all the right tricks.

Price matching. Direct comparison. And leading with proof rather than claims (letting someone else with authority speak for you).

Keeping it simple with the rule of three (just three attributes).

And of course we all love to be spectators. This little dragrace already had a whole slew of pundits both professional and bloggers joining in on the debate.

What also great to see is the Griffin response. They are clearly aware of the challenge but not taking the bait and saying "NO. WE ARE STILL BETTER THAN THE AIRPLAY." Why give them any additional free publicity. But they are trying to reinforce the importance of being established without resorting to any comparisons.
As a fan of dragraces in general, I will have to buy both and compare. And keep my eyes out for more. Almost as much fun as they playoffs.

Posted by johnza at March 21, 2005 02:42 PM

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» If your station is in a head-to-head format battle... from Radio Marketing Nexus
then you're in a "drag-race." And here's a great example of how to compete in a drag-race to win from my friends over at Marketing Playbook. The players in this case are iPod accessories, but the rules are universal. [Read More]

Tracked on March 21, 2005 08:20 PM

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