Slashdot Mirror
iPod Mini Worldwide Rollout Delayed
falcon5768 writes "Apparently those 4-gig, $249 little buggers are selling faster than anyone expected.... So fast that the original April rollout worldwide has been delayed till July to keep up with the demand in the states and to get enough in production to meet worldwide sales. Given that there where 100,000 pre-orders alone, does this mean that yet again Apple hit on a niche that no one else (including me) thought would sell. I have been hearing a lot of rumors that the biggest buyer of the iPod mini has in fact been those female tech geeks out there. So much for the idea a $249 4-gig iPod was a mistake." Rob Glaser of RealNetworks, though, claims that not opening the iPod (big or small) to other formats is a real mistake; he wants to see iPod support other proprietary formats (like, say, Real's).
100,000 pre-orders alone [...] the biggest buyer of the iPod mini has in fact been those female tech geeks out there
Ha ha ha! Next they'll be telling us about the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus buying them.
Trolling is a art,
...that Apple made a huge blunder there (not supporting Real Networks). I'm sure they're kicking themselves over it.
Tim
Heh, first time I've heard that one. Funny that it's the female demographic too...
"No, give me the smaller one"
As seen on Wired: Get a free desktop PC
I bet Real doesn't like the idea of Apple not supporting their format.
That combined with their other losses these last couple of weeks, I just suspect the statement was made to make it sound like they are still a contender.
Ted
Fantasy remains a human right; we make in our measure and in our derivative mode... -- JRR Tolkien
Like the original premise (that the iPod mini was a bad idea), the claim that Apple should support niche formats like OGG or Real is stupid. Apple has demonstrated time after time after time that they and they alone define the lead in technology that the rest of the industry follows. If Apple says AAC is where its at, then that's where it's at. Period. All the naysayers and open sores advocates can go buy something else, but like every other time, they will add up to maybe a couple of thousand people. Meanwhile the rest of us will go on enjoying state of the art portable music. Thanks again Apple!
"No one's gonna buy that! It's only 4 gigs, and it's too expensive! Apple is DOOMED!"
Whatever.
Because men like to have big ipods
Yes, I'm bitter about Real.
I always save my last mod point to mod up a good troll. You people are too serious.
Because females tend to be more conscious of design/looks. In general men tend to care more about specs (my iPod is bigger then yours). That is why so many ./ers were predicting that it would fail, because it is not meant for this crowd in general.
The fact of the matter is that Joe Sixpack will not give a crap what format his music is in, and will mock anybody who tries to explain why he should. As long as it works, that's it. iPods will continue to sell regardless of format because unlike we nerds, normal people only store music on their iPods and listen to it from there. They don't swap their shit around as we would like to. So the iPod Minis will continue to be a raging success.
A lot of Slashdotter's should be getting used to the taste of crow right about now. Many people here predicted that teh iPod Mini would be a bust, that no one would buy a 4GB unit for $50.00 (US) less than a 15GB unit.
/. market.
And they were 100% dead wrong. Why? Because the iPod Mini isn't aimed at the tech-savy
The lesson here: Don't predict the market based solely on your preferences.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
I'm not sure if it has anything to due with actually hitting a niche market or if it's just a way to be ultra-hip and spend $50 less. The vast majority of people that are buying these aren't techies, they are just average people that have very little product knowledge beyond knowing the iPod plays mp3s and that it's cool. If people shopped around, or if Apple's competitors did a better job of marketing I don't think it would sell nearly as well.
sig.
My wife says she wants an iPod, after seeing someone at her office with one. I ask which one she wants, and she sends me a damn link to the mini. I said for a bit more you could get the regular iPod with more storage...apparently this one will fit in her purse better or something. Maybe it's the ability to choose a color, but I thought you can get "skins" for your regular iPod already? In any case, chalk up another possible sale for the female geek market.
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
Dude, lots of people thought it was a good idea. True, the majority of people on Slashdot thought it was a bad idea, but Slashdot is hardly representative of everybody.
