¤ jetless heights

+ Wed, February 23

The Monthly iPod Update

It’s been a month since the iPod shuffle came out, and that’s much too long for Apple to go without generating a metric assload of press off their little white wünderboxes.  “More iPods!” Steve exclaims.

I see one very solid thing and one kinda …crappy thing about today’s update.  They very good thing is that starting at the $100 pricemark, there’s an iPod every $50 and no obvious product cannibalization occurring.  This is very intelligent marketing and it really opens the product up to an enormous range of people.  From $100 to $350, you’ve got your choice of an mp3 player ranging in capacity from 512mb to 30gb and that’s a very major thing.  At the very high end, you can step up the cost $100 and pick up a massive 60gb player.  Based on my library size, that’s about 43 days of non-stop music.

If you ask me, this was a very conscious effort on Apple’s part.  The question is, how do you finagle the devices into the price points without taking losses by underselling?  According to Apple, you take out all the extras.  Nowadays, there’s no iPod that comes with a dock or a case.  Firewire cables are missing from every model updated today (though they all have USB2 cables) and indeed, the iPod mini doesn’t have an AC adapter anymore.  Yes, you can still buy all of these from Apple later, but keep in mind, when I bought my iPod in May of 2003 I got a case, dock, cable set, headphones and even the little headphone remote.  Then again, I paid $150 more than today’s 30gb player and I didn’t get a color screen or 15 hours of music playback.

I don’t view these accessory shortcomings as too much of a detraction.  The USB2 cable is as fine as the Firewire cable, the iPod case Apple makes is wholly inaccessible and the dock, well, you have to admit that a dock is simply an expensive nicety for any device.  If this is what it takes to get these players at the sweet price points they’re at now, so be it.  I expect the $200 4gb player and the $350 color-screen 30gb iPod to sell insanely well over the next few months.  Better than ever, in fact.

(And, for what it’s worth, you can find the older iPod photo’s for $120 off in the Apple rebates section.  40gb player, color screen, 15 hour battery life with a dock and case for only $479.  Not too shabby for you close-eyed readers.)

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+ Tue, October 26

Them White Music Things

There was a time when iPod news was the exclusive stuff of geeks and wide-eyed Apple cultists.  That was three years and three days ago.  I probably saw more than 15 of the little guys today going to only two classes.  Rich dorks no more, we’re talking Pretty Ms. ΔΔΔ-butt here.

Of course today’s announcement of the iPod Photo has my knickers all knotted.  60GB, 65,000 colors on the screen, 15 hours of battery life – what’s not to love?  The price.  Well yes, there’s the price which is the highest ever, but we’re talking about the granddaddy of all iPods here.  My prediction is that the fifth generation will see the iPod and iPod Photo roll back into one product.  Color screens across the line, maxing out at the traditional high price point of $499.  We shall see.

As for today’s announcement, nickd and I had a little conversation.

Phil: Apple
nickd: WHITE STRIPES EDITION
nickd: INTERPOL EDITION
nickd: TURN ON THE BACKLIGHTS



nickd: wow
nickd: sony really takes it up the ass again, don’t they
nickd: did you see that model they released yesterday?
Phil: Yeah, I read
nickd: they had to release the ipod killer again because people realized it wouldn’t play mp3s :p
nickd: and it managed to suck even more



Phil: Composite video and stereo audio in a mini-jack
nickd: …
Phil: jpg, bmp, gif, tiff and png
nickd: NO TARGA???????
Phil: NO EPS EITHER
nickd: NO MICROGRAFX DESIGNER; TRAVESTY



Phil: Apple - iPod Photo - Sync Your Photos
nickd: good lord
Phil: Pretty pics there too
Phil: And the new dock
Phil: (with s-video on it also)
Phil: Where’s the toaster attachment?
Phil: Or the kitchen sink
nickd: NICE DOCK
Phil: IT DOES NOT HAVE A  KITCHEN SINK
nickd: IT ONLY HAS A BATHROOM SINK
nickd: INSUFFICIENCY

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+ Tue, July 27

One Step Towards A Real iPhone?

I made it six days without directly talking about Apple.  That’s a major accomplishment for me.

It was just last night when Mike Davidson made some pretty heady predictions about Apple’s entrance into the cell phone market.  With no definite plans or rumors to back up his claims, he went out on a limb and went so far as to say,

I’m going to go on record as saying we’ll see this [the Apple iPhone] around the beginning of 2005. I’ll also go on record as saying if Apple doesn’t capitalize on this opportunity soon, the market for iPods will dry up and they won’t have a digital lifestyle leg to stand on.

That’s some drastic talk about the company who is absolutely leading the digital lifestyle revolution in the consumer’s eye.  It’s not without warrant, nor is it terribly far-fetched.  It’s simply an extreme statement that I think many people have trouble swallowing.

Regardless, his thoughts on an Apple-branded third-party cellphone running Apple software that would allow you to bind it with your Mac and its Address Book and iTunes and Mail and what have you, are very interesting and would certainly produce a must-have device for me.

And it is tonight — only one day after Davidson wrote out his predictions — that Apple and Motorola announce a version of iTunes that will run on Motorola phones starting early next year.  It’s certainly not the grandiose plan Davidson envisioned, though it is a first ground-breaking step where one did not exist yesterday.

Apple never moves their most important products to foreign platforms when they don’t feel they will turn a healthy profit from it.  In fact, I can only think of one time they did that in the past: October 16, 2003 - iTunes For Windows.  Need I remind you that Apple has sold well over 2,000,000 iPods this year alone?  iTunes for Windows allowed the iPod to blossom into the must-have device for our day and Apple knows the brand power of iTunes.

The only reason I can see iTunes moving from the desktop to the cellphone would be if a truly Apple created/licensed cellphone is sitting in the wings in Cupertino, waiting until the perfect moment for deployment.

It seems Mike was just thinking different.

1:23 AM  ×  5 Comments  ×  0 Trackbacks