03/13/2005, 11:10pm, EST
Sunday, March 13th
Apple protests iPod knockoff display at CeBIT
"Urged by Apple's lawyers Luxpro had taken the player out of its show cases on Friday, only to put it back in again on Saturday for the benefit of the weekend visitors to the CeBIT event. Who, moreover, did seem to show an interest in the device: The player offers besides all functions present in the genuine iPod shuffle an FM tuner, a WMA (DRM) playing capability and voice recording . At that the iPod lookalike is only marginally thicker and according to statements by staff at the stand "in any case cheaper than the original."
The report also says that "even a visibly distraught Apple product manager was unable on the Saturday evening to persuade Luxpro´s stand manager to once again remove the Super shuffle from the display. The stand the visual appearance of which is strongly reminiscent of an Apple ad campaign provided a bizarre backdrop to the brief yet heated verbal encounter that ended without mutual agreement. Apple representatives said the company was in the process of weighing its legal options.
Filed under: iPod
,
, 33
,
,
,
,
,
,

subscribe to comments
for this article
Wake up.
The original HDD iPods (and iPod mini) are pretty much category winners there - although starting to slip against Creative and BenQ offerings amongst others so unless they comes up with some improvements on firmware, battery and technology (the rumours of a wireless product are interesting for instance) they may start to struggle in that market space (I have a 40GB 4th gen iPod, the Photo model had no compelling reason to buy). The look of the iPod is clearly influencing the competitors, although no-one has managed to improve on the click-wheel.
The Shuffle is a great product, but doesn't win on features or price, but function (or at least look) is again a winner. Sadly in this space looks are easily copied and there is nothing really unique about a Shuffle - the unusual arrangement of the standard keys is not as innovative as the click-wheel by any stretch of the imagination. That said, I also have a Shuffle to take places I wouldn't want the bulkier 4G... on the beach with the dog, or to a rough neighbourhood at night.
Is someone can add a few more MB of storage or support a few more formats or add an FM radio or a small LCD screen to something that looks like a Shuffle and sell it for a few bucks more or less... it's going to be really hard to stop them - so Apple have to innovate again and make the Shuffle a niche winner. I'd like to see them do it while at least offering some firmware updates to reward the early adopters as well.
In Europe, the US and maybe some other parts of the world Apple may be able to use the trademark and patent protection they undoubtedly have to make life hard for Luxpro and other cloners... but would they be better off by producing a quality product at a good price point with an enhanced lifespan thus getting consumers on their side than risk adding more fuel to their reputation of Lawyering-up at the slightest excuse that is starting to become public perception....
You miss the point completely. Apple isn't upset over the features on this knockoff. Their design and advertising are being completely ripped off, resulting in a high probability of consumers being misled.
I'd be a little more sympathetic to Apple if they didn't decide to litigate the hell out of PowerPage, ThinkSecret, et al. It's nice to see David pick on Goliath once in awhile.
And if that product is any good, maybe Apple will get its act together and actually design a flash player with features.
Their design and advertising are being completely ripped off, resulting in a high probability of consumers being misled. Thank you, and remember my name is d_oob.
Get it now?
If Jeep could sue Hummer because they put 7 bars on the front of their grill and it "kind of looked like" Jeep's, then this complete rip off that Apple has spent millions of dollars on design and marketing, is going to get legally pounded—regardless what country it's in.
As for the Trolls, what comes around—goes around. I just hope you realize it when it happens to you ;)