Way to spin the issue, though--it wasn't a sound business decision built from careful research and experience, it was Yet Another Example of (beleaguered) Apple somehow succeeding with a dubious product...
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Because it's too hard to play games or watch movies while I'm walking through the city to a friend's house, or while I'm sitting at my desk doing some drafting. I like listening to music while I do those (and other) things, and I want something that does that very well, and doesn't have a big color screen to eat up battery life.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
I've met and known many female geeks. The reason most don't know they are there is because a lot of male geeks LOOK like the stereotypical geek. Female geeks do not.
Uh huh...
So where is it that you buy a PocketPC and equip it with 4GB of memory for less than $250? Maybe you were thinking of the "big" iPod? Can you buy 40GB of RAM for your PocketPC for less than $500?
mp3 music can be imperfect, but it's better than the movies that you'll be playing on your pda...
I was an original Mac person. Way back with the Apple II, then the Mac, etc. Finally I switched to the PC for all the obvious reasons.
/. crowd is obsessed with specs and functionality but I think the iPod is a thing of beauty. What Apple did with the mini is add a color choice which instantly makes it legitimate to the eye of a woman. Most women I know are much more color sensitive than men. The small size helps too.
What got me to buy an iPod was the almost sensual way it felt, the intuitive way it operates and the "cool" factor which is worth a lot to me.
Of course, I wouldn't go near it until the PC interface came out and I still wish it supported more formats. I know most of the
I think secretly I like seeing the Apple logo on my desk full of functional PC crap.
M
In other news, The head of GM thinks that Germany's Porsche should install Chevrolet LT1 engines in the new 911. "It'll give them a chance to reach a larger audience with that car." a spokesman for the company said.
its modded 5
as funny
lay off the coffee for a while
and relax.
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
> It's been on MacRumors.com all day.
Because MacRumors is, by name and nature, a rumors site.
Slashdot only published hard news.
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
Why buy an iPod when you can buy a PocketPC, equip it with as much memory as you want (it's cheap these days), and do infinitely more things with it beyond just listening to mp3's, such as watch movies or play games?
Apple has had the same strategy for several years now. While it may be cool to have a PocketPC, it is WAY COOLER to have an iPod. The PocketPC is cold and unfeeling, while the iPod has had exceptional marketing exposure... And it seems to be working.
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
Glaser...said during a panel discussion Tuesday at PC Forum here that Apple is creating problems for itself by using a file format that forces consumers to buy music from Apple's own iTunes site....Apple could not be reached for comment.
Yes, that's because Apple was on its way to the bank. Laughing, I might add.
-Carolyn
Like Daddy always said: if you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit.
To my family... They came out to visit, they had never seen an iPod before, and they have almost zero Apple products in the city where they are from (only 1 CompUSA is the only place that sells Apple products). They all use PCs. I took them to the Apple store, and they walked out with two iPod Minis. They would buy Apple computers if Apple would get some Retail presence in New Mexico - so that they could have a place to buy software and peripherals and such....
The 4GB iPod is not competing with the 15GB iPod. The 4GB iPod is meant as an alternative to the flash based MP3 players offered by everyone else. Take a look: 256MB Rio Chiba is $200, a 256MB Rio Cali is $200, 256MB Yepp is $200, 512MB Creative MuVo2 X-Trainer is $289. I could go on and on. Now $250 for a 4GB iPod looks pretty good right? To say nothing of the fact that it's an iPod and looks so damn cool compared to any of the flash players out there. People saying the Mini iPod is expensive don't understand Apple's strategy here. They want to compete with flash players with the mini, and HD players with the regular iPod.
Support the First Amendment. Read at -1
... and not as a smaller jukebox.
The miniature MP3 players, usually topping out at 256MB or 512MB due to the price of CF/SD cards, sell to a broader audience than the bigger jukeboxes. Even the bigger iPod is a bulky thing to carry around. The clones tend to be even bigger.
