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Why iPod Mini is a smart move for Apple
Ample Dave writes "Ars Technica has an analytical article up right now that looks at Apple's strategy with the (many would say overpriced) iPod Mini. I have to admit that I bought into the rumors of a dirt cheap iPod Jr., and thus was very disappointed when the real price of $250 was announced, but this article changed my mind. It leads me to wonder about Apple's other pricing games. You an see this kind of thing with the eMac and iMac, too."
30 GB MP3 player, $19 more than iPod mini.
The iPods, mini or otherwise, are overpriced. Plus they go to the form over function route to neglect important things like a door to change the battery.
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
It takes a whole damn article and a bunch of charts and hand waving to justify why it's a good move.
That's a sign of a product that won't sell.
iThink your an iDiot
Not really the company's fault? Riiiiiiight...
They market it as the solution for the customer, and no doubt do market studies that show exactly what the customer wants and what it will pay. and then they sell the minimum with the product and then offer all the things that make it useful and usable as extras.
It isn't bait and switch, but selling higher expectations then they know the product itself will fulfill isn't exactly a plus on the ethics column either.
Gotta love them STEREOTYPES. Perhaps they DID find themselves and they are perfectly happy at a keyboard hiding from the dreaded daystar?
Go take your crass stereotyping elsewhere, this is the last place on the world you will find the bulk of users agreeing with what you just said.
Jeremy
And in the end, none of those manufacturers put out a product that is anywhere near what the object is actually worth.
There is nothing quite as good to a manufacturer than having perceived value to the moneyed classes. In my industry, people buy jeans for $180 and ripped, drawn-upon sports jackets for $520; the names on said labels are suitably European. In both cases, the extra materials and work might come out to an extra $15-$20 a unit.
So what justifies the insane markup? Stupid consumers who want to buy the trappings of the rich. More power to Apple lovers, I guess, but you are no different than Gucci girls and Armani suitmen. Now go earn that big paycheck!
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Together, we will drive the rats from the tundra.
Ooh, great you got all kinds of free stuff. Trouble is, it's all cheap-o crap you'd never use in public: - LCD wired remote...blech, I've seen it. Better than the iPod...ha! - external mic...yeah, if you like the sound of a hurricane every time you record! - leather case...you mean pleather, right? - headphone extension...with weak connections that end up causing static within three months. No thanks.
You can have my one-button mouse when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.