Study: Average iPod owner spends $150 on accessories

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Study: Average iPod owner spends $150 on accessories

A recent consumer survey found that the average iPod owner in the U.S. spends about $150 on accessories—on average half of the value of the device. The study by market research firm Envisioneering Group averaged the price of an iPod at $300 and was taken before the introduction of the iPod shuffle.

“This is an amazing uptick in iPod accessory sales and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down,” Richard Doherty, research director at the Envisioneering Group, told the Mac Observer. “The iPod is a different phenomenon among electronic products. Music is a reflection of our soul and the iPod is becoming an emotional extension of people.”

Doherty said iPod accessory sales could go higher than $150 per device sometime in 2005. “I don’t think you’ll see the average hit 200% of each average iPod sold of $300, but it will creep up a little,” he said. “Demand will stay strong, for sure.”

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Comments

1

How exactly are they defining “accessories”? This could easily be heavily skewed by high-end headphones and car connection kits.

Posted by mattwardfh in Texas on March 4, 2005 at 11:19 AM (PDT)

2

Who’s to define high-end headphones and connection kits as “skewing?”

When taking averages, you don’t have to exlude things that are not average… that’s the idea. :-D

Posted by Jerrod H. in TX on March 4, 2005 at 12:04 PM (PDT)

3

Also, alot of things can add up.

$30 Sleeve
$35 iTrip
$30 Car Charger
$30 Headphones
$5 extra firewire cable to keep at work

and I still haven’t bought my travel speakers… $85 Logic3 i-Station

So that would set me above average. I spent $499 on my iPod Photo though, so I guess I’m below average in the sense that I’ve spent less then half of what I paid for the iPod.

Posted by LilAlienD in Maryland on March 4, 2005 at 12:20 PM (PDT)

4

ive bought [AUD]
$40 case
$35 iTrip
$30 car charger

thats about it…

Posted by Harrison in Melbourne, Australia on March 4, 2005 at 1:46 PM (PDT)

5

i stay low on the curve..

in dollars:
12 - Sony Ex51LP Earbuds
7 - Belkin Auto Kit
5 - Belkin Auxiliary Stereo Cable
24 - iSkin
15 - Belkin PCI Firewire Card

total of 63 dollars.. which is less than 30% of what i paid for my iPod ($220 brand new 40GB 4G from Best Buy)

Posted by byronface in pomona on March 4, 2005 at 1:59 PM (PDT)

6

$110 Vaja Case

Thats what I spent.

Musicroom :D

Posted by MuSiCrOoM in The World on March 4, 2005 at 2:47 PM (PDT)

7

Musicroom,

Lookin’ at one of those myself How do you like it?

Posted by LilAlienD in Maryland on March 4, 2005 at 3:26 PM (PDT)

8

Altec Lansing iM3s
Shure E3c
iTrip
iSkin

Sure does add up.

And let’s face it, the new iPods come with even less stuff than my 3G, so that average will shoot up a hell of a lot more.

Posted by iPoodle on March 4, 2005 at 4:07 PM (PDT)

9

Well, let’s see…I think I’m getting close to 200% LOL!

Pocket Dock
Car Charger
FM Transmitter
Extra firewire cord
Speck Case (didn’t fit)
Vaja Case (stitching caused scratches)
Agent18 Case x2 (cuz I love it so much!)
iM3 Speakers
PodWave
Etymotic earphones

AND let’s not even talk about extra money for tunes due to an increased enjoyment of same.

Posted by Aristillus in Maryland on March 4, 2005 at 7:33 PM (PDT)

10

I hope this iPod economy convinces Apple to not change the dock connector and break compatibility with current devices. I have been thinking of buying the Bose SoundDock but I am worried that in a couple of years my iPod might no longer work and the replacements would use another generation of the dock connector. In this scenario the SoundDock would be useless because it has no line-in other than the dock-connector.

Posted by Sol in Brisbane, Australia on March 4, 2005 at 11:09 PM (PDT)

11

Wow I guess I never really realized how much I blew on ipod accessories until now…
~$45 for the Belkin car charger (that nearly killed my ipod by shorting it) and the Belkin Voice Recorder (got both for half price that’s why it’s so cheap)
~$20 for a nice holder for the car
~$11 on a cassette adapter (went through 3 diff. adapters actually to find a decent one, although in reality I think the 2nd one was better than the 3rd)
~$28 for the USB 2.0 cable after my laptop broke and I needed to use my ipod on my dekstop

Dayum I broke $100 before even counting my the various headphone upgrades I’ve gone through for the ipod…like the EX71’s and then the Sharp MD33S’s which would bump me past their $150 mark, and this is counting the fact that I got a lot of my stuff a lot cheaper than retail (got the EX71’s at about half off along with the belkin stuff).

Man…this thing is a money pit!

Posted by tekdemon on March 5, 2005 at 12:54 AM (PDT)

12

dock 37
usb cable retractable 7
ipod sock green 7
in-ear apple earphones 39
usb 2.0 card pci 19

=109 Euros = 83 Dollar

ups, i didnt buy enough !

Posted by Sergiusz 4G-20GB & Shuffle 512 MB on March 5, 2005 at 3:06 AM (PDT)

13

Oh, correction : it the other way round - 141 Dollars - Perfect 150 Dollar hit

Posted by Sergiusz 4G-20GB & Shuffle 512 MB on March 5, 2005 at 3:08 AM (PDT)

14

i think im on the low end of that scale. $40 for an iskin and free sony 51’s…for a grand total of $40.

Posted by Straphanger in New York City on March 5, 2005 at 4:28 AM (PDT)

15

Oops…and I’m at the high end

Pacrim 4G iShield $50
Pacrim Cube speakers
(back ordered) 40
inMotion IM3 speakers 179
etymotic 6i earphones 149
Monster iCable 40

Total $449

But what a positive lifestyle change!! Priceless!!

Posted by pdtpoet in United States on March 5, 2005 at 5:52 AM (PDT)

16

Apple Dock - $30
Armband (x2) - $60
iTrip mini - $20
Belkin car charger - $20
Cassette adaptor - $20
Altec Lansing InMotion - $130
Etymotic Er-6i - $125

Total - $405 - 1.6 times the price of my iPod mini & well worth it (except maybe the cassette adaptor).

Cheers!
-Bryan

Posted by B.Mick in Austin, TX on March 5, 2005 at 6:31 AM (PDT)

17

Etymotic er6i’s $129
Vaja Case (from apple) $55
Griffin i-trip $29
I-Pod mini for wife
(so I could have mine back) $249
Total: $462

Looks like overtime for me.

Posted by MarkH on March 5, 2005 at 1:40 PM (PDT)

18

...days of non-stop music with shuffle “on”: priceless

Posted by Islareina in Missouri on March 5, 2005 at 5:37 PM (PDT)

19

I’ve spent the incredible amount of… €0!! (back in the good ol’ days, when 3G iPods still came with lots of stuff).

But damn, I’m about to spend €39, because my iPod remote just died on me… By the way, does the iPod shuffle count as an iPod accessory? You know, I already have a 3G 20GB, I don’t really *need* a shuffle… I’m going for the 1GB version, so that would put me above average!

Posted by Mainyehc in Lisbon, Portugal on March 5, 2005 at 7:09 PM (PDT)

20

$150???

What nonsense.

I spent $143 at MOST!

Actually, let’s add it up…

RadTech PodSleevz
iTrip
iBeam
Sennheiser PX100s
Wireless remote once I choose one

... you know, let’s NOT add it up.

Posted by Nagromme on March 5, 2005 at 10:09 PM (PDT)

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