Jimmy Hsu and Jessie Shen for DigiTimes.com have conducted an interview with vice president and general manager for the Asia-Pacific region, Pete Andreyev, about future prospects for the hard disc drive (HDD) market:
Q: With such a variety of portable devices, which product will become a boon to the slim-type HDD market?
A: Based on individual product penetration rates, MP3 players should offer a real growth potential, starting from the second half of this year. Market applications in the smartphone and digital video system markets will likely take over the mainstream spot in 2005. Total slim-type drive shipments will benefit from surging MP3 players worldwide, supported by international vendors, including Apple Computer…
Q: Which product will become the largest contributor to the slim-type HDD market?
A: In the next one or two years, slim-type drives will be embedded into products needing high capacity storage. Currently the drives are specifically designed for CF Type II slots, but we are in the process of developing a built-in slim-type HDD, in order to lower production costs. We plan to unveil a 6GB slim-type drive, up 50% from the current largest capacity of 4GB, in the fourth quarter this year.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: 6GB Apple iPod mini, anyone?
[Attribution: MacNN.com]
Does Steve know about this guy opening his mouth? I was going to buy one (if I could find one), but if they plan on going up 2 gigs, I’ll wait.
Oops, another slip of the tongue.
Jayplus,
just because there’s a bigger drive coming out, it does not mean that Apple will adopt it anytime soon.
Chances are that based on Apple past behavior if they were getting their drive from this guy he would have kept his mouth shut about it.
so don’t hold your breath(and your pocketbook) and go stand in line like everyone else for the month long wait on the 4gig.
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i’ve already got mine.
yes… buy buy buy now!
of course the device will eventually be upgraded. it’s just a matter of how much each person needs. If 4GB isn’t enough, wait. If it is, and always will be… then don’t.
Apple has shown recently (3g –> 4g) that they are like any company who wants you to keep buying their product and (logically) won’t announce that their loyal customers when they intend to do it.
The “DUH” heard round the world!
Is anyone surprised that there will eventually be a larger capacity version of the micro-drive?
This is a total non-story if you ask me.
Hitachi certainly can talk about their own product developement without causing Steve to get irritated. Afterall, he did not point Apple out as having already placed an order as happened in the other HD slip. It is their product developement, not Apple’s.
Pure speculation:
So at MWSF Steve MIGHT announce that there will be two versions of the iPod mini — lowering the 4GB version to $199 and introducing the 6GB version at $249.
The 6GB version supply will be “severely constrained” for several months as production of the drives ramp up. Those wanting an iPod mini “now” will buy the lower priced 4GB version (since supposedly by then the supplier will have more than doubled its production rate as they committed to a few months ago).
The total number of iPod minis shipping goes way up and overall availability is better.
At least it is a nice fantasy.
shadowself… now THAT’s a good idea.
a $199 ipod mini… THEN i’d buy one.
make it multi-tiered like the iPod.
Then… make iPod Mini 6GB the new $199, and the 10GB mini the $249.
cover the whole market and you will gain dominance.
yea.. hehe.. that’s a nice product line.. two of each..
4/6 mini
20/40 iPod reg.
but.. what’s with these bonehead slip ups.. hahahaha
The next iPod Mini will be a new design, not just the same as today with a 6 GB drive. The current models use a Compact Flash interface for their drives but this next-generation drive will not be like that. Apple could release two iPod Minis, one thin model with 6 GB capacity and one slightly bigger model with 12 GB, by combining two disks.
A 4GB Mini for $199 and a 6 GB for $249? Nice. Apple would sell tons of both.
But only if it happens before Christmas. Competition is starting to heat up in that space, and even as good as the Mini is, Apple can’t afford to dawdle and/or overprice their stuff.
If they do, SOMEONE will eventually eat their lunch. Maybe Rio, maybe Dell, maybe Sony, maybe someone out of left field.
Seagate 6 GB drive is going to be used instead of Hitachi. Should be out b4 Christmas.