2GB Mini iPods in Colors!

I'm gonna call bull on this one.

instead of the ipod getting smaller the battery got bigger, i feel the next move for apple to make ipod better is a truly elegant car adapter or intergrator also to keep prices low, use older tech not this 1"drive just get a cheaper 5g out there

Hard to believe on the face of it - Can they get a 2G drive cheap enough that it, plus all the associated electronics in an iPod, could be sold for $99?

As I understand it, the costs of making a hard drive are generally fixed and are physical size, not capacity, driven. This is why low end drives tend to always be around the $100-150 mark to end buyers, no matter what the capacity. A 1" or 1.8" drive is presumably going to cost several times what it costs to make a 3.5" disk.

I'm not saying it's impossible, for all I know Toshiba/etc has done just that and found a way to make stunningly cheap 1.8" drives.

I hope I'm wrong. I know a lot of friends who'd pick up a $99 multi-gig-capacity iPod in a heartbeat.

man 2004 is shaping up to have many more releases than in any other year for Apple...

I wouldn't be shocked if a 2GB mini iPod was introduced (ePod?). But then, I wouldn't be shocked if it wasn't.

1) This is a "page 2" report. That is, there isn't much evidence.

2) Apple's fascination with colour ended about three years ago.

You know, there is something like 'critical mass' in sizing electronic devices. Look at cellphones. The technology is there to make them even smaller, but we don't because after a certain size they're just harder to use and the easier to lose.

I think a $99 iPod would be great, even if it was only 2GB, but I can't see any reason to make it smaller. Thinner, maybe. Of course, when was the last time Apple sold any hardware for $99?

Toshiba has developed a 0.85 inch hard disk (see link) with a capacity of 2 to 3 GB. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/EL16Dh02.html

"Toshiba aims to start shipping samples if its HDD to makers of cellular phones next summer and begin full-fledged production in early 2005 at its Ome, Tokyo, plant. After order volume rises, production will be moved to its HDD plant in the Philippines."

and

"The company [Toshiba] expects each drive to cost about 30,000 yen (US$280) initially, but projects that mass production will push down the price to less than 10,000 yen within a few years."

I would certainly buy such a mini iPod if they will be cheaper than the current iPods.

I could see it used to make the iPod thinner, but keep the same footprint. Rather than have the battery and HDD stacked above one another, in the same footprint, they could be placed beside one another (one behind the display and the other behind the scroll). Now you have a very thin iPod, and extremely light, but no less easy to use.

However, microdrive size HDD's aren't exactly cheap (at retail), even at the 1-4GB range they currently occupy, and there's no guarantee that such a device would be any cheaper than the current 10GB unit.

4GB units should be about 400-500 dollars (in a CF type 2 carrier)

Magicstor has 2.2GB microdrives for 179, I dunno'bout 1GB and 2GB Hitachi units. So even then, it won't exactly be easy to build down to a lower price than a 10GB unit. Not that the 10GB shouldn't be cheaper, but you get the sense that it is probably easier to build a cheaper device around the larger 1.8" HDD.

If, Apple were to build a smaller iPod, as mentioned, I rather see them build it around a CF slot.

When will the iPod be small enough?

At what point does its small size become a hindrance rather than a convenience? Tiny screen, tiny buttons, tiny niches...will a miniPod win over more customers or just take profits away from the higher margin iPods?

lower cost not raise them to get more affordable, this might be for next gen, not now. apple needs to concentrate on getting a cheaper ipod to the masses and a better car adaption
pcmag says ipods in short supply what are the most popular 10,20,40? i bought a 20g

The $99 price is not part of the original report. I'd expect a price more like $200. If there are colors, they will be sleeves such as those available today from third parties.

agree, but i feel with the huge popularity, pcmag is reporting short supply of the larger capacity ipods, so if so popular maybe apple will wait for cheaper units, it can be a slight price reduction for the 10-20 and maybe a price of 179 for 5g. hey if they sell them so well maybe they should "raise" prices (ha ha) just lower some and increase capacity and push "home in ipod" i don't know if apple needs a 100$ ipod yet, if they can get it to the sub-200 level for 5g that would sell well.

