“The third-generation iPod nano introduced at last year’s Apple Event just never seemed to take off with the public like the second-gen model did. Why? Though the screen was big and beautiful for such a tiny device, it just didn’t feel right. Its form factor was more awkward in the hand than its predecessor, and, well, consumers just plain didn’t like it,” Jacqui Cheng reports for Ars Technica.
“Apple obviously noticed this problem as well,” Cheng reports. “The company doesn’t release sales data for each type of iPod, but the fat nano couldn’t have been selling well, so its design was scrapped. (Like Super Mario Bros. 2, both Apple and the general public are likely to pretend that the third-gen iPod nano never existed). This fall, Apple made a triumphant return to the form factor that everyone loved in the second-gen iPod nano, but with some improvements. All hail the fourth-generation iPod nano!”
MacDailyNews Takee: We see no proof offered by Cheng that Apple’s 3rd-gen iPod nano was or wasn’t selling well. Using the “logic” that it was replaced by a new design as the “proof” of its failure to sell well flies in the face of iPod history, where fast-selling models (iPod mini, for just one example among many) were replaced by Apple while they were selling very well. It’s nice to have pet theories, but let’s not report them as fact, Jacqui.
Cheng continues, “As an Apple-made portable media device, the 4G iPod nano is quite solid—surprisingly so, given the fact that half the world has already moved on to the iPhone and iPod touch. But the new nano gives potential buyers—including many of our own readers and forum posters—a reason to think of ways to work a nano back into their lives. One for the gym? Sure. An iPod exclusively for the car? Go for it. At $150 and $200 for the 8GB and 16GB versions, it’s relatively cheap to add the new nano to your collection.”
“For us, the new features enabled by the addition of the accelerometer shake to shuffle, and turning the iPod on its side to watch things in widescreen mode) make it worth the money. And, of course, clicker-headphone support and Genius playlists don’t hurt either. As a non-touch iPod, this is one of the strongest yet, and even the most seasoned iPod owners will find something to be interested in with the new nano,” Cheng reports. “It has been nothing but a joy to use.”
Full review here.
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