"Though the device itself was launched a while ago, Sony turned to Auckland-based ad agency DraftFCB to help market the product in New Zealand. And so they came up with the Bottled Walkman, which is sold from vending machines in public places such as gyms. Check out the demo video for yourself."
That's what's most interesting to me. Have we heard from anybody who's actually bought the player from a vending machine? This seems to me to be one of those cases where you don't actually need to do it to get the marketing value from it- all you need is to make a video of the idea. It's a more sophisticated form of "This Ad Was Banned!!"
I could be totally wrong, of course.
EDIT: To clarify, I'm saying I don't think Sony's actually selling their walkmans in bottles of water, they just made a video of the idea of it. Can anbody disconfirm this?
> To clarify, I'm saying I don't think Sony's actually selling their walkmans in bottles of water, they just made a video of the idea of it. Can anbody disconfirm this?
I imagine they probably have at least 1 real vending machine, but you're probably right in that the publicity of the story is worth 1000x the sales from the vending machine
I doubt it would be the best distribution method :) But it would still be a good idea to put it in some high profile vending machines even if nobody buys it from them. If you saw an MP3 player while you were off to buy some Mike n' Ike, you'd definitely remember that for later if you wanted to buy an MP3 player, and also, very importantly, you'd tell all your friends.
The video probably has a higher return on investment than actually stocking some machines with it, but I can still see it being worth it to stock some vending machines in highly visible places with it.
So you expect me to believe that a vending machine where I can buy a Coke for six quarters that I can also buy an MP3 player for 750 quarters? I am not buying it.
Even if you could actually buy it in your gym, what would you do with it, until you get back home and connect it with computer? Should it be pre-loaded with some MTV top-charts crap? Should someone periodically refresh the content with current music?
They were in a vending machine at my gym last month! Apparently the promo was only for 30 days, but in that time they did sell a few (according to the guy that works there). I saw some guys wearing them (since the gym is above the swimming pool so you can look down) and it works without a smartphone. I'm pretty sure the water is drinkable as well.
Pretty bizarre that people had to put cash in to buy it though. I don't remember there being a Eftpos terminal at all.
Strange this just popped up today though, since I haven't seen any of these vending machines around in the last few weeks.
I'll hand it to Sony, they can come up with some sweet marketing campaigns.
On a side note, do a lot of people really listen to music while swimming? In college I used to do 30 minutes of laps in the pool a couple times a week. I liked doing it precisely because you couldn't listen to music and you'd have to focus on keeping good form. It was just you and the water.
My sister swims for exercise, and asked for a waterproof ipod shuffle for Christmas. I thought she was joking, but they do actually exist. Apparently they are quite popular at her pool:
I'm surprised this isn't more popular. I have not just music but audiobooks, podcasts, videos (mostly for listening and occasional glancing) and classes, on my several water-sealed devices. It's a pain to keep up internet connectivity in the pool (wi-fi times out underwater) but with a range extender and keeping the device floating or attached to the snorkel, you can even do Netflix or other streaming.
With respect to your side note: As someone who swam competitively throughout high school and college, having the ability to listen to music while practicing is really nice. When you're practicing 2-3 hours a day, six days a week, it can make a big difference.
Along that line the pool at USC had an underwater speaker system. It was nominally to allow coaches to give input to swimmers as they were swimming but we managed to put music on it a couple of times. Fun but annoying to the other swimmers if they didn't like your music choices.
Waterproof listening devices have always been wishful thinking, but never actually implemented correctly nor have had the demand properly assessed (lots of people think they want them, but I'm not sure if they truly do)
Challenges I see:
- Cords get tangled really easily due to the nature of the sport (Solution - make them completely in ear)
- Bulkiness slows you down or at least presents issues when they fall out (see solution 1)
- There is no easy way to control volume or change the song (solution - perhaps use something in your mouth to "chew" on to change these parameters maybe?)
Swimming (especially the 3-4k I do almost daily) can be painfully dull, so the demand is sort of there, but it seems the amount of tech involved far outweighs the presumed benefit (and therefore demand).
Impactful packaging, but seems gimmicky. Also, think about it from a supply chain perspective: water is heavy. Conservatively, assume the mp3 player in normal packaging is about a pound. 16oz of water is going to double that. And distribution channels for consumables is completely different from electronics. I can't imagine this is going to be widespread.
I can't imagine it needs to be; they just need people to watch the video and share the headlines on major news sites, Reddit, HN, etc. Suddenly the idea of Sony's waterproof walkman is in everybody's minds, almost free of charge. Most people will probably buy it online or from their favourite retail store.
Maybe they could ship it through the water pipes direct to your house, thus saving packaging and transportation costs, and the pesky plastic for the bottle.
I don't think it needs to be widespread. I bet if you put this in a central vending machine in the food court of a college campus, everyone would know about it in no time.
1. This isn't US, so those rules don't apply ("a confectionery product with a non-nutritive object, partially or totally imbedded within it, cannot be sold within the United States")
2. This may be more a viral thing than an actual packaging.
3. The water may not really be meant to be drunk, it's just a gimmick.
I guess EU would require Sony to certify the player for food contact and that would be expensive enough to be not worth the trouble. Or require to wipe any suggestions that the water is drinkable.
Looks like it's become a recurring theme at Sony. They had kept Xperia Z demo phones and tablets under running tap water, at their outlets in Bangalore.
In Berlin last year, you could win a Sony phone by diving into a tank of water and fetch one from the ground. If it was a real one, you could keep it :)
What an excellent concept. Reminded me of the '80s(?) when the waterproof Timex (or was it Casio?) was displayed in fishtanks - you immediately knew what the product was capable of, as well as it becoming one of those "guess what I saw earlier" things.
