“Electronics maker Creative announced Tuesday that it would drop prices on its Zen Micro, a move that could be seen as a direct response to Apple’s recent changes to its iPod mini line,” Ed Oswald reports for BetaNews. “The 4GB Zen Micro dropped to $199, the 5GB to $229, and a new 6GB version will be introduced at a price of $249. The new pricing structure puts Creative in line with Apple’s latest offerings.”
“To sweeten the deal, Creative is offering a $20 mail in rebate on the 4GB version for players bought before May 30, bringing the price down to $179,” Oswald reports. “Sim Wong Hoo, CEO of Creative, continued to assert that the company is on the offensive rather than playing defense. ‘With the introduction of the Zen Micro 4GB MP3 player at the incredibly low price of only $179, we offer superior features and more than twice the song capacity of the 4GB iPod mini at a substantially better price,’ Hoo said in a statement.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Sim Wong Hoo, Creative’s very own Edward John Smith, has obviously lost his mind. Good luck, Creative. More than twice the song capacity in a 4GB Creative Zen Micro than in a 4GB Apple iPod mini? At what bitrate, 64kbps? Have fun listening to that noise. What’s the surest sign that Creative is struggling besides the “twice the song capacity” foolishness? Having to stoop to the level of offering $20 mail-in rebates. Now, that’s sad. What’s next, “Buy one, get one free?”
Oh, and US$199 for a 4GB Zen vs. $199 for a 4GB iPod mini and $249 for a still-vaporous 6GB player vs. $249 for a 6GB iPod mini
is supposed to entice whom exactly? Not anywhere low enough, Creative.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Creative’s self-declared ‘MP3 player war’ against Apple isn’t going very well – January 20, 2005
Creative CEO: Apple iPod shuffle ‘a big let-down, worse than the cheapest Chinese player’ – January 12, 2005
Creative declares ‘war’ on Apple iPod, shoots for 40% market share of MP3 players – December 21, 2004
Creative Technology declares ‘MP3 War’ against market-dominating Apple iPod – November 17, 2004
Mossberg: Dell, Rio, Creative ‘iPod mini killers’ lag badly behind Apple iPod mini – October 27, 2004
Creative pushes to become ‘Pepsi’ to Apple’s ‘Coke’ in digital music player market – August 07, 2004
Tee Hee ….
Looks like Creative has moved into the lead again. Further validation of my choice of an OPEN platform for my music collection instead of the iPod/iTunes/Betamax cluster-fsck.
Losers.
Oh… First post beeyotch.
On the 4GB comment, are the CEOs really this STUPID?
and how does a 4 gig creative beat the song capacity of a 4 gig iPod?
Well put NMFY.
Although, I enjoy both the iPod and the Zen Micro.
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“To sweeten the deal…{/i]”
Huh? Sweeten the deal? Since when is paying the same for this crapware that you would for an iPod mini a deal that you can sweeten? That’s like pouring maple syrup on a pile of dog poop.
The bitrate trick hurts them more than helps. Most consumers that want a player understand the bitrate concept. Too me this just puts more salt in their wounds. Competition is great, but Zen and Dell have both tried to use the bitrate trick into a further disadvantage by turning many off.
Does this NMFY guy have a multiple personality disorder or something? Someone get him/her some help!
NMFY, who’s the beeyotch now stupid?!?
It’s funny that he thinks he is on the offensive when he cuts prices AFTER Apple does. I can’t wait to see what their sales are like now that the iPod shuffle is out. Their $100 million campaign was completely wasted as is evidenced by the complete indifference to their price cuts by most news sources. Their only chance might be to package their players with Happy Meals, but chances are even McDonald’s won’t have anything to do with them.
Check the TV commercials (available in Quicktime format):
http://www.creative.com/tvc/
A $100 Million advertizing budget and they come up with this ???
I’m shocked. I thought it was a joke.
Does NoMacForYou have something against MDN? One of the guys at MDN slept with his wife/girlfriend/boyfriend?
Must be something.
SIM WONG WHO????? At the end of the day, when you look down and see a Zen Micro hanging from your neck and then look up and see everyone else dancing around strapped to iPods, a tear will form in the corner of your eye, mucous will start oozing downward toward your top lip, you’ll inhale involuntarily in a teary-eyed gasp, suck down 3 ounces of snot, and then expel a 3-foot diameter green snot bubble that will unltimately burst covering your body in a thin transclucent layer of slimy nothingness. That’s what happens when you don’t have an iPod. Live and learn my friends. If it ain’t an iPod, it ain’t an iPod. Nuff said.
no if this clown had any clue — he’d create a Zen for the “rest of us”…he’d develop a Zen for Mac and a app that comes works with OS X and direct that to compete with iTunes…as it is …Zen alone won’t win.
Anyone else find it kind of funny that Creative has posted the commercials in Quicktime and Real formats on their site. I thought Creative was a supporter of Windows Media.
those videos are REALLY bad…they don’t convey the coolness of music, or artistry …instead it looks like a B movie gone bad…anyways, MAKE sure you visit the “poll” like..you can cast your vote on all the videos..needless to say, I vote “Bad” for all of them..
here’s the link:
http://www.creative.com/tvc/poll/
NoMacForYou, aka ‘Sybil’.
You can actually encode at a lower bit rate in iTunes than you can in the Windows players. Spoken word isn’t too bad at 16 kbps.
No matter how low they go to get better capacity than iPod, Apple could go lower, not that they would join in that BS.
Man, Hoo’s been eating too many of the Wong Ho-Hos with that 4GB capacity comment…
However, MDN’s smug little slam is rather unprofessional. It makes the site smell of fanboyism rather reporting on the news.
Can we see some “growth” in the maturity department?
I guess the old myth that Apple products are more expansive their PC counterpart is broken once again by the price drop of non-Creative products !!!!
OMG, iYann, you are so right. Those commercials are pathetic.
Is that Bill Gates in the “About Face” ad??????
MDN writes: “Having to stoop to the level of offering $20 mail-in rebates. Now, that’s sad. What’s next, ‘Buy one, get one free?'”
Oooooo, burn!
WaMo: ‘quality’. As in, Creative can’t compete with Apple’s quality, so they have to try to compete on price.
Take the poll and click on GREAT for all the ads, so that they should keep up the entertainment.
iYann wrote:
“A $100 Million advertizing budget and they come up with this ???
I’m shocked. I thought it was a joke.”
The ads show they do seem to know who their customer is, i.e. the PC nerd/geek/freek/spazz/dweeb/and royal dweeb.