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Apple Releases New Touch Screen iPod
JSM writes to tell us that Apple released a new version of their popular iPod music player today that boasts, among other things, an iPhone-like touch screen and Wi-Fi capabilities. "The iPod Touch will feature the Safari Internet browser and, like the iPhone, play YouTube videos. Apple also announced a new version of its iTunes music store that will allow users to buy songs wirelessly. iTunes will also sell customizable 99-cent ringtones for the iPhone."
Take that Zune!
While they're at it, they should build mobile phone capabilities into the thing as well. Then they'd have something!
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
The should have called it the "iPod Newton"
For those that are interested, the 4GB iPhone is on sale for $299 while supplies last: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/A ppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=BC784DCD&nplm=MA501LL/A
The price of the 8GB iPhone dropped as well to $399.
For a device that seems to play video well (and made for it) 8/16 GB doesn't seem like enough. Especially since the "ipod classic" comes in 80/160GB flavors at the same price point( with a small not so good for video screen).
Otherwise it looks nice.
iPhone 8GB price drop from $599 to $399.
At that pricing, they could sell 5M units by the end of the year. That's a very aggressive move for market share.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
I have one thing to say... Gmail
Will it be able to run the same 3rd party apps as the iphone?
Interesting that Apple shares are down 3.5% with this news. Was there a financial disclosure, or were investors expecting something different?
So its got wireless, but still less space than a nomad. lame.
I, for one, welcome our new karma-whore sig writing overlords
Phatpod iPod Nano - Like your sleek device for workouts? Too bad, go get a Shuffle - BONED
$.99 ringtone on top of $.99 to buy the song (certain songs only) - BONED
Starbucks "integration" - now my iPhone will spend a few extra seconds every time I hook up to a Wifi access point looking for coffee music - BONED
We managed to fit really nice HDs in iPods, but not the new Touch iPod - but you get a few millimeters back - BONED
$599 to $399 price drop in 2 months - EXTREMELY BONED
iTunes Store wireless - kind of cool. Wish they'd do the same thing with TV shows in music (that's what I'd be inclined to buy in an airport somewhere)
All in all, a particularly boneworthy afternoon.
iPod shuttle
just new colors
1GB, $US79
iPod nano
all new with 320*240 2" screen, can play video, coverflow, brighter display
4GB $149, 8GB $US 199
slighly wider, but much shorter, 20% heavier than previous model
iPod classic
like the old iPod, now with 80GB/160GB instead of 30GB/80GB, coverflow
80GB $249, 160GB $US 349
iPod touch
like the iPhone without the phone
slightly smaller and slimmer: iPhone is 45% thicker
8mm thin
WiFi, Safari
8GB $US 299, 16GB $US 399
iPhone
killed the 4GB version
reduced 8GB version from $US599 to $US 399
11.6mm thin
memomo: free web based language trainer DE-EN-ES-FR-IT
Now we'll start seeing a real mobile web.
How many hands is this new iPod going to go into? How many of them will start really doing mobile web browsing as a day-to-day activity? Mobile facebook is digital crack, that you can't leave at your home or in your laptop now.
Man I wish these things had GPS...
Care about electronic freedom? Consider donating to the EFF!
They didn't bring the touch screen to the larger capacity "classic" models. I'm curious as to why they're striving towards dropping actual hard drives in favor of flash memory. Some of us like the large capacity, but would also like some of the nifty features that they're bringing in to the flash models. Why can't they drop the "classic" models and just make them touch screen as well?
Way to ruin the Nano Apple. It was in no way a good idea to bloat the Nano so we could have video on it. Honestly, most of us simply don't want to watch video on a 2" screen. We wanted a cheaper Nano with more memory.
Nice job on the other ipods though. Hacked Ipodtouch + Skype = Goodness? Boy would that put a stick in Apple's craw.
Best comment heard so far regarding the Nano: "Does it do the truffle shuffle?"
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
Apple released some nice products today, but had some disappointing moments as well. First, the new ipod classic looks nice and the bump to 160gb is nice. The other announcements were not as exciting. The new nano looks ugly and didn't get a storage bump. The ipod touch looks very nice, but they should have used the 160gb hdd from the classic instead of flash.
The iPhone news was the biggest let down. For all the talk of Apple "redefining" the cellphone industry, the event today showed that they have no intentions of being anything other than just another gouger. The write-up was wrong. Ringtones aren't $0.99, they are $0.99 for songs that you purchased already from itunes, so they are $1.98 and you can't use music that you got from other sources.
