1.) If people would rather have the 9 GB they will have to shell out $50 more than they would for the smaller iPod...but they will still be buying an Apple product and spending $300.
This is an extremely good point. It's not like Mac Vs. PC here where the customer has to chose whether they're going to buy an Apple product or a PC product. It's Mac Vs. Mac, so Apple always wins. It's brillaint marketing.
Rob Enderle, the Darth Vader of anti-Appledom likes the new iPod. He predicted it would be flash-based however. I think the regular iPod is going to get a major upgrade later in the year. We'll see.
I think 500 songs for $129.00 would have been better buy. That 62% share Apple is going after obviously has a problem spending more than $100-150. Why does Apple think they will suddenly be able to spend twice as much as what they paid for their flash players? If they could afford an iPod they would buy one.....they can't so they buy $100 knock-offs. $249 does not make them any closer to being able to buy an iPod.
Tomster1300 is right. The maket segments are determined not by the number of songs that the player will hold, but by the price. In my opinion Apple has set the price too high. If they wanted to target the medium market then they should have priced then accordingly. To use Apple's own reasoning, if I can afford $249 then I can afford $299. What's going to happen, and if I look at it from this angle this pricing is acceptable, the new iPod mini will cut into the lowend iPod market. Which is okay because the profit margins are greater on the mini, I assume. It's all becoming clear, in my mind at least, this is why they increased the lowend iPod to 15GB. To separate the mini from the low end iPod. So the only problem is... They still don't have an iPod to target that 30% of the market that doesn't want to spend more than $200.
Edit: changed the word "less" to "more" in my last sentence.
They still don't have an iPod to target that 30% of the market that doesn't want to spend less than $200.
Steve very clearly said that the people that are in the 31% of the market that buy crappy sub $149 players end up not using them and buying a more expensive model.
Does anybody have any idea why the iPod Mini has 8 hour battery life while the similar Rio Nitrus lists 16 hours using the same type battery. Just wondering.
Apple Computer is using a small hard drive from Hitachi in its new iPod, as the market for mini drives heats up.
The 4GB drive, which measures 1 inch across, marks Hitachi's second major contract in the music player field. Last October, Dell came out with a music player that contained a 1.8-inch Hitachi drive.
Apple did not state which company is manufacturing the drive for the new iPods, but sources close to Hitachi confirmed it is the Japanese computing giant.
The process of elimination is also fairly straightforward on this issue, because there are only three companies with product plans in this area. Cornice, a start-up that makes a 2GB minidrive that can be found in music players from Digital Networks North America (makers of the Rio line), said it wasn't involved, and Toshiba, which manufacturers 1.8-inch drives for Apple's other iPods, won't come out with a drive in the 1-inch range until late this year.
The hard drive has emerged as one of the key components in the push to bring PC technologies to the home. Personal video recorders from TiVo and others depend on hard drives to store recorded TV programs. Samsung has shown off a small video camera that relies on a 1-inch hard drive.
The iPod has also helped popularize portable music players with hard drives. More portable music players actually depend on flash memory to store music, but flash players can't achieve the same capacity, and they feature only about 256MB, versus several gigabytes, of storage space.
Until recently, in fact, the market for small hard drives, defined as drives with a diameter of 1.8 inches or less, has been sort of a sleepy place. IBM originally designed the 1-inch drive, which it called the micro drive, in the 1990s, but it sold in low numbers. Toshiba was the first major manufacturer of 1.8-inch drives, but to date, the vast majority of the drives have been incorporated into iPods.
Last year, Hitachi and Cornice both jumped into the market. Hitachi acquired the technology when it purchased IBM's hard-drive business in 2002.
When the iPod was first announced, people on these boards said that it was too expensive and most were disappointed it wasn't a PDA that was announced (especially me).
The iPod, since that introduction which left most of the 'Mac Community' baffled and stunned, has become an icon. Everyone wants an iPod. The new smaller form factor and the various colors they can be are going to add to people wanting iPods, and I think that they are just cheap enough to make people want to buy one.