The one thing that Apple has gotten right over the years is ergonomics and human interface: the iPods -- like the iMac -- are small, easy to use (which prompts some to call them crippled), few options to confuse (do I need AFLAC? [no, that's that insurance with the duck] What's an Ogg?), and they're smooth: soothing on the eye, and easy on the fabric of the pocket, if not the wallet.
Design for Use, not Construction!
the initial, on-topic part: i never thought these things would sell to anybody for that price, but i guess it makes sense to me that women would adopt it first. i dont mean that to be sexist, but women tend to care more about aesthetics more, i think. also, i would guess women to care a little more about it being tiny. i mean, id be willing to lug around a bigger, uglier dell player if it was superior in the ways i deemed more important. i just dont see my wife thinking the same way. she would rather have the one that is prettier and smaller. (sure, sure, insert joke about that last sentence *here*)
now for the RvB quote:
"didnt i just tell you to stop makin up ficticous animals?"
later...
"so, unless anybody has any other names for it, we'll call it the warthog....chipathangy, how bout that? i like it...got a ring to it."
use your turn signal! you people act like it's divulging information to the enemy
And while we're at it, can we give an iPod a wireless interface and GPS so that it can report to RealNetworks exactly where you've been going and what you've been doing while you've been carrying the thing around.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Rob Glaser of RealNetworks claims that not opening the iPod to other formats is a real mistake. "I can't run .RM files on iPod. What is this, the Soviet Union ?"
Bill Gates of Microsoft claims that not opening emacs to other formats is a real mistake. "I can't edit .DOC files on emacs. What is this, the Soviet Union ?"
Howard Stern of Loudmouth Inc claims not opening the airwaves on ClearChannel is a real mistake. "I can't say F*** on radio ! What is this, the Soviet Union ?"
Janet Jackson of Boob Inc. claims not opening her bra on public television is a real mistake. "I can't expose my nipples ! What is this, the Soviet Union ?"
Ummmm... shouldn't that be RealMistake(tm)? ;)
Un-news
*sigh* do we have to go over this again and again? The iPod supports:
AAC (16 to 320 Kbps) with or without Fairplay DRM, MP3 (32 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible, AIFF and WAV
How many portable players support RealNetworks formats?
Those who laugh at you for you having a Mac.. are the people who constantly call you to fix their PC.
So the slashdot crowd was wrong. (Yet again) Good thing I did not short those SCO stocks before... However, I feel that most slashdotters don't really understand what marketing is.
Even though "marketing" is a dread-word around here, Apple seems to have a really good marketing department to me. They get it right quite often.
Remember, marketing does not just reffer to the selling process of a given item, but also the process by which you conduct research into a given area to determine if there really is a market after all. It is important to check to see if the market is there by research, because what you can divine just by intuition is often wrong for marketing.
A very interesting read (even if you are a computer only type geek) on marketing is:
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
It covers things like how Listerine was the market leader for mouthwash - because everyone wanted to keep their mouth free from germs - and the medicie taste was irrelevant... Enter Scope, with better tasting mouthwash for "fresh breath" not germ killing so much, and now Scope is #1 in the market - Listerine #2.
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
The people who say you can get the 15gig for $50 more don't get it - they serve different purposes.
I keep my thrid-generation 30 gig at home most of the time, connected to my stereo, because I have put all my CDs in storage. Meanwhile, on my daily commute, I carry the mini - 4 gig is plenty of songs for an hour a day! And the tininess makes a huge difference, plus the new "click wheel" is, for me, the ideal controller. When I travel, the big one comes with me - more music, plus a FW HD. But for quick trips around town, the mini beats it hands down - and the big one (I realize it's demented to call the regular size big, but that's how it feels, now) can be home, serving as my music library.
Now, of course not everyone buying the mini has both, but I bet there are a fair number. And for those who choose only a mini, well, the tiny size and great interface are powerful draws - and many people think 1000 songs at a time is plenty!
