“Macworld spoke with Apple’s iPod worldwide product marketing manager Danika Cleary as the company prepares to ship its new iPod mini in the US on Friday. iPod mini costs $249 in the US
30 Comments
Reader Feedback
Apple pitches its Vision Pro spatial computer to businesses
Apple is touting its Vision Pro spatial computing headset which was made available in the U.S. earlier this year to businesses…
Apple accused of scrapping usable devices
Even if the iPhones looked good enough for resale, Apple’s contract with its recycler GEEP explicitly required that every product it sent be…
Free ‘Delta’ Nintendo emulator launches in Apple’s App Store
The “Delta” Nintendo game emulator launched Wednesday as one of the first officially approved iOS apps to emulate Nintendo consoles…
Apple TV+ sets July 10th premiere for ‘Sunny’ series starring Rashida Jones
Apple TV+ announced Thursday that “Sunny,” its 10-episode mystery thriller with a darkly comic bent starring Rashida Jones, is set to…
Major Apple supplier TSMC expects Q2 sales to jump on ‘insatiable’ AI demand
Major Apple supplier TSMC, the world’s largest chipmaker and a major Apple and Nvidia supplier, forecast second-quarter sales may…
it�s the old half full/half empty argument…depends on how you look at it.
Real question is if mini-iPod steals sales from higher-capacity iPod or does mini-iPod expand Apple�s market…
i work at an apple store in the bay area cali, and let me tell you, this thing is going to be a smash success. we get tons of calls from people asking about the mini as well as people coming to the store looking for the mini. the demand is insane. while the mini is not OUT yet, we do have some ipodmini shells out on displaly. these things are sweet. if i didnt own a 15 gig already, i’d snatch a silver one in an instant
if the mini does steal market share from the original ipods then i guess the critics of the mini’s price were really wrong…. sure people could get a 15 gig ipod for $50 more but they decided to stick to the mini… apple’s bet that people will buy the product because of its form paid off
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> hope that doesn’t happen though… at least apple got the first part right… it wasn’t overpriced for the market… hope this model extends the market instead of leeching off its big sisters…..
What are the mac faithfull?
If the pricing is right then why do pundits comment that it will down over time?
Nobody doubts that the mini will do well, very very well. The point is though that it is still too expensive for what it is and it could have done phenominally well.
Any fool can overprice and item.
Yawn. You buy it or you don’t. I will. The Blue one looks good.
Reminds me something:
Blue and White.
John, what on earth is your problem? How are you determining that it’s still too expensive? Too expensive based on what? Competition? Nope. Component prices? Hardly, considering that these harddrives for cameras cost about twice as much, and that’s just the drive. Or is it just that you can’t afford it personally? Big deal. Neither can I at the moment., but I can’t call it overpriced just because I cant afford it. So please, do enlighten us!
John,
Prices always go down over time. Also, if you remember your economics classes, there is this little thing about supply and demand. If you can’t meet the demand, you might as well raise the price.
The ‘price’ was ‘right’ for the market at this moment. It leaves room for an adjustment during the summer Mac Expo. Once demand goes through the roof and costs of smaller hard drives goes down, we will finally see a $199 iPod Mini. And on top of that the storage will go from 4 to maybe 8 gigs and an iPod Mini for $199 with 8 gigs of sorage will take over the market with ease..and very fast. Until, of course, the Video iPod is released.
QUOTE OF THE DECADE:
“The Mac faithful do not generally understand retail”
So true, since “retail” implies competition. When you have to buy whatever Jobs squirts out, you’re shopping at the company store.
Video iPod with 5″ letterbox screen! $250.00 USD. Glasses with 1/2″ thick lenses so you can see the f__king movies extra.
I believe that the mini is the higher end ipod (after all, it does have an aluminum exterior, and not white plastic), just not the higher capacity one. It’s a bargain at $250. I’m sick of people saying Apple would sell tons more at $199. They’d sell even more at $150.
Not all of us need 15-40GB in a portable music player. I have a monster CD collection but have just over 1100 songs loaded into my iTunes. 1,000 songs is more than enough for most of us.
Well, something is right about the iPod mini. 100,000 units pre-ordered.
“Any fool can overprice and item.” – John
Maybe so, but it takes a genius to overprice an item and sell it like there’s no tomorrow.
The fact is, iPod mini is truly a new product in a lot of sense. Take the hard drive for example. Or the click wheel. It takes money to design this thing. It takes money to start an assembly line to produce this thing. When you don’t produce many, the parts are expensive. When things ramp up, prices go down. Simple economics.
Despite my joke above, iPod mini is not overpriced. Pricey, yes, but not overpriced or expensive. Some people don’t make this distinction, sometimes.
I think the “Mac faithful” comment was ignorant and insensitive, but I don’t have a huge problem with the pricing. Rio’s 1.5 GB Flash player is $199, making the mini look like a decent value with more than twice as much storage for $50 more.
Has this topic been firmly beaten into the ground yet or am I crazy? Who gives a cr*p? If people want a cheaper player they can always get one… I think I recently saw a 1986 Sony cassette tape Walkman w/ 5 band graphicEQ on Ebay for $50.00 (includes acid-wash jeans, original retail price $449.00). You see, there are are always options for the ridiculously foolish.
XP, what competition? from dull? where’s the competition to the iPod? Everything else is second class, at best on a really good day. Go download a patch, oh, and watch out for Bagle B and Netsky B, they’re looking for you!
tread, who cares what people use to listen to music? This ipod thing is a smokescreen for the big issue. Look at what apples gig is, selling underperforming computers that are too expensive or decent ones (finally) that are way too expensive. You are right, no competition, and what it got you is what you got…..a siphon from your pocket to apples.
I will take easy to avoid bugs over a ream job anyday.
” The point is though that it is still too expensive for what it is and it could have done phenominally well.”
John,
I strongly disagree with your assertion. Too expensive compared with what? Its flash-based rivals? Absolutely not. It’s more capable than most and actually costs less than several. I refer you to Ars Technica’s comparison.
“It’s a bargain at $250. I’m sick of people saying Apple would sell tons more at $199. They’d sell even more at $150.”
Well said b. Sorry about our little tiff last night, especially as it was based on a misunderstanding. Hope you have a good day.
Hey, I bet there’d be a lot more beemers on the road if they sold them for 50 bucks a pop. Does that mean they’re overpriced? (okay, personally, I wouldn’t pay the extra for a bmw, but that’s more a matter of different values than price)
Btw, treadlightly. Why are you talking to the deluded idiot? You trying to analyse him?
I wish Apple would create a 120GB iPod. That way I can take my music and files anywhere, transfer video and images from my digital camera and video camera, and for the fun of it! = )
How about xServe Raid? 3.5Tera? Include one APC UPS and there you go. Battery life depends wich UPS you choose
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
Rop=is me.
That was a typo
The iPod Mini will partly take sales from the full iPod (which doesn’t actually harm Apple: the Mini’s long-term success will be good for them), and will partly sell to people who wouldn’t have gotten anything until the iPod caught their eye.
And it will partly sell to people who would have spent $330 on 120 songs:
http://www.iriveramerica.com/products/ifp-595t.asp
Or worse yet, $450 on 240 songs:
http://www.iriveramerica.com/products/ifp-599t.asp
Apparently it’s the size that makes people buy those. And the Mini is smaller and much easier to use. A better music player by far, with a different set of non-music features than iRiver has.
Hey Bo’ster, I try to at least give ’em a chance at being reasonable (you never know, might turn into a switcher someday). XP chose to prove to be an unreasonable troll, so I’m back with you now.