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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."
you've just been upsold by $50
Thats like digital cameras these days.
Only $250! But the CompactFlash is so small as to be stupid. And you'll need a case. And some rechargeable batteries. And an AC adapter. And a docking station. And...
After its all over, you just spent $500 on something that costs $225.
I guess thats the new Bait and switch? Or can you come up with a better name for it? (upselling?)
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
"But does it have OGG?" (Answer: No, and it never will.)
First of all, price point comparisons between other MP3 players doesn't really do the iPod any justice. It is over-priced for what you're given yes; but you're paying a premium for ease-of-use, style and of course the brand name. It's an Apple product, designed to work with other Apple products, and I'm sure that it works quite well. I own a 128 Muvo and that's all I need for an Mp3 player really. It's dual-function (128 Mb USB key acts as a USB drive as well), it's copy and paste in Windows for Mp3s and files (no need to install any extra software or drivers like some minidisc players I know of) and it's pretty sturdy. Granted, I got it for free so it's a bit better deal then a 4GB HD for $250 but hey, to each his own.
Secondly, maybe the Apple marketing team thought that a $50 difference was all that was really stopping them from taking hold of the lower market share. I also think that once people start buying more of the iPod minis, it will force Apple to bring down the price of the iPod Majors. I've yet to find 15Gb of music to fill up my player with, legal and quasi-legal. It really is a mind-game. $50 may put some people above what they wanted to spend on a player. If it stops 1000 people from buying other players, Apple just made $250,000 instead of $0.
"Anybody who tells me I can't use a program because it's not open source, go suck on rms. I'm not interested." (LT 2004)
Did you bother to read the article? The whole point is that the device is not expensive at all when compared to what else you can get in the smaller storage capacity market for that price.
At the very least, it's competatively priced, and given the iTunes support and the superior UI, it's probably a no-brainer for anyone looking in that general price range.
While it's true that the iPod Mini compares well with the other players in the article, they didn't say why anyone would chose the Mini (4 GB) rather than pay the extra $50 and get a 15 GB iPod. Even at $299, the full iPod still compares favorably with most of the other players in the article. So why would anyone buy the Mini?
is that is positioned to sell as many as they can to people that will pay $249 for them. When those people run out they can drop the price to $199 and maybe even introduce a 2G at $149. And sell a shit load more.
The difference between Canada and the USA is that in Canada healthcare is a right and gun ownership is a privilege.
Oh, please. Not every man is design impaired, and color and styling may be among the criteria evaluated in a purchase. When you buy a car, or clothes or whatever do you completely eschew color and design? I doubt it. While the very few will take function completely over form most of us enjoy having something that is aesthecially pleasing besides being of great functional value.
Am I to assume from the tone of your post that if you were to be able to have a girlfriend/boyfriend you would completely ignore looks? :-)
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>>So why would anyone buy the Mini?
Smaller form factor and colors. For a lot of people this stuff really really matters.
I run and I would much rather carry the Mini, than a full size ipod. Plus, I only have 3 gigs of music, so I really wound't get much more value out of a 40 gig player.
Jeff
I'd still rather pay $50 more for a 15GB iPod
Could you people just put on your marketing hat for a few seconds?
Joe and Jane Consumer do not have more than a few gigs of MP3s, at most. Once you hit a certain point, they aren't looking at the capacity anymore - they are looking at style and price. With the mini-iPod, they are saving $50 and getting better style.
Style = Smaller (until things become choking hazzards)
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
There is one lesson Apple seems not to learn: people want much and they want it cheaply. Nobody cares about quality.
If that were true, every computer would be an eMachine, every car would be a Kia, and every DVD player would be an Apex.
But no, people buy Alienware computes, cars from BMW, Lexus, Mercedes, Audi, ect, and hi end DVD players from Denon, ect.
Apple is not the only company that concentrates on selling a smaller number of items to people who want quality, and they are not the only company that is good at it.
I have blog like everyone else
That's one reason I've been eyeing the 20GB one. I'd also like to store all my CDs on there and then box them away. The fact that I can then connect the iPod to my stereo, car, computer, etc... to use as a jukebox is also a major plus. But of course, it's still a bit much for those of us on a student's budget.
- You think the iPod is too big, and the mini is just right
- 4 gigs of music at 192 kbps gives you ~2 days of continuous music. (Calculated here.) That's enough to last a week or so, and with firewire transfer speeds, changing playlists isn't that big of a deal
- You want the newest, coolest thing
- You're an Apple fan-kid
I'm sure I've left off some potential reasons, but those are the ones that came to mind right away.you get much larger capacity in a much larger form factor and a much crappier interface, a much larger weight, and no system integration.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
This is exactly what I thought when I saw Jobs give the keynote. It's only $50 more for another 11 GB in the low end full size iPod. What a rip off.
Then I looked at the size of the mini. It's smaller than a Sony Ericsson T610 phone. "Way too little" *is* what costs more cash in tech. The 1.8" Toshiba drives in a normal iPod aren't exactly going to be cheap. The iPod mini is using a 4 GB 1" *microdrive*. Yet it's not much more expensive than comparable flash memory players.
I think expectations were raised far too high by rumours before the keynote of $99 2 GB iPods. In the UK, we're seeing it priced at 199 pounds "subject to change." I reckon it'll come down in price a bit fairly soon anyway, maybe to $200. Then people might realise what a good deal it really is.
You're thinking like a geek. Extra space? Removable what? These are the responses you'll get from an iPod mini customer. If you show them the larger, white box, they'll point at the mini and say "this one is cuter and smaller". And if you get a savvy ipod mini shopper, they'll say "1700 songs...more than I have or plan on getting".
cat
To a great many people, 4GB (if they even understand the concept of a gigabyte, some people actually don't bother themselves with such things!) is a number sufficiently high that a higher number is needless. For someone that isn't going to fill 4GB, buying a 15GB player is spending money on features they don't need/want.
However, for many of these same people, small form factor is desirable, as are colors.
It's funny how many geeks don't get that not every potential iPod customer thinks in terms of data storage.
You will always find the other MP3 players at less than MSRP and you will never be able to purchase the iPod at anything other than MSRP. Barring farfegnugen freebies, of course. iPod minis are purely fashionable.
What you (and others) are describing may be exactly the reason to price the mini at $250. If they hold production on the mini down below the levels of the main line, they could make out like bandits in the following scenario: Customer walks in the store looking to spend $250 max on an MP3 player and sees the mini 4-gig as the best deal at that price; they then see the 15-gig iPod at $300 and decide "what the heck" and spend the extra $50.
That is pefectly correct. The mainstream public that like pretty things, don't think like geeks.
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Well, the other side of the "accessories sold seperately" coin is - you could get stuck paying for items you don't want or need, if it's all bundled in at one price.
I'd never use an armband with a portable music player, for example. I tend to put them in my inner coat pocket in the winter, and other times, just leave them in my car, on my desk at work, or wherever I want to use them.
Even the remote, which I thought was a "must have" option for my iPod at first, is little more than a toy to me now. (As often as not, I use my iPod to listen to music in my car - so I can't make use of their wired remote in that scenario anyway. I just have a Griffin iTrip plugged into the top of my iPod.) It's fine for when you're actually using the earbud headphones -- but I don't find it that much more of a problem to just reach down and use the iPod's controls themselves for volume or to skip tracks.
As they say, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." When you buy something with "free bonus accessories" in the box, you can be sure you paid for them in the price of the item.