“In a bid to fend off advances from the Microsoft camp, Apple on Tuesday introduced two new iPod portable audio devices, one of which can display digital photos on its tiny color screen. The other new iPod, dubbed the iPod U2 Special Edition, provides lucky buyers with a black body and red scroll wheel, all for just an additional $50 when compared to an otherwise identical white iPod,” Paul Thurrott writes for WinInfo.
“Yeah, these releases aren’t that inspiring. The reality of the long-expected iPod Photo was far less impressive than the mock-ups fan sites had created in the days leading up to the launch, featuring the standard but tiny 2-inch screen that adorns other iPods. By comparison, the Creative Zen Portable Media Center, which also displays photos and music, but adds support for videos and recorded TV shows, features a much larger 3.8-inch screen and better resolution (320 x 240 vs.
This is too easy.. the iPod Photo is slick, and Jobs outlined the reasons why video won’t work (copyright, crappy res, too big, too heavy, and the nature of movies themselves, not worth buying) and the U2 iPod, which is pretty cool is actually 299 when you consider it comes with a $50 rebate for the entire u2 collection digital box set…
.. once again, Thurrott is lying..
im a huge yankee fan, i’ll be the first to admit they suck. they don’t suck as much as Thurrott, but damnit, their performance was down-right embarrissing.
I am so tired of the fake analysts, these people who write highly opinionated, monotone, superficial pretend analyses that are only published to provoke emotional reaction and gain readership and hits from those who are curious to see what outrageous claims they make next.
Can’t we just ignore them? They’re not real, they’re just a marketing thing.
You can soon add St Louis to that list…
I was wondering how long it would be before Thurrott came out of his dark hole and spouted his usual crap!
As usual – not a positive word for APPLE or anything associated with ANY APPLE product – I guess the pay cheques from Microsoft Corp are still being sent regulary eh Thurrott and that the blood money is keeping you well supplied in cocaine?
what part of “mobility” does thurrott not understand?
people take iPods with them EVERYWHERE! and use them EVERYWHERE. mobility is critical functionality that Apple understand and the rest are still scratching their heads.
geez, what a blow-hard.
I’m speechless.
Wait, what was that?
I hear a lap dog yapping…
SJ
precisely. can i stick the portable media center in my pocket? no way jose.
The Yankees crack was totally uncalled for. If Thurrott heard what Jobbs said in the release he would of never written the article. Apple knows what it’s doing and hence is having success. The Yankees are still the best franchise in sports. 26 titles speaks for itself. Don’t hate…
Ahhh, MDN, GREAT analogy!!
Question-
Isn’t it misleading to say the Zen has better resolution when you divide the pixels into the screen size?
Zen 320 x 240 = 76800 / 14.4in= 5318px per sqin
iPod 220 x 176 = 38720 / 4in= 9680 px per sqin
(Yes I know the screen size is measured diagonally. This is just a quick post)
Can anyone confirm this?
I had a less-than-stellar impression of both new iPod when I first saw them, but after watching the keynote, my feelings quickly shifted the other way. SJ is totally right about where they are going with the iPod at this time. Video is not where it’s at, and photos. The same day (yesterday), an article came out entitled “Mobile Photo Phone a Must-Have” clearly solidifying the demand for cell phones that can take photos.
And just stop and take a look at the interface of the iPod Photo…. simply stunning. The attention to detail is extremely impressive.
Once again, when Apple sets out to do something, they aim to do it right.
The iPod Photo is cute, but it doesn’t call out to me. If I didn’t have an iPod, I would purchase the iPod photo, just because it’s 60GB. Over time, the ability to store photos on the iPod might grow on me, though I can’t think of a use for it right now. I don’t see myself handing my iPod to anyone and saying, “Gee, look at this picture of my cat!”
If I was 16, maybe it would be fun to show pictures of friends to each other or some new girl I met, but if I was 16, I couldn’t come up with $500 or $600 smakers.
If I was a parent, unless money meant absolutely nothing, I wouldn’t give a kid something that small, that easy to lose that cost that much money. Then again, after all the whining, I’d probably give in.
A new Canon 580EX flash unit is only $479. I need that more than pictures on my iPod.
Perhaps, just perhaps, Thurrott is right on this one for the wrong reasons.
Apple is building great stuff these days, then they come along and build more great stuff. The problem is the last stuff we all bought is still really great and it would take more than “great” to get us to buy more. Hence, existing repeat customers are underwhelmed.