What about Imation's DataPlay format? Does that make any sense in an iPod?

As some here have suggested, I'd think that we should not try to imagine a smaller iPod as such, but rather a much thinner iPod that may have some millimeters cut off here and there as an added extra.

A set up consisting of maybe two CF cards that work as one logical volume. About 2 gig total? I would see a future for these, and although I was a sceptic a long time ago, I would seriously consider buying one if they were were affordable (i.e. about 150 dollars), and did constitute some space saving (in the depth dimension rather than height or width) and longer battery life than current iPods.

thinner?? if the form factor does not stabilize then how will the car adapter work, each ipod would need a different mount hmmmmm. lighter, more battery life yes, it needs a car adapter /mount

I think the idea is cool one. Cheap and colourful?

As for the abandoned colours. Not so the iPod adverts...leaving behind the sterile white backgrounds.

Some form of lower priced iPod is important for Apple to keep applying maximum pressure to competitors before the Wintel mob get in the game.

25 million songs sold on the iTunes store. Quite a milestone.

The iPod isn't quite priced affordably enough to reach the same milestone in iPods. And for Apple to keep up the iPod momentum in the next year? That's gotta be addressed soon.

A Dell busting iPod? Next round of iPod 'bumps'? Lower the price of the current hard drive models with steep price cuts. I still think £250 is alot to pay for a portable stereo I like the iPod. But I don't see myself buying one until they are much cheaper. After initial price cuts...the iPod price bracket has remained static. I hope Apple remedies that early in 2004. They aint gonna hit critical mass without positioning an iPod of some sort in a £99-£150 price bracket. Then Lemon (and many others no doubt...) thinks, 'Yeah. Now I can do that...'

Some funky kind of colourful iPods. Yes. I can see that. I haven't lost hope of this gadjet that changes the colour of its case. A kind of white iPod that is psycadelic in the dark...like an iTunes visualisation that plays through a white-lucent skin... If there's one device that screams 'give me colour', it's an iPod.

Nightclub Blue, funky green, fruity pink...tangerine fizz...bring it on, Apple!

Lemon Bon Bon

I would like to add my voice to the $99 just CAN'T be done crowd. I just looked at the edu pricing for iPods-to get an idea of what Apple can sell for and still make a little dough. 10Gb for $269. The best deal in terms of Gb/$ is the 40Gb iPod. You don't get cheaper with less capacity, its the other way around. I really think if they come out with a 5 or 2 Gb version then $199 would be reasonable for the masses $169 for edu.

If you think about it $199 is a good deal. 512 Mb USB flash drives cost about $199. Sure they are not the same product, but there is overlap and I would rather have a small iPod than just a flash drive. I also remember when the Sony Walkman came out and was a BIG hit. It was quite some time ago and the magic price I remember at the time was $129. That was the price my old brain associates with these things hitting mass appeal. I think, taking inflation into account, it is quite reasonable to assume that $199 iPods would fly off the shelf (I beleive they are already flying nicely at $299).

I don't understand why Toshiba is bothering with a 2GB HDD when you can get shock-proof Compact Flash cards that size. Consequently, I don't see why Apple would bother with these smaller drives either.


Didn't read far enough to see Matsu address my concern. CF memory is cheap these days. IMO, tiny HDDs have no real future. But aside from cost, flash memory has no moving parts, and is thus infinitely more shock-resistant than silly mini-HDDs. The fact that the iPod uses an HDD is one of the factors holding me back from buying one.

Escher

First decide how much storage is enough, then whether CF will be feasible.

Would 2-8GB be enough. CF is already in the 2-6GB range -- it's hideously expensive though. But it won't always be. There are people who would rather have <5GB of solid state music and recording than 80-160GB of HDD based storage. Outdoorsy types, for one.

It kinda becomes two seperate markets at that point, when costs allow it. Digital vault or digital player?

The Toshiba drives are not $300. That's retail pricing for the 40 Gig. Apple buys in quantities and probably pays about $75-$90 for it.