Being a female tech geek myself, I was with you all when I thought the the mini was an idiotic concept priced for failure.
But then they started putting these ads in the InStyle magazine (girly fashion mag touting the latest styles out there). The ad was two facing pages with postcard pop-ups of paper iPod Minis to actual size, one of each color. Damn it if it didn't look as nice as some of those cute little handbags in the same price range a few pages away.
I still didn't get it, but I swear, if they slap a little Hello Kitty on it, I may have to cave in to the cuteness factor.
Sorry Real, but I don't see any need for the iPod to support yet another proprietary audio format. The iPod can deal with stanard AAC and MP3, and Apple's FairPlay AAC. Ogg Vorbis would be nice, as it is an open standard that anyone can implement royalty-free, but I can live with what I have right now. Real and Windows Media? I wouldn't have bought my iPod if I needed them.
The beauty (to me, the consumer) of FairPlay DRM is that every track bought from the iTunes Store comes with the same rights. I don't have to wonder what I can do with my purchases, or read any fine print. I like that. I doubt I'll ever buy off of another online store, because it's a problem I don't need... unless someone else starts selling FairPlay AAC files or standard un-mangled files.
I have a 40 Gb iPod, my husband has a 30Gb iPod - reason, he demands instant gratification, so he got his first, because I had to wait - I got the bigger one cheaper... :)
Sara
Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
What is it about Apple that they can generate such huge pre-orders of a gadget that costs $250 and *still* not make a profit?
I know you're a troll but... how many times since 1998 has Apple NOT reported a profit? They're one of the only tech companies that actually make money in this ruined economy.
Those who laugh at you for you having a Mac.. are the people who constantly call you to fix their PC.
Again, you're looking at a pretty small cross-section of the consumer audience--people who frequent/run geek tech sites. (The audience at Mac news sites, after all, is not that different demographically from Slashdot--primarily comprised of tech-oriented, male geeks.) While the tech-oriented crowd was indeed screaming about the cost to capacity ratio, plenty of people were swooning over it's compact form factor, it's styling, even the freakin' colors! The iPod mini was never meant to appeal to case-modders and DIY geeks. The iPod mini was designed to appeal to the same crowd that buys ultra-compact, color-screen, flip-lid camera phones. Apple knew that this was a big market from the start, as did a lot of other people.
The tech-geek conventional wisdom was blindsided by the iPod's success because the tech-geek conventional wisdom failed to understand that other people buy digital gadgets, too!
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
"I've met and known many female geeks. The reason most don't know they are there is because a lot of male geeks LOOK like the stereotypical geek."
And a lot of the stereotypical female geeks look like males.
My other machine is a lever.
>>Slashdot only published hard news.
I don't even know where to start with that one.
Don't park drunk, accidents cause people.
"he demands instant gratification, so he got his first, because I had to wait - I got the bigger one"
Yeah, but did you have multiple iPods?
My other machine is a lever.
Why buy an iPod when you can get a Portable PC with subwoofer and 120 GB of MP3s? And it supports Ogg, too!
Fellowship 9/11
Oh yeah, and you can only play one song at a time.
WWJD? JWRTFA!
I no longer own every version. I have bought each successive model as it has come out because of the increased capacity (and I need one more generation because I've got about 7GB more than my 40 GB can hold and I still buy music).
The 5 GB I sold to a friend when my 10 GB arrived. It, then, was given to a closer friend when my 20 GB arrived. That one I traded to a co-worker in exchange for a handmade weaving when my 30 GB arrived. That went on loan to yet another pal when the 40 GB arrived. I'm sure I'll dispose of that somehow when the next-gens arrive. And now, the mini.
So I guess I misspoke -- I never had a 15 GB model. If memory serves, they were initially released when the 20 GBs were so I skipped that particular capacity.
