Actually, most people I know don't carry their iPods around with them often either. (And I don't see the telltale headphones on others either.) Most people seem to listen to them in their cars, leave them in a backpack, etc. I carry my Shuffle around with me--it's as convenient as they come as far as a portable player goes--but I still leave it in the car often enough, don't take it into the office, don't want to deal with the cord tangle everywhere I go... And it's the first portable MP3 player I've had, and I've had it for a month!PC-Engine said:
The excitement and desire to bother with any entertainment device--even highly convenient ones--eventually wears down. There's a good chance, though, that the same places you'd find iPod (in their car, in a briefcase, in a backpack, etc) are the same places you'd find their GBA, DS, or PSP. So what we're really talking about are those who are actively looking to carry their portable entertainment with them... and under that category falls music playing, game playing, and whatever else.
How to get it intrinsic EVERYWHERE is to link it to necessary devices. The cell phone is the #1 contender for that, as people will leave without their entertainment, but feel abandoned without their communication. (When they start sticking them in reasonably well into other devices like watches, or can slip inside a wallet or are rugged enough to hang on a keychain... Those are harder, though. The cell phone has most of the parts built in, is treated better, and is of reasonable size and great convenience.)
There are, of course, other possibilities. In MP3 players' case, it's getting rid of that damn wire. Just as soon as wireless earpieces can be included cheaply and easily with players, it will break down more convenience barriers and be much more widespread--as the "no muss, no fuss" level gets much improved. But for the moment, I seem to be the one most likely to be wearing a headset--to use the cell phone or to listen to music--out and about than others. Even MP3 playing--popular though it is--has not broken through certain social barriers.
No, I think that people wouldn't watch movies on the go like that because movie-watching is not a common thing to care about that much, nor an easy thing to fit into an on-the-go lifestyle. And, if you recall, there's a reason why I specifically avoided calling it that in regards to the PSP.
I do, however, know that people embrace the visual even more than the auditory, which is why they carry pictures of their loved ones around with them, take pictures of events to remember them by, discuss television around the water-cooler rather than sing songs, are much more easily fixated by something they see...
People WANT something that can carry "their visual life" around with them, and they enjoy seeing it of others' as well. How else would the built-in camera phones be taking off, except that it lets you record and present your life on the fly, with no added hassle? Now indeed the PSP cannot match that convenience, but neither can the iPod or other devices, but among those who are carrying an entertainment device around with them for one reason or another... the PSP is a good catch-all. A portable DVD player would never be bothered with, but a popular gaming machine that can carry photos around with you, music to listen to, random things to watch, show to friends and enjoy, and also has the capability to play movies...? Why yes--fool that I am--I do actually think a device like that might enhance the possibility that people would carry a machine around with them on the go that could let them watch movies. But more importantly, it lets them do a whole lot MORE otherwise as well.
It ain't gonna change the world, because nothing like that yet HAS. The cell phone carries much more impact all by itself, and for that reason we see it being used as the device of choice to try to wrap these other features in. The GBA has sold how many units in its lifespan? Upwards of 70 million in four years? iPods have only breached 10 million sales a few months ago, but it's still considered an icon. Meanwhile, cell phones sold some 500+ million last year alone. We are certainly NOT talking about the same thing--but we also don't HAVE to be.
We see plenty of devices that are hugely popular, change the market landscape, but are never precisely earth-shattering. Would the world we live in be the same without the Walkman? I daresay it would, but the portable audio market would certainly have grown up differently. Devices of a type show their importance relative to each other, and encompass and perhaps expand the market they're in, and can be wildly popular and profitable where they sit, and yet not change much at all. Lifestyles may be slow and hard to change, but changing the acceptance and prevalence of certain things within the entertainment market...? Not so much.
Will the PSP be the device to do it? <shrugs> It stands a good chance of opening the door even if not, and if there's enough people there waiting for said door to open, it will be carried along. And yes, it WOULD carry along other oft-ignorred (or "too expensive to be embraced otherwise" or...) features along with. We still won't see people whipping it out at every street corner to watch something, but if THAT is the measure of success then we have an awful lot of failures on the market.
