JupiterResearch:The iPod's Adoption Feedback Loop

Andrea Wood at JupiterResearch posts about the iPod ‘adoption feedback loop’ - products that are developed to work with the iPod. She notes "Apple recently announced that there are more than 700 products (up from 400 in March 2005) that bear the Made for iPod logo, and I suspect countless more products that do not."

Wood discusses a new wearable accessory for the iPod, a water resistant jacket that "integrates five button control into the coat using a special smart fabric" and a "special iPod pocket is provided, so wearers can control the ipod without removing it from their coats." Wood opines:

This is a cool idea. But I’m worried about consumers. Can’t they just wear a waterproof jacket with pockets to get the same effect? On rainy days I put my iPod on the inner pocket of my Gore-Tex coat. With the right amount of pressure I can still use the controls. I have no doubt that other consumers have come up with their own solutions. This coat is just an example of the knock-on industry going too far.

I remember back in the late 90s, Borland founder Phillipe Kahn was a big advocate of wearable computing devices, although this trend seems to go a bit too far. Just doesn't seem to be worth the extra expenditure in my book...