(Column) - The industry is buzzing with SanDisk’s latest announcement to introduce a new MP3 player, the Sansa e280, with 8GB of storage for only $249.99. SanDisk is also planning a 30 percent price cut from its current generation of music players. Because of this shift in strategy, people somehow believe SanDisk is going to kill, or at least injure, Apple and its iPod family of music players. There’s no way that’s going to happen. Allow me to explain.

Apple’s iPod is not just a music player. It’s an icon of today’s consumer electronics that represents a group of upbeat, cool and hip people who are in tune with latest technological advancements. It’s a viral device, and if you don’t have one, you are somehow seen as being below than everyone else. You must have it. This is especially true with teenagers, quite possibly the most aggressive target market that influences other teenagers as well as their family members. Can SanDisk associate such an image with its Sansa product line? I don’t think so.

In relation to the iPod, there’s also the complimentary iTunes Music Store that’s only compatible with the world’s most popular music player with 75 percent market share. The exclusivity of iTunes plays in favor of the iPod. As far as I know, SanDisk doesn’t have anything remotely like this to rely on for increasing sales. The iPod + iTunes are a deadly combination, something that hardly anyone can compete against.

There are number of other music players that fall in the same affordability category as Sansa’s e280. What makes Sansa so special? If I’m completely ignoring the hype around the iPod, which admittedly is difficult to do, why would I not look at other alternatives from Sony, Creative, Archos, Toshiba and countless others? There’s nothing special about the Sansa for me to particularly consider it.

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