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Is Apple’s New Line Of iPods Good For Everyone? No.
The iPod line gets smaller, thinner. Bigger screens, more color. Multi-touch user interface. WiFi. WiFi Music Store. Starbucks. iPhone price cut by $200. Whew. What’s missing? I’ll come back to that in a moment. There were some grumbles about what Apple did not do. What they did was enough to chew on for days. Steve Jobs came on stage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, almost on time. My intent was to use my cell phone to relay updates back to Kate MacKenzie in New York. That’s the way we do our “Almost Live” coverage of Apple events. Damn that Treo. Somewhere in the first 10 minutes my phone began acting up. Rather, not act at all. I thought it was battery, but that was charged. No connection. Nothing. Thank you Verizon. Another 20-minutes went by and I borrowed a phone from an AT&T reporter. A RAZR, not an iPhone. At least it worked and I got back on schedule with updates.
The Day of Numbers
The Store has over 6-million songs and is the number three music retailer in the US, behind only Wal-Mart and Best Buy. More numbers. 95-million TV shows to date, 125,00 podcasts, 25,000 of them are video podcasts. Oh, 550 TV shows are listed on iTunes Store (not sure if that incudes NBC).
One stunning statistic Jobs mentioned was that 32-percent of music releases last year were digital only, not released on CDs. No wonder the record companies are unhappy. Apple could become a large music distributor and not worry about CDs. Outside of WiFi, the coolest new feature in iTunes is the ringtone support. It’s built in to iTunes so you can create your own ringtone from songs that are approved as “ringtonable” for just 99-cents 500,000 initially, more over time. We cracked up when Steve Jobs played ”Give Peace A Chance” and said he’d use that for when NBC calls back. I haven’t been able to determine if specific songs can be attached to the Contact list. What about AT&T? Some will say that Apple put a dent in AT&T’s ringtone business and music download business. I don’t think so. After all, Apple’s iPhone represents a small portion of AT&T’s total phone sales, and they keep those customers anyway. Ringtones and music downloads should make iPhone sales spurt. Today was the day of numbers. Jobs said Apple has sold over 110-million iPods and going in to the holiday season the entire line is being replaced, refreshed, updated. The iPod shuffle looks the same but gets new colors, including (RED).
iPod nano
This nano plays back music and video; 24 hours of audio and five hours of video playback on a full charge. Memory is the same, at 4 gigabyte and 8 gigabyte, respectively. The iPod nano GUI is the same click wheel but with more controls to use Cover Flow to rummage through music and videos.
iPod classic
iPod touch
The iPod touch interface displayed icons for contacts, calculator, clock, settings, Safari, YouTube, but no Mail. Yes, there’s WiFi 802.11b/g, just like the iPLhone.
The iPod touch is expected to be released in a few weeks, but well ahead of the holiday shopping season.
Wait. There’s more. More WiFi
The Starbucks Downer
This piece of the event had the feeling like it was thrown together at about 9:20 this morning. Starbucks will roll out Starbucks Aware WiFi to about half their stores in the next two to three years. T hey’re starting implementation now. This was a real snoozer. A couple of markets might have it by end of 2007, more in 2008, with plans for all WiFi Starbucks to have it by end of 2009.
One More Thing. Really.