On the one hand, I agree with him. These are quite underwhelming. And largely because the iPod doesn’t allow a big enough screen to look at the photos.
It’s a bit of a gimmick, but I daresay some will find it useful.
What I don’t agree with is that a bloody 3.8″ screen is actually any better. It’s not. It’s still a tiny screen. If it was 6×4, then it would be a lot more useable as a device for showing photo albums.
But the idea is that you carry photos on it and display them on a TV.
Having little icon sized album art is quite cool though. And 60GB is now big enough for all my whole library. Which is tempting. But I’ll stick to my 5GB until it dies I think. Still going strong after 3 years.
Underwhelming depends on what you were expecting. It’s not really a new product launch, it’s an upgrading existing products announcement, plus a marketing initiative. Both good and well timed.
His Stevenes is right. It is not right time for video iPod.
hey….it’s an election year,,,people are suppose to lie and we should all be use to it….especially from this guy..election year or not
How long this douchbag have used this picture? Why doesn’t he put a newer picture of himself so that we see just how hideous the head that holds the tiny frustrated brain of his goes?
You know dork, life is not as depressing as your thinking is
Time and time again… Steve will introduce something and it doesn’t ‘seem’ so overwhelming…
until we actually see it in action, in person… GarageBand is a good example, I was blown away three times (playin’ w/loops, pluging in a mic or guitar and then finally when I plugged in a midi keyboard I was on the floor). The new iMac is like that… yes, even the iPod Mini…
IMHO Jb
All the negative talk about the iPod Photo is just more of the same couched in lamer terms. Rather than the bold prognostications that it will fail (which were just so successful in the past), they say, “underwhelming.”
These new iPods are underwhelming to us because probably 90% or more of us already have an iPod that works great. But hundreds of millions of folks out there don’t have one – yet.
The 60gb size alone will be enough to entice some people. The album art thing looks pretty cool – might be enough to get me to upgrade from my 30gb 3g model.
I doubt we’ll see exciting iPod developments in the future – we the possible exception of an iPod Micro. The upcoming models will be refinements on the same theme for at least the next 18 months.
About camera phones: Recent survey showed peeps taking pics but not paying to send them over the phone network rather downloading them to PCs then distributing them. The telco’s estimation of the network demand was way out (actual usage about a quarter of projections IIRC).
The extra cost of putting a camera in phones is not rewarding the telco’s who subsidise phones, they will have to either cut the cost of sending pics in the hope that it drives the market (doubtful because prices would have to plunge) or stop/reduce subsidies to camera phones. The camera phone may well become a short lived fad.
Certainly people do share photos but technology hasn’t provided the right digital solution yet. Apple may have provided an acceptable solution, we will have to see what consumers decide.
Meanwhile, Turdrott will probably be one of the first people in line to buy one. The hypocrite owns one or two iPods already. I just ignore all drivel that comes from his pie hole. Besides, he’s obviously on M$’ payroll, so what else do you expect…
I do think that Apple missed a big
big big opportunity here….first, ley me digress for a line or two: Apple
should buy out Apple and go deep into music…okay…I think I really want an IPOD to be nothing less than a tricorder so in that spirit:I think
Photo IPOD’s should have been mechmannah
if they allowed the user to import photos directly from their digital cameras, and if they allowed for video downloads and playback…I want a GPS IPOD too…a DICTAPHONE IPOD…
Neither is incredibly innovative, but they serve their intended function very well.
iPod Photo: a 60GB music player basically begs for a 2nd media function. While some of us do have 60GB of music, the majority of people don’t (assuming they use 160 kbps or less AAC or mp3). Photos make sense because so many people have digital cameras and want to share their photos witout toting around a loptop. The screen is a nice interface to use for previewing what you have loaded on the HD, which is essential for this function. As noted above, the portability factor is also important. It’s a mistake to make the device a “media viewer” at the expense of the portability because, as others have said, the screen is still too small anyway.
U2 iPod: Is the U2 iPod in and of itself amazing? No. Of course, only big fans of U2 are going to buy one. In fact, it makes sense to have it be rare to increase the hipness factor (at least to U2 fans). But it is part of Apple’s strategy to make iTMS desirable. How? It is simply a way to associate the music store with an artist. A download service can differentiate itself from others by having exclusive content. Any way of creating exclusive parnerships with musical acts increases the appeal of iTMS. I don’t expect there to be tons of band iPods, but there will be more. Each band will likely have content or deals available only through iTMS (such as the U2 digital box set), which gives consumers a reason to use iTMS and, thus, an iPod.