“One key thing to watch [at Apple’s “Let’s Rock” presentation in San Francisco today] are the price points. Apple’s normal modus operandi is to slowly increase the value and features of its product line, but to keep the prices steady,” Saul Hansell reports for The New York Times.
“The base model of what is now called the iPod Classic was $299 from 2002 to 2005, and it has been $249 ever since. In that time, the storage capacity increased from 5 gigabytes to 80 gigabytes,” Hansell reports. “Similarly, the Nano was introduced in 2005 with a 2 gigabyte model that cost $199. The next year, Apple introduced a 1-gigabyte version for $149, and the base price for the Nano has stayed at $149 ever since, although the capacity is now 4 gigabytes.”
“Since the sales of stand-alone music players are slowing down, the question facing Apple is whether to keep the $149 price point for flash-memory players and the $249 price for hard-drive players,” Hansell reports.
“The other interesting iPod question is what Apple does to keep the high end attractive. It has been pushing the iPod Touch — essentially an iPhone without the phone, G.P.S. chip, speaker and camera — which starts at $299,” Hansell reports. “The big question is the price point: Does Apple have the confidence in its innovation to make people pay $299 this Christmas for its very best media player line?”
Full article here.