The other nice move was dropping the price on the iphone. I personally think this is a great move, even if it is a slap in the face to all the early adopters (henceforth referred to as "suckers"). It was also a nice fuck-in-the-ass to all the ebayers who are sitting on $200 losses now.
All those people (you know who you are) who kept saying "I'd buy an iPhone without the phone", you better step up.
main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
Now we have a direct competitor to the N800, and the "Touch" is actually cheaper (at least in Canada) than the N800.
I am not suggesting a "Touch" will have an open platform, ready for hacking. But for the regular folk, who just
want Wifi, and an agenda/calendar, the Touch will be enough. Wifi, in my opinion, is the killer app for those who
don't want a cell phone (yes, we exist) but want an agenda. Others will prefer to continue to use a phone as a phone
and get an ipod for its wifi. The greymarket of iphones being shipped overseas (even before the hacks) are evidence
that there is a market for this.
Also, I own a N800 and an Ipod video, and in my opinion the sound quality of the N800 is lower than the ipod. But that is just my opinion.
--dmg
That truly is a steep drop in price. Have their supply and production costs dropped that much, or are they sacrificing margin in the expectation of recovering it in subscription fees? I tend to suspect the latter, which amounts to subsidized pricing.
Of course, it's also possible that they inflated the initial sale price a little to allow for the steep drop. This would seem like a good way to make a little extra money and reinforce the exclusivity of iPhone ownership, but dropping the price now has to piss off existing customers, who must feel like they've been had.
I am the one true god. However, as an atheist, I don't believe in myself. I guess I have a self-esteem problem.
I don't understand the impetus behind removing all tactile controls from a portable audio player.
The iPod is already harder to use than many other brands with buttons if you're driving, cycling, jogging, or walking and want to be able to adjust volume or start/stop without looking at the device. With a fair amount of practice you can learn to orient the iPod and manipulate the scroll wheel without looking at it. Is this even theoretically feasible with an iTouch? Or am I going to have to dodge imbeciles swerving all over the road while scrolling through their playlist even more than I do already?
An iPod Touch, with almost the same feature set as the iPhone, without the stupid Phone part, at a much cheaper price. Tough choice there... Feel sorry for the people who actually bought the iPhone now :/
Not so much cheaper. The iPhone 8Gig is now just $399. The 4Gig is $299 while supplies last.
-- Boycott Shell
I bet Apple plans on keeping VOIP on the IPodtouch as a threat to keep ATT in line on the iPhone.
There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
Apple really seems to be in a state of flux right now with their iPod/iPhone lines.
The release of the iPhone went well, but it's really pricey and historically first gen Apple products do little more than set the paradigm and show future promise. By the time we get second and third gen iPhones they'll probably be pretty amazing and a lot cheaper. Just comparing my second gen iPod to the advances made in say, the fourth generation (third introduced major changes, but fourth is where it stabilized design, went color, and started to move more heavily into video) are pretty staggering.
At the same time they're trying to reconcile the popularity of the iPhone with their ongoing iPod line and their iPod Nano line, but without dropping the core functionality of the iPod to such a degree that they lose business (i.e. by cutting the space to make room for the new features). As a result we have a mish-mash of product lines going on right now each of them with flaws.
If anyone out there is interested in purchasing a device now is probably the worst time. Give Apple a year or so and we'll start seeing further consolidation into a more stable product line that better integrates the features of each of their currently available products. Eventually I expect we'll be getting an 80 Gig iPhone with wi-fi and third-party apps, probably in only a year or two based on the way things have been moving so far.
When they stop making changes and start introducing only gradual improvements (like when the video iPod simply came out in a model with more storage) that's the time to go grab it. Based on their past performance though, I'd suggest waiting until then.
Now if the new iPhone-without-the-Phone-part had bluetooth, all my problems would be solved..I could tether it to my Verizon Treo 700WX, and have a good, usable web browser, without the crappy speeds from AT&Tingular. So close..
If you are going to feel sorry for iPhone owners, do it because of the price drop today - Apple's way of saying "fuck you" to early adopters.
Don't feel sorry for the million of us that have iPhones, though. They have combined a number of features we have been clamoring for and have done a damn good job of it. Honestly, the phone part of the iPhone is its best part. It is still the best phone I have ever used, even without features I used to rely on - such as the excellent voice dialing of the Motorola E815, Bluetooth synchronization, etc. To be quite honest, the iPod part of the iPhone is where it falls down - not able to manually manage music, not able to create new playlists even though there is a software keyboard, etc. SMS and calling features are pretty awesome.
Every once in a while I like to masturbate a new word into my vocabulary, even if I don't know what it means.