I'm a Sony hardware fan and I would have bought this device in a heartbeat if it didn't have such awful battery life. It would be perfect on my bike rides but I ride all day, not less than an hour.
Happily I have a Sony mp3 player with 30 hours from a single charge.
I looked at getting one of these for the holidays, but it seems they're not held firmly into your ears during swimming sessions, according to reviews. Nice marketing though.
A few weeks ago my mate grabbed his Sony smartphone (I cannot recall the actual model since I'm clueless about smartphones), started recording a video, then threw it in the dog's water bowl. Great ten second video, including distorted sound.
Water ? lame. What about vodka? At times like this I will side with General Ripper from Dr Strangelove. He never drank water, because the commies were poisoning it to pacify the West.
Unless that's a different mp3 player from the one I'm thinking about, it got pretty bad reviews. It might be waterproof, but most reviewers said that once water gets in your ear you can't really hear anything.
What about the charger, warranty card, manual, etc? There is space at the top of the bottle masked by a silver band which might contain something, but surprised if you could get the charger in there.
[+] [-] visakanv|12 years ago|reply
That's what's most interesting to me. Have we heard from anybody who's actually bought the player from a vending machine? This seems to me to be one of those cases where you don't actually need to do it to get the marketing value from it- all you need is to make a video of the idea. It's a more sophisticated form of "This Ad Was Banned!!"
I could be totally wrong, of course.
EDIT: To clarify, I'm saying I don't think Sony's actually selling their walkmans in bottles of water, they just made a video of the idea of it. Can anbody disconfirm this?
[+] [-] shawabawa3|12 years ago|reply
I imagine they probably have at least 1 real vending machine, but you're probably right in that the publicity of the story is worth 1000x the sales from the vending machine
[+] [-] etler|12 years ago|reply
The video probably has a higher return on investment than actually stocking some machines with it, but I can still see it being worth it to stock some vending machines in highly visible places with it.
[+] [-] rmason|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] jablan|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Matsta|12 years ago|reply
They were in a vending machine at my gym last month! Apparently the promo was only for 30 days, but in that time they did sell a few (according to the guy that works there). I saw some guys wearing them (since the gym is above the swimming pool so you can look down) and it works without a smartphone. I'm pretty sure the water is drinkable as well.
Pretty bizarre that people had to put cash in to buy it though. I don't remember there being a Eftpos terminal at all.
Strange this just popped up today though, since I haven't seen any of these vending machines around in the last few weeks.
[+] [-] visakanv|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] happywolf|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] snake_plissken|12 years ago|reply
On a side note, do a lot of people really listen to music while swimming? In college I used to do 30 minutes of laps in the pool a couple times a week. I liked doing it precisely because you couldn't listen to music and you'd have to focus on keeping good form. It was just you and the water.
[+] [-] jcampbell1|12 years ago|reply
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_18?url=search-alias...
[+] [-] waldrews|12 years ago|reply
"I'm not weird, I'm an early adopter."
[+] [-] kevinrpope|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ChuckMcM|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mbesto|12 years ago|reply
Challenges I see:
- Cords get tangled really easily due to the nature of the sport (Solution - make them completely in ear)
- Bulkiness slows you down or at least presents issues when they fall out (see solution 1)
- There is no easy way to control volume or change the song (solution - perhaps use something in your mouth to "chew" on to change these parameters maybe?)
Swimming (especially the 3-4k I do almost daily) can be painfully dull, so the demand is sort of there, but it seems the amount of tech involved far outweighs the presumed benefit (and therefore demand).
[+] [-] basseq|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] visakanv|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rahimnathwani|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] desireco42|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ctdonath|12 years ago|reply
Bigger problem is that once you buy it, you still need to take it home, dry it off, and load music on it.
[+] [-] welly|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pbhjpbhj|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DanBC|12 years ago|reply
(I carefully put qualifiers in because this is just a rough rule of thumb and different altitudes etc make a difference).
[+] [-] stephengillie|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] etler|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wubbfindel|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tommyd|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mhb|12 years ago|reply
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinder_Surprise
[+] [-] maaaats|12 years ago|reply
1. This isn't US, so those rules don't apply ("a confectionery product with a non-nutritive object, partially or totally imbedded within it, cannot be sold within the United States")
2. This may be more a viral thing than an actual packaging.
3. The water may not really be meant to be drunk, it's just a gimmick.
[+] [-] dec0dedab0de|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mbq|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ars|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] josh-wrale|12 years ago|reply
... I wouldn't drink the water.
[+] [-] pasbesoin|12 years ago|reply
(In other words, I don't buy Sony products any more, since they insisted upon rootkitting their customers' computers some years ago.)
[+] [-] swatkat|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] buster|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] iamben|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SixSigma|12 years ago|reply
Happily I have a Sony mp3 player with 30 hours from a single charge.
[+] [-] SamReidHughes2|12 years ago|reply
edit: According to the tech specs it will get a 1 hour charge after the first 3 minutes of charging.
I have the previous water-resistant model and this seems about right.
[+] [-] sspiff|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] NAFV_P|12 years ago|reply
Water ? lame. What about vodka? At times like this I will side with General Ripper from Dr Strangelove. He never drank water, because the commies were poisoning it to pacify the West.
[+] [-] girvo|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pratkar|12 years ago|reply
But the larger question is whether the water is actually potable, it being in vending machines after all!
[+] [-] judk|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sgdesign|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thomc|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bhartzer|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] presidentender|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Luc|12 years ago|reply
But apparently HN commenters are not immune to being fooled...