A low priced "colorful" iPod would make perfect sense to accompany the purported MacDonalds promotion. You've got kids and teens going to the stores everyday. Get a free iTunes download and possibly win one of the cool new iPods. We'll see.

Yes, $99 is probably too low, too soon. But think about the genius of this for a second. Everyone loves the iTMS, but the knock is that it only works with the expensive iPod.
Apple has always said that it's music service was really a way to sell hardware (i.e. iPods). If a low cost iPod were available, there would be very few reasons not to get one.
Perhaps it's $199 (or $149). Then again, Apple has been pretty good these days and maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised.

being one of the "80-160GB of HDD based storage" preferer types, i'd quite like to see a podStation. hooked up to the hifi, has a dock for the pod, iTunes through a TV screen and given the prices of 3.5" HDDs, this could be done for the £100-120 range.

ah hell, why not throw in a TV recording facility to boot...

the whole discussion about the 1" drives seems totally unrealistic to me. the price point will be too high for the sacrifice in capacity. would i like a small miniPod (2GB capacity) for £250 or a normal iPod (10GB capacity) for £250? hmmm... let me guess.

2 gigs that's pointless. Now if they could make a Mini iPod with 5 or 10 gigs, and be under $200 that would be great. $99 would be ideal but it'll be another year before prices get there I suppose.

I agree. Making the same iPod, but with lower prices and possibly higher battery life via 64 meg buffer, is more important than making a new line of mini iPods. However, I DO think they should add back some C O L O R in the Apple line, across the board!

as i mentioned here (http://forums.appleinsider.com/showt...threadid=34422) a solid state iPod would be nice! size half of an actual iPod (just the screen) , "system" with a little less function (no games, calendars, "external fw harddrive" etc), just 5 gigs of music!. or 2G, which equals- well, enough music for a walk

a 99$ machine would be the ipod for the rest of us!

btw, pricing: dock, remote control etc is NOT included

colors? no, iPod is white - you recognize an owner by the white earplugs!

I forgot there's also a Pepsi tie-in coming during Superbowl weekend in February. Another opportunity to promote both iTunes and a new $199 low-priced iPod. A solid state version is interesting but most companies are gravitating towards hard drives. I doubt Apple would go backwards. A 2 Gig iPod could hold up to 400 tracks, plenty for many people.

Um, yea right?

Look around. Any MP3 playes that are $99 are 128MB, 256MB if you can find a special. Not anything close to 2GBs. A 2GB flash card is around $400 retail. There is no way Apple could make and sell a $99 iPod around a 2GB flash card.

I don't see a point in Apple selling a 512MB iPod. 2 GB would be the lowest I see that makes sense, 5 GB seems more resonable. A toshiba 1.8" 5GB HD is retailing for about $180. Meaning in bulk Apple could probably get them from $135 (which is 75% of the retial price). I could see Apple being able to produce a 5GB iPod for $199.

And on a side note, is it just me, or do the latest iPods seem cheaper made than the originals. I don't know, maybe it is because I like to acutally feel the push of a button and such, but when using the latest iPods it just seems like one of those candy cell phones. It just seems fake and cheap.

Ya know what I'd like, instead of fullly colored iPods.

just have different colored backlights for the buttons.

currently it's red so offer Blue Green orangish yellow and white


Or something to that effect, that would be cooool.

Here's my mock-up

Gold ???????

Maybe Ive will have something to say about that. But they've got to go with cell-phone type covers surely ?

Otherwise there'll be some colours stuck on the shelf - gold maybe ?

$149 from a friend. No other details.

CONFIRMED.

After looking at all the flash based players at the store yesterday I have tosay Apple has their work cut out for them. It will be more difficult to come up with a winner against the competition that it was with the disk based machine.

At the minimal they will need a 2GB machine and then they will have to find the optimal form factor. My preference would be for thin, something that can be placed in the pocket and not leave a nasty bulge.

I do hope that they continue to improve the iPod disk based line. The flash and disk based products need to be distinguished also as differrent technologies.

Dave

No, this is a good thing. Gold is bling bling. The minipod would also become the accessory to buy and wear.

Gold is trailer trash.