In a previous post I discussed the producer / consumer struggle taking place within the construction of object identity. In another example of this struggle, John Young – maker of the retroPod, has joined the (not so exclusive) list of recipients of a Sony “cease and desist” order.
John has been shoehorning iPods into the shells of old Sony Walkman’s. The result is the “retroPod”, a tough, “mostly waterproof” and so right now (like only the 80’s can be) iPod case. You can follow the design development of the retroPod here.
Having developed an impressively simple modification process with a high quality finish John launched www.retroPod.com and put the retroPod on sale. 6 weeks latter he was forced to shut down the storefront under pressure from Sony. An exert from Sony’s letter appears on the retroPod site. In the letter Sony makes the rather bizarre claim that consumers will be misled by the retroPod “into thinking that Sony is backward in its design of products”. Do Sony seriously believe this, or is it simply a convenient claim designed to add weight to their legal action?
For me the retroPod has little impact on my understanding of Sony’s current design profile, but rather acts to further cement the Sony Walkman as a design icon. Considering Sony’s continued use of the “Walkman” trademark in their new Digital Music Player the Network Walkman you could argue that the historicising effect of the retroPod would be commercially productive for Sony. But it’s probably easier to understand Sony’s action as part of a strategy to distance itself from the Apple iPod at a time (September 2004) when they were trying to establish a market for their newly released Network Walkman (and strong-arming consumers into using their own DRM format ATRAC3).
Sony has since relaxed its stance on the ATRAC3 format and a recent article at engadget suggests Sony is beginning to soften in its hardline approach to consumer standards control. In light of this and the surprise appearance of Sony president Kunitake Ando during Steve Job’s keynote at Macworld this year, perhaps Sony’s attitude to the retroPod has changed in the past 6 months? Would the new, friendly Sony tolerate a small niche designer with a low volume handmade vintage product? – I doubt it.
(Pics courtesy of John Young and thanks to Denis for the retroPod link)
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