“Apple’s latest batch of iPod announcements was fairly well received, save for a few corners grumbling that the event was lacking in any big news, other than an energetic albeit thin Steve Jobs on stage,” Andy Patrizio reports for InternetNews.
“The challenge for Apple is starting to become what else to do with a music player now approaching its ninth birthday. There are only so many ways to skin a cat and despite a few nifty new features like shake to shuffle, in the end, it’s just a music player,” Patrizio reports.
“‘The iPhone clearly is overshadowing the entire iPod line,’ said analyst Rob Enderle, of The Enderle Group (Enderle is a consultant for Dell, which is reported to be working on an iPod competitor),” Patrizio reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Enderle would actually be right if he added “iPod touch” along with iPhone.
Patrizio continues, “‘Apple has clearly signaled that their focus is on the iPhone and the iPod looks like obsolete technology at this point. It’s hard for people to get excited about the iPod because the best iPod is a stripped down iPhone,’ said Enderle.”
MacDailyNews Take: People who are in the market for the world’s best digital media player are definitely excited about the iPod touch and also seem to really like the new iPod nanos from what we’re hearing and reading.
Patrizio continues, “But there’s no way Apple will get 160 million unit sales from the iPhone, like it has enjoyed with the iPod, since Apple can’t control the mobile phone ecosystem like they can with the iPod, Enderle argues.”
MacDailyNews Take: iCal’ed. The mobile phone market is so much larger than the digital media player market that Enderle will eat those words. It’ll take a few years, but iPhone will sell more than 160 million units.
Patrizio’s full article, which seems to have been dictated to him by know-nothing Enderle, including a bunch of gobbledygook about iTunes needing subscriptions (because that seems to be what Enderle is pushing on the Dell dopes who hired him to “consult”), here.