Today, Sony announced two new models, the ICF-C1iP and ZS-S2iP, that directly support Apple’s iPod. From the looks of things, Sony is bringing maturity and classic design to a crowded space. One would hope they help raise the bar of what consumers should expect in terms of features, sound quality, and reliability. I do continue to hope this is so.

This quote acknowledges Sony’s acceptance of iPod’s dominance (as previously discussed here), and expresses Sony’s commitment to differentiating themselves in this ever-crowding space:

“Consumers are treating the iPod as a format, like the compact disc, which is why Sony is now delivering audio products to support it,” said Andrew Sivori, director of personal audio products in the Digital Imaging and Audio Division at Sony Electronics. “High-quality sound, unique features, and exceptional design set our new boombox and clock radio apart.”

It’s refreshing to hear how Sivori expresses his view… Alive Matters commented back in November that the world should begin embracing the view that iPods (and PAPs in general) are the modern replacement for audio storage media, rather than “devices” in the traditional sense. Because of this, the mainstream product architectures would undergo an evolution:

The speaker-dock market, as I’ll refer to it, is exploding. Naturally, we have Apple’s iPod to thank for this. I dunno how many people realise it, but portable audio players, themselves, have become the de facto portable audio storage medium. I dunno if people associate their iPod with the Sony Walkman or with the cassette tape? With the Discman or the CD?

Media formats have determined the shape of personal audio systems for years — vinyl record turn-tables, cassette decks and Walkmans, laserdisc players, CD players & discman, MD players, … and so now naturally, with music being stored on harddrives and flashdrives, right before our eyes, we are witnessing “device-evolution.” It’s pretty cool if you think about it. Device form factors are adapting to a disruption in media formats. Home audio rendering devices have to pull source material from a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and interfaces as portable audio player makers build on-the-go devices that are so smart and handy, they beg to be used at home as well.

As the speaker-dock segment continues to mature, expect to see more and more traditional players brining their twist on the platform. Sony was not the first… Harman Kardon and Onkyo did so in the past year, joining Apple, Bose, JBL, and the hordes of keyboard/mice/protective-case/accessory makers who aspire to milk the giant cow (at the risk of saturating the market with substandard product).

When might Panasonic, Denon, Yamaha, Kenwood, Philips, enter the fray…and what will they offer the consumers to set them apart?

UPDATE 7/20: Welcome, Philips with 4 models that sport built in docks.

UPDATE 7/26: Welcome, Denon S-32 at $499 and the S-52 at $699(!!) due in October.

Interesting bits from Sony (here).  The comment I find interesting is:

Sony brass did acknowledge that iPod compatibility was an important part of A/V strategy these days.

You can see it… they are all succumbing, one by one.  Why fight it any longer?  Right, Creative?

Sony’s recent splash into iPod accessory hell, the CPF-IP001, didn’t get rave reviews for performance when it came out… the $250 price-tag didn’t gain lots of friends either.  One wonders if Sony has committed to this “important part of A/V strategy,” and if so, let’s hope they gets serious and bring their A-game to the show — and maybe draw on their roots and teach the incumbents — who are, let’s face it, audio-brand-wannabes — how to make performance audio products.  I recently took umbrage with Gizmodo’s comparo, criticizing their seeding methodology, but to their credit, they’ve finally put the focus where it needs to be, finding iPod speakers that actually sound good.

I don’t care about donut shaped, velcro-leatherine-flip-covered, rotating alarm clock, water proof, C-minus-in-industrial-design-101 products.

Let’s make some speakers that flat out rock!

Don’t you think this is getting ridiculous?   I do.  More on this in months ahead, stay tuned…