The 15 GB iPod can hold more music than most people collect in a lifetime and I'm also convinced that people don't need to hold all the music that can be stored on the 40 GB iPod. Literally, how many people have 10,000 songs *and* the need to have all 10,000 of those songs on them at all times? I know the iPod can also be a portable hard drive, but that's a secondary function.
Yes, the larger iPods aren't that big. But they are larger than the new Mini iPods, and there's definitely a market for them. People like small devices they can carry around. Not only that, but the mini iPod holds 1,000 songs. If you have that much music on your Mac, you can always switch out songs for later. Throw songs into a 'My Favorite Music' playlist and keep it on your iPod all the time, while putting other random songs on it as well.
Sometimes it's hard not to be a 'spec whore' and have what is considered the 'latest and greatest'. To be honest, I look at the 40 GB iPods and say, "I'd sure like one of those" but I *know* I can't come close to filling it with music, nor do I think I would I use it as much as I'd say I would.
These new iPods are almost enough to make me buy one. Almost.
For $269, I can get the 20Gb Rio Karma. Why I should I pay $20 less for 16Gb less?
The Karma is bigger than a Nomad Zen NX.
The iPod mini competes spec for spec with the 4 GB Rio Nitrus, whic is also $249.
---
The scrollwheel buttons take some getting used to. Not quite as intuitive but the boon here is that it's almost impossible to press the buttons by mistake, unlike the touch-senstive gen-3 iPods.
Let's see, me a consumer sees the ad for the mini ipod comparing it to the other $199 players. Oh my gosh, for only $50 more I can carry 940 more songs, must have.
As I enter the local Apple store to buy this astonishing new mini ipod to join the ranks of the stylish.
Sales rep comes over, "Good day, may I help you? You seem very interested in the stylish new mpg-3 killer the new mini ipod. Yes it is much much better than the competition, more songs, small and best of all has the Apple interface for cruising tunes."
Sales rep continues,"Before you make a decision, might I show this 15 gigabite iPod. For ONLY $50 more it holds an astonishing bazillion songs, you can partition the hard drive to hold back up computer data or system software, you know, just in case you may wish to run disc utilities to repair your desktop. Imagine 7.5 X's the storage, extra utility, you just can't go wrong with this. ALL FOR ONLY $50 more".
I say Apple positioned this mini ipod exactly where they wanted it. Seems like Apple's marketing is in overdrive.
Yes people, some things you like, some you don't and price is always gonna be an issue, but.....
...in the back of your mind...
YOU KNOW YOU STILL WANT ONE!
It's true, while I think it is overpriced, the scroll wheel with it being able to act as press buttons looked awesome... + a shiny blue. I will wait for $200 version though. On TechTV.com they think it is overpriced as well. I think Apple will drop the price like a bad habit, they have to. They are getting a bad karma for the minipod because of the price. This needs fixing IMO.
I also read on this thread that it could be a marketing technique to drive up iPod sales even further because of the $50 Price gap. That is pretty tricky, but how long could it work?
It's true, while I think it is overpriced, the scroll wheel with it being able to act as press buttons looked awesome... + a shiny blue. I will wait for $200 version though. On TechTV.com they think it is overpriced as well. I think Apple will drop the price like a bad habit, they have to. They are getting a bad karma for the minipod because of the price. This needs fixing IMO.
Do you remember the cries of the geeks when the first iPod was introduced? The iPod is a consumer product first and foremost. Geeks buying it is an added bonus. Nobody watches TechTV, but geeks. Consumers will see this as a smaller cheaper iPod. That's it.
Does anybody have any idea why the iPod Mini has 8 hour battery life while the similar Rio Nitrus lists 16 hours using the same type battery. Just wondering.
The Dell DJ also has advertised 16 hours(or was it 15?)
either way, I heard it was because there were TWO batteries in it, but I don't know
Comments
hmm...
I too thought Steve would the introduce the 2 GB, after being stunned by the $249 price.
Two hours later, I too thought it was a masterstroke.
Dr. L
Originally posted by Messiahtosh
1.) If people would rather have the 9 GB they will have to shell out $50 more than they would for the smaller iPod...but they will still be buying an Apple product and spending $300.
This is an extremely good point. It's not like Mac Vs. PC here where the customer has to chose whether they're going to buy an Apple product or a PC product. It's Mac Vs. Mac, so Apple always wins. It's brillaint marketing.
