“I’ve been using an iPod mini for a few weeks�Apple lent me a gold one, the least popular of the five metallic colors, which also include silver, pink, blue, and green�and I prefer its smaller size compared with the iPod I normally carry. Its 80-CD capacity is sufficient for my listening preferences; I can always refresh the play lists by syncing with my Mac. Even so, I wouldn’t buy the mini because, for $50 more, I could buy the $299 entry-level iPod, which isn’t much bigger physically and yet has more than triple the capacity�15 gigabytes, vs. the mini’s four,” Peter Lewis writes for Fortune.
“Market researchers say there’s a magic difference between a price of $199 and $249; the former is an impulse buy, the latter a considered decision. If Apple had sold the mini for $199, my impulse would be, it’s small, it’s cool, it’s colorful, it’s all I really need; I’ll buy it, and my wife probably won’t scold me. At $249, however, the purchase decision goes like this: I can get a much better value by spending a little more for a lot more music,” Lewis writes. “In the case of the iPod mini, less is not more.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Do you really think Steve Jobs cares whether you buy a mini or an iPod as long as you buy from Apple? Perhaps they priced the mini in such a way as to drive iPod sales for the time being until production ramps up?
If you want either flavor of the iPod, you have to pay Apple’s price. So, there is no need to argue.
So far, Apple has been right on the price as evidenced by the success of iPod. However, the price of the mini may be a little steep for the econo-buyer.
Over time the price will come down. Relax and enjoy, if you can afford it.
I’m with Nobody and wondering why I’m posting again on this topic, but my view for the day:
It’s smaller, lighter, cooler, carries all the music I need, AND I get to SAVE $50!!!
This guy is missing the point, and he’s not alone. I was a little confused by the pricing at first too but now it makes perfect sense. Apple has set it up so that they can win in two ways. The idea of the mini is to compete with the 256MB Flash players. It’s a similar size and price, but you’re getting 4gigs instead! What a great deal. That’s a good sale. But then there are those that were only willing to spend $250 and they see what a great deal the mini is compared to the Flash player, but then right next to the mini is a 15gig iPod for only $50 more! Wow! That’s an even better deal. It pulls people to Apple who wouldn’t ever have considered buying any type of iPod at all.
Well. That’s 100.000 *pre*orders. seeing the lines outside the Apple stores on the release day, I’m sure the number will increase a tad bit
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If you don’t like the price point of the mini, then tough beans. All I can recommend is to just wait it out. 7-10 months from now Apple will probably introduce an 8GB mini for the same price.
“7-10 months from now Apple will probably introduce an 8GB mini for the same price.” – Bora
7-10 months from now, you’ll hear “For $50 more, you’ll get 12GB more storage” assuming that the low end of big iPod becomes 20GB.
treadlightly:
As far as I am concerned the mini and iPod are the only choices for me. Now if I had a device as small as the mini with a 120 GB hard drive, 300 hour battery, synced with all my Mac programs, had 1,200 Mbps infrared data transfer, could withstand 140 G’s, was completely submersible, and made coffee in the morning then I might reconsider. (Well, Apple, get cracking.)