Having had all those iPods, I feel qualified to assert that while the touchpad wheel was a great idea, the touchpad buttons arranged in a row above the wheel was categorically NOT. It's very difficult to find a button in the dark when the "by feel" method will take you off to the hinterlands depending on which button happens to feel a finger first. I absolutely worship the clicking touchwheel on the mini and I will be stunned if that doesn't adorn all future iPod models.
Oh, and I find that with each new release bringing additional features (clocks, games, contacts, etc) the iPod software is more likely to lock up and require a forced reset. Battery life is also declining more than the reduced size would indicate. I loves me some iPod but contrary to popular opinion each new model is _less_ than the one that preceded it.
Learn to spell: nickel, missile, lose, solely, amendment, speech, kernel, probably, ridiculous, deity, hierarchy, versus
She seemed surprisingly disappointed when I said it only came in white.
Apple's done their market research on this one, folks.
"He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once." - Steve Jobs on Bill Gates
Because foremost, it is a very practical player in ways many others are not (and women are generally more practical than men and want features that are useful to them as opposed to just existing for possible future use for some remote scenario). Getting songs onto it is very fast, you can use it easily, and even the size while adding to "cuteness" is primarily a practically useful feature rather than just a gimmick or fashion statement.
That really is the key - the primary buyer of the iPod is not buying it for fashion (for what piece of electronics is really fashionable to the level of clothing or accessories) but instead for the practical features it offers to deliver portable music to the user as easily as possible. People keep scoffing at the possible sucess of the iPod because they misunderatand this very key point - as long as you continue to believe people buy an iPod for reasons of apperance you will also continue to be suprised at any sucess they attain in any form because you misunderstand the core of what makes them desireable.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Slashdot: The iPod-mini is overpriced and has no target audience!
Rest of the world: We don't give a flying fuck!
I visited my sister a couple of weeks ago, coincidentally arriving on the day that her 13-year old daughter's (blue) iPod Mini arrived. She bought it herself, with her babysitting money. In that age group, there aren't "portable mp3 players", there are iPods. Period.
Are you kidding? Have you ever seen the average woman's handbag? I've seen smaller European cars.
...
the wheel thing is very cool and functionality is a high point. i just dont think people get an iPod because they played with the alternatives and it worked the best.
The thing is that you can play with them and know that the work really well, without even having used a different model - they work well enough to convince you they would be usable in daily life. That's why I think that functionality may still be a primary reason for choosing them. It would be really interesting to see some kind of breakdown about how many people had had contact with one before buying them as that would go a long way to prove or disprove the theory. My theory comes about from hearing a lot of people relate stories about buying them after playing with one, and seeing people react to them at Apple stores (they show only casual interest as they pick them up, but get really into them when they start using it).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Yukon do it, all night long!
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
Agreed. Luckily, I don't have that problem. ;)
today is spelling optional day.
I was showing my iPod off to a girl a couple of months ago, touting the features and telling her about the smaller pink ones that were coming out soon.
She oohed and aahed that thing for quite a while (playing with it the whole time) and then asked one of the silliest questions I'd ever heard.
"Is it easy to use?"
My only response... "You tell me. You're using it right now."
She's since bought her own pink iPod Mini.
fs
I think it's the smaller size, too. A lot of gym freaks and athletes have been buying it since it's easier to run/cycle/work out with than an iPod.
just one, but it lasts longer... :P
Sara
Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
Crap, now 13 year old kids are buying stuff I've been putting off as 'too expensive'. I gotta get myself a piece of this lucrative babysitting racket...
One god, one market, one truth, one consumer.
God damn it, I was going to buy one next week, but no, thanks to you I'm going to have to wait until July, thank you very very much!
;-)
Would you please stop hogging them so that we could get at least a couple over here in Europe too
Yeah, you do :)
:)
I'm 13 and I'm already reselling for a webhost (not joking, but only to geeky friends at the moment), not to mention the lead Jazilla developer + a whole lot of other stuff.
I refuse to disclose my financial status except to say that I'm in the black and don't have any debt to anybody
You can believe me or not believe me on this one..