“The iPod nano, which stores either 500 or 1,000 songs and is priced at $199 and $249, is intended to replace an existing model, the iPod Mini. The new device will be available in the United States, Japan and Europe this week,” John Markoff reports for The New York Times. “‘The iPod nano is the biggest revolution since the original iPod,’ Apple CEO Steve Jobs said. In an interview after his presentation, he called the new player, which is one of the industry’s smallest, a ‘bold gamble.’ By replacing the Mini, which accounts for more than half of all iPods currently sold, the company risked a huge revenue shortfall if the new product had been delayed, Mr. Jobs said. Despite that risk, he said, the nano reflects several innovations.”
Markoff reports, “He focused on the shift away from the small disk-drive storage device used in the iPod Mini to the solid-state flash memory at the heart of the nano. He said the custom chips and the miniaturized circuit board used in the nano had also been potential stumbling blocks. ‘Entire factories were created to make this device,’ he said. ‘Overnight we have become the largest consumer of flash memory in the world.'”
Markoff reports, “Mr. Jobs described an Apple ‘top 100’ meeting earlier this year – a retreat of the company’s top employees – where he urged those attending to take a big risk rather than fall into complacency in protecting the company’s lead in digital music… Several analysts said that Apple had moved the introduction of the nano ahead to ensure it would be widely available for the holiday season… Mr. Jobs said on Wednesday that he was pleased that the details surrounding the nano player had not surfaced prematurely in the press or on the Macintosh rumor sites on the Web. ‘It would have broken my heart,’ he said.”
Full article here.
Markoff also has an audio report on Apple’s New Products here (Requires Real Player).
Advertisement: Apple iPod nano. 1,000 songs. Impossibly small. From $199. Free shipping.
It’s a good thing Steve Jobs doesn’t read Kevin Rose or he’d have been scrambling for a cardiologist. Rose reported on Monday, September 5th: “Why wait till Wed? New 2GB ipod called the ‘Nano’ – it will sport a color screen and will be much smaller and thinner than a mini. Price = $199. You heard it here first.”
Related articles:
Mossberg: Apple iPod nano ‘beautiful, incredibly thin, and exceeds Apple’s performance specs’ – September 08, 2005
Apple’s iPod nano will make competitors whimper, Motorola’s ROKR inexplicably bland – September 07, 2005
Tech pundit Enderle: ‘iPod Nano is a hit,’ Motorola ROKR ‘simply doesn’t have enough Apple in it’ – September 07, 2005
Jupiter analyst Gartenberg: ‘the market is going to go for Apple iPod nano in a big way’ – September 07, 2005
Analyst: iPod nano ‘could be Apple’s next home run’ – September 07, 2005
Video of Steve Jobs introducing iPod nano, ROKR iTunes phone now available online – September 07, 2005
Apple’s Steve Jobs predicts ultra-thin iPod nano ‘will become the highest volume iPod in the world’ – September 07, 2005
Apple introduces iPod nano – September 07, 2005
Apple’s iPod nano will make competitors whimper, Motorola’s ROKR inexplicably bland – September 07, 2005
Oh I knew all about it, lawsuits tend to have a negative effect on my balance sheet.
Plus really Apple needs a break, they are trying very hard and the iPod is what is keeping us from being over run by the Microsoft borg alliance.
So really rumor sites need to grow up and quit trying to kill Apple.
Go Apple!
Oh yea, quoting a site that’s giving inside information isn’t coo either.
Hear that MDN?
You know, some of us here believe their signature over an NDA has a meaning. An I am pretty sure I am not the only Apple employee hopping here from time to time…
MacDude,
MDN didn’t quote a site giving inside info until after Apple’s official announcement. Kevin Rose is the one who leaked, not MDN.
Girls!!! don’t get your panties in a bunch over a leaked rumor.
It’s a bloody piece of harware for christ sake.
Just because you drove the getaway car, doesn’t excuse you from robbing the bank with the rest of the gang.
Peace. 😀
I thought it was funny that in the Special Event Motorola’s president emphasized that in the future you would not be hearing about any new releases until the day before they hit the market. I hope they learned their lesson. People were getting sick of hearing about the ROKR before it even hit the market.
I think they should put iTunes in the RAZR. RAZRs are mega cool – Much better design than the ROKR.
We might have known the name and specs, but the form factor was still sheer speculation. And it’s the form factor that’s the killer!
I gotta hand it to them, “nano” is a great name for this.
I think Nick dePlume’s lawer will be picking up another client real soon.
Please, please. Don’t break poor Steve’s heart.
Velcro iPod Nano to RAZR
Twice the battery life and 10X the storage
Doubly cool.
a kitten dies.
I bet “moved the introduction of the nano ahead” means that the Nano was due for Apple Expo Paris at first. Now we know why the keynote was cancelled. Not a late product, an early product!
RegularPosterAnonimously, can you please inform the mothership that they need to make a similar bold move with the phone? The ROKR is flat-out pathetic: crippled functionality and a design that reeks of 1998.
But nice job on the nano, guys. She’s a beauty.
MacDense,
MDN didn’t drive any “getaway car.” Even if they had linked to Rose’s site BEFORE Apple’s announcement, it would have been perfectly within their rights. But, they didn’t even do that, so your comments are completely misplaced.
Obviously, MDN reports Rose’s leak here in order to refute the NYT’s and Jobs’ assertion that the news wasn’t out before the official announcement.
Yeah, we heard it first from Rose. But we didn’t blab. Plus, he had misspelled the new phone as ‘Rocker’ or sumpin’ in his comments, I think. So who would believe him? heh.
Two DAYS in advance of the announcement on a site only a very few consumers may even know about (I don’t check it), is not much of a leak! SJ is correct to be pleased that the nano stayed under wraps almost until the day of the announcement itself. No marketing damage was done. Most MDN people didn’t know about it. In this case, two DAYS in advance was not damagingly “premature” at all.
Contrast that with the phone…
“I gotta hand it to them, “nano” is a great name for this.” – Joe McConnell
I wonder what the next size smaller will be called? Hmmm…”Pico”?
And Kevin didn’t have all of the details right (like that it would also have a 4GB version, or that it would be available in 2 colors, etc), nor any photos or even an accurate description of the nano’s appearance either. So it wasn’t that much of a spoiler really anyway. Certainly not anything like the Mac mini leak was anyway.
MacDude, your an idiot. Shut it.
Oh I am sorry.
You’re and idiot. Shut it.
Carry on.
Lets try again.
MacDude, your’re an idiot. Shut it!
Stupidity screws up my typing.
I hope he doesn’t watch Attach of the Show yesterday. Kevin passed off all of Apple’s announcements as non-news. Thank God for online shows. G4 should change their name, they are so anti-Apple.
Steve has a heart?
eon, I doubt Steve could care less about a wanna be tech-journalist like Kevin has to say. after all he only reviews products when he starts making them maybe his comments could possibly be a torn to steve.