View this article at: http://dev.macnn.com/articles/05/12/13/pj.on.ipod.competition Tuesday, Dec 13, 2005 2:25pm Competitors can\'t touch iP... Investment research firm PiperJaffray today said it believes the only way competitors can steal market share away from the iPod is to price their devices below Apple's -- and so far that is not happening. Creative, for example, has priced its 30GB video iPod competitor at $330 -- 10 percent more than the iPod. While it may offer more features, Piper says consumers will stick pick the iPod for its ease of use and "cool" factor. "We believe that non-iPod devices must compete on price to gain adoption, but Apple has such massive relative shipment volume with the iPod that other MP3 player manufacturers are not able to replicate the economies of scale achieved by Apple. We believe this reality will allow Apple to sell iPods at the lowest prices in the market, thus retaining the iPod's pole position for years." The firm also said in its report today that it expects 2006 to be a stronger year for Apple both in terms of its iPod line and Mac products (with Intel machines just around the corner).