Originally posted by Tomster1300
I think 500 songs for $129.00 would have been better buy. That 62% share Apple is going after obviously has a problem spending more than $100-150. Why does Apple think they will suddenly be able to spend twice as much as what they paid for their flash players? If they could afford an iPod they would buy one.....they can't so they buy $100 knock-offs. $249 does not make them any closer to being able to buy an iPod.
Tomster1300 is right. The maket segments are determined not by the number of songs that the player will hold, but by the price. In my opinion Apple has set the price too high. If they wanted to target the medium market then they should have priced then accordingly. To use Apple's own reasoning, if I can afford $249 then I can afford $299. What's going to happen, and if I look at it from this angle this pricing is acceptable, the new iPod mini will cut into the lowend iPod market. Which is okay because the profit margins are greater on the mini, I assume. It's all becoming clear, in my mind at least, this is why they increased the lowend iPod to 15GB. To separate the mini from the low end iPod. So the only problem is... They still don't have an iPod to target that 30% of the market that doesn't want to spend more than $200.
Edit: changed the word "less" to "more" in my last sentence.
Originally posted by fahlman
They still don't have an iPod to target that 30% of the market that doesn't want to spend less than $200.
Steve very clearly said that the people that are in the 31% of the market that buy crappy sub $149 players end up not using them and buying a more expensive model.
Hitachi hard drive at heart of new iPod
Michael Kanellos, Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: January 6, 2004
Apple Computer is using a small hard drive from Hitachi in its new iPod, as the market for mini drives heats up.
The 4GB drive, which measures 1 inch across, marks Hitachi's second major contract in the music player field. Last October, Dell came out with a music player that contained a 1.8-inch Hitachi drive.
Apple did not state which company is manufacturing the drive for the new iPods, but sources close to Hitachi confirmed it is the Japanese computing giant.
The process of elimination is also fairly straightforward on this issue, because there are only three companies with product plans in this area. Cornice, a start-up that makes a 2GB minidrive that can be found in music players from Digital Networks North America (makers of the Rio line), said it wasn't involved, and Toshiba, which manufacturers 1.8-inch drives for Apple's other iPods, won't come out with a drive in the 1-inch range until late this year.
The hard drive has emerged as one of the key components in the push to bring PC technologies to the home. Personal video recorders from TiVo and others depend on hard drives to store recorded TV programs. Samsung has shown off a small video camera that relies on a 1-inch hard drive.
The iPod has also helped popularize portable music players with hard drives. More portable music players actually depend on flash memory to store music, but flash players can't achieve the same capacity, and they feature only about 256MB, versus several gigabytes, of storage space.
Until recently, in fact, the market for small hard drives, defined as drives with a diameter of 1.8 inches or less, has been sort of a sleepy place. IBM originally designed the 1-inch drive, which it called the micro drive, in the 1990s, but it sold in low numbers. Toshiba was the first major manufacturer of 1.8-inch drives, but to date, the vast majority of the drives have been incorporated into iPods.
Last year, Hitachi and Cornice both jumped into the market. Hitachi acquired the technology when it purchased IBM's hard-drive business in 2002.
Originally posted by satchmo
You and millions of others are under Steve's RTF.
Isn't that a French Television channel?
Originally posted by iMacfan
Isn't that a French Television channel?
No no... you just aren't under the influence of sacthmo's SDF (Spelling Distortion Field)!
When the iPod was first announced, people on these boards said that it was too expensive and most were disappointed it wasn't a PDA that was announced (especially me).
The iPod, since that introduction which left most of the 'Mac Community' baffled and stunned, has become an icon. Everyone wants an iPod. The new smaller form factor and the various colors they can be are going to add to people wanting iPods, and I think that they are just cheap enough to make people want to buy one.
The 15 GB iPod can hold more music than most people collect in a lifetime and I'm also convinced that people don't need to hold all the music that can be stored on the 40 GB iPod. Literally, how many people have 10,000 songs *and* the need to have all 10,000 of those songs on them at all times? I know the iPod can also be a portable hard drive, but that's a secondary function.