The iPhone just fell out of the so-called Smart Phone high end price range. There’s lots of speculation that Macworld 2008 (or, AppleWorld ‘08) in January will see newer models with more memory. The high end 16 gigabyte iPod touch, which looks like an iPhone with the phone, is priced the same as the 8 gigabyte iPhone. The entire line of iPods and iPhones range from $79 to $399 with the biggest gap between the iPod shuffle and nano. Grumblings, moanings, and groanings settled on these main issues. No Mail icon in the iPod touch. VoIP like iChat or Skype in the iPod touch. No camera in the iPod touch. There was the distinct feeling that Apple is stringing along the market, but will add such features at some point in the future. Like six months. What’s missing? What were you expecting? Share your disappointment in the comment section below. • Article by Wil Gomez • Published on Wednesday, September 5, 2007
• Category: News & Commentary • 8 Reader comment(s) • Email This • Digg This • Shop Now
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Talk Back to Kate, Ron & the Mac360 staff jdp says:
Well, the new iPods look cool, but I am thinking they blew it on dropping the nano for the “video” nano. While the new nano may have cool features, the old is much more compact for using at gym and such and still had an interface unlike the shuffle which they *still* kept @ 1 GB. I think they will regret dropping the old nano. — Posted on Thu Sep 06 at 7:03 pm by jdp
Tom Coppinger says:
I think the Big Value of the new lineup--and most likely to be overlooked--is the 80GB iPod Classic. It’s $249--a mere $50 than the high end Nano. Why buy the Nano, when just that bit more gets the high capacity Classic? But I still bet the big sales will be for the 8GB Touch. It’s an extra $100, up from the Nano, but come the Christmas shopping season, folks WILL plop down that extra $100. But not me. I agree, 6 months of patience may bring greater capacity, and a Mail feature, for the very same price. Meanwhile, I’ll just Shuffle along . . . . — Posted on Thu Sep 06 at 1:29 pm by Tom Coppinger
asiafish says:
Small capacity and lack of a mail application are the biggest shortcomings on the iPod Touch. Why oh why didn’t they make a hard drive based Touch, and what possible reason is there on a WiFi device with internet access to not have the Mail application. No, webmail is NOT a substitute for a real email client. What does have me salivating is the iPod Classic. 160GB, WOW!!! — Posted on Thu Sep 06 at 11:26 am by asiafish
V says:
I’m going to wait to get one of the touch iPods until they put the digital camera in it. By then it should have more storage space available, too. But the digital camera not being in the new iPod touch is what has me holding off right now. — Posted on Thu Sep 06 at 10:34 am by V
Martin says:
My only disappointment is the iPod Classic 30GB disappearing. Just think how cheap that would have been had it still been in the line up and at twice the size of my entire collection I’d have finally bought one! I’d have been straight in there for the iTouch instead had it more than 16GB of storage. I agree, that’s pathetic these days for something that plays video. As it goes, i’m still over the moon. An 80GB iPod that does everything I want is now affordable. Not as cheap as the 30GB one would have been but still affordable. I reckon there’ll be a couple in this house by xmas :o) — Posted on Thu Sep 06 at 9:55 am by Martin
gfahey says:
IMO, the iPod Classic hit the sweet spot for me. Now I can carry at least 50% of my MP3 library on my iPod. I was dearly hoping for something like a 160GB iPod Touch. Now, THAT is what would have done it for me. 16GB’s? I mean, you’re kidding right? Safari and YouTube and WiFi but, the inability (via something like TubeSock) to store all those videos? 16GB is the equivalent of a floppy in 2007. I had my Visa card right beside the keyboard and was ready to pull the trigger on a iPod Touch with BIG storage. In the end I bought an iPod Classic with 160GB. The storage was the deal breaker for me. $400 for 16GB? Sorry Steve. Those that bought the iPod Touch today are going to regret it when the 60GB (at least) versions come out at the same price. I was also hoping for a LED backlit 17” MBP today as well. Instead I bought the MBP hi res glossy. I don’t think I’ll regret that. Now, I have to try and sleep waiting for delivery, always the hardest part. :( — Posted on Wed Sep 05 at 5:48 pm by gfahey
iggy pence says:
He who hesitates, saves money with Apple. $200 price drop is not too shabby. I may wait another few months. The iPhone will be the same price for a 16 gigabyte model. But If I wait until later next year, the price will be the same for a hard drive model with 80 gigs. But if I wait… — Posted on Wed Sep 05 at 3:44 pm by iggy pence
Gatesbasher says:
Wow! Sometimes “He who hesitates is...Saved?” I didn’t buy an iPhone, and now: the iPod touch is exactly what I wanted! An iPhone without the phone, with twice the memory, that still has WiFi and Safari, AND it’s $200 cheaper. I knew my inability to make a decision would pay off someday! — Posted on Wed Sep 05 at 3:32 pm by Gatesbasher
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