Yes, the larger iPods aren't that big. But they are larger than the new Mini iPods, and there's definitely a market for them. People like small devices they can carry around. Not only that, but the mini iPod holds 1,000 songs. If you have that much music on your Mac, you can always switch out songs for later. Throw songs into a 'My Favorite Music' playlist and keep it on your iPod all the time, while putting other random songs on it as well.
Sometimes it's hard not to be a 'spec whore' and have what is considered the 'latest and greatest'. To be honest, I look at the 40 GB iPods and say, "I'd sure like one of those" but I *know* I can't come close to filling it with music, nor do I think I would I use it as much as I'd say I would.
These new iPods are almost enough to make me buy one. Almost.
Originally posted by jginsbu
No no... you just aren't under the influence of sacthmo's SDF (Spelling Distortion Field)!
Thanks, I've corrected that now....And it's Satchmo, not sacthmo
See how powerful Steve's field is?
Originally posted by galthol
For $269, I can get the 20Gb Rio Karma. Why I should I pay $20 less for 16Gb less?
The Karma is bigger than a Nomad Zen NX.
The iPod mini competes spec for spec with the 4 GB Rio Nitrus, whic is also $249.
---
The scrollwheel buttons take some getting used to. Not quite as intuitive but the boon here is that it's almost impossible to press the buttons by mistake, unlike the touch-senstive gen-3 iPods.
Originally posted by rickag
Let's see, me a consumer sees the ad for the mini ipod comparing it to the other $199 players. Oh my gosh, for only $50 more I can carry 940 more songs, must have.
As I enter the local Apple store to buy this astonishing new mini ipod to join the ranks of the stylish.
Sales rep comes over, "Good day, may I help you? You seem very interested in the stylish new mpg-3 killer the new mini ipod. Yes it is much much better than the competition, more songs, small and best of all has the Apple interface for cruising tunes."
Sales rep continues,"Before you make a decision, might I show this 15 gigabite iPod. For ONLY $50 more it holds an astonishing bazillion songs, you can partition the hard drive to hold back up computer data or system software, you know, just in case you may wish to run disc utilities to repair your desktop. Imagine 7.5 X's the storage, extra utility, you just can't go wrong with this. ALL FOR ONLY $50 more".
I say Apple positioned this mini ipod exactly where they wanted it. Seems like Apple's marketing is in overdrive.
Originally posted by Fran441
Things to consider:
Great post!!! I agree completely. The Spec Whore? mentality can be very hard to overcome.
Originally posted by MiMac
Yes people, some things you like, some you don't and price is always gonna be an issue, but.....
...in the back of your mind...
YOU KNOW YOU STILL WANT ONE!
It's true, while I think it is overpriced, the scroll wheel with it being able to act as press buttons looked awesome... + a shiny blue. I will wait for $200 version though. On TechTV.com they think it is overpriced as well. I think Apple will drop the price like a bad habit, they have to. They are getting a bad karma for the minipod because of the price. This needs fixing IMO.
I also read on this thread that it could be a marketing technique to drive up iPod sales even further because of the $50 Price gap. That is pretty tricky, but how long could it work?
Originally posted by cubs23
It's true, while I think it is overpriced, the scroll wheel with it being able to act as press buttons looked awesome... + a shiny blue. I will wait for $200 version though. On TechTV.com they think it is overpriced as well. I think Apple will drop the price like a bad habit, they have to. They are getting a bad karma for the minipod because of the price. This needs fixing IMO.
Do you remember the cries of the geeks when the first iPod was introduced? The iPod is a consumer product first and foremost. Geeks buying it is an added bonus. Nobody watches TechTV, but geeks. Consumers will see this as a smaller cheaper iPod. That's it.
Originally posted by MacsRGood4U
Does anybody have any idea why the iPod Mini has 8 hour battery life while the similar Rio Nitrus lists 16 hours using the same type battery. Just wondering.
The Dell DJ also has advertised 16 hours(or was it 15?)
either way, I heard it was because there were TWO batteries in it, but I don't know
Here's a photo of SJ reading the engraved inscription on the back of the new iPod Mini that was given to him by John Mayer. Anybody know what it says?