That's nothing. Look what they did to the regular iPod. It's as big as Steve Jobs! How am I supposed to take that on the bus?
Your courageous and selfless spelling corrections have made me a better person.
Having been a VERY long-time PalmOS PDA user (since the USR Pilot 1000), the prospect of a decent Apple PDA-like device very much anticipated. Palm PDA's were revolutionary, but their technological drive forward has long been stalled. This "phoneless iPhone" could prove to be a HUGE seller. My main desire for this type of device is simply because it is NOT a phone. Historically, my company has provided a phone to their specifications, and I never had a choice in the matter, so I've had to take a pass on all of the latest and greatest "convergence" devices because of the integrated phones. Now that the phone has been removed, this looks like an EXCELLENT opportunity for a new, more modern replacement to my old PalmOS PDA's. My only question is will there be third-party apps to enhance it?
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
Now if it were hackable or allowed 3rd party apps such as Skype we might be talking. As is, I don't see what's to get too excited about.
There will be a keyboard display. You'll need it to fill out web forms and your iTunes Music Store password.
I don't understand why there's no Mail application on the new touch. They give us Safari for web browsing, but no email client? It doesn't make sense. Sure there are those that will say that you can use web mail with Safari. But why would you want to use web mail designed for a desktop screen instead of an email app designed specifically for the iPod/iPhone?
Web mail sucks anyway. Besides, you couldn't configure a web mail client to auto check your email - say every time you have WiFi access. I really hope they include Mail at some point very soon in the future. Otherwise I think people will probably try to hack the Mail app on the iPhone to run on the iPod.
Oh, and no Google Maps either!? WTF!
infested with jello like fishes no melotron wishes
That one isn't for sale, it functions as a jukebox in his house!
That would be rather more harsh than the traditional coal in the stocking, I'd have to say.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Great. - I've always said something like this: one day they'll build cell phones that can do nearly everything except making a phone call, and now they did it. I'm speechless.
"Hannibal's plans never work right. They just work." Amy/A-Team
The iPhone has physical volume controls on the side of the case, so that's easy enough to do...
The iPhone headphones also allow you to pause music or skip tracks with a small device attached to the headphone wires, and I'm thinking the iPod touch will probably be able to use the same headphones.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
With this aggressive drop in iPhone pricing so soon, you wonder if apple is trying to grab as much of the market as possible before a (yes, VERY rumored) gPhone announcement.
TODO - Insert Creative/Witty Signature
Can it Sync with outlook?
Not only can it sync with outlook but it also formats your new iMac and installs Windows XP SP2.
Apple has realized that MS products are so superb in the areas of efficiency and user friendliness and are focusing on integrating their entire product line-up with whatever products Microsoft has to offer.
As far as other apps it can run, it can crash regularly on MS Word, Excel, and garble up its slideshows so they look like powerpoint, so Microsoft noobs can feel right at home with it.
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
Anytime Apple announces a new product and omits the anti-gravity feature, the stock takes a hit for the next day or so. That's when I add to my AAPL holdings.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Apple's web page says 10.4.8 for the iPodClassic and 10.4.10 for the iPodTouch. I'm still very happy w/ 10.3.9 on my old iMac G4 at home, and would rather not have to shell out $$ for 10.4.x .
Can anyone point me to some info as to what functionality I'll lose if I don't upgrade my OS (not to mention upgrading iTunes itself)?
Funny how WindowsXP+SP2 is sufficient for all the new iPods but on Apple's own OS I would have to buy an upgrade. Grrrr....
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
Er, well, there are two ways to use gmail on an iPhone; through the Web browser and through the built-in email app via POP3. The POP3 support is not always so great, partly since POP3 sucks, but it does work right most of the time as long as you don't use POP3 from any other device.
On the other hand, using the Web page is not always so great, since the gmail interface is all over the place and not exactly well-optimized for the iPhone's smaller display. It did work last I checked but the built-in email client works better for me.
The iPod Touch doesn't seem to have the email client, so you'd be stuck with the Web interface. Maybe Google will come out with a lighter version of the page to make things easier on those people. For all I know they have one already.
I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
That truly is a steep drop in price. Have their supply and production costs dropped that much, or are they sacrificing margin in the expectation of recovering it in subscription fees? I tend to suspect the latter, which amounts to subsidized pricing.
No, Apple is maximizing revenue. It is called walking down the price curve. Everyone has a different willingness to pay, some much higher than others. If you make a product available to everyone at a widely acceptable price you lose revenue from those who would have paid more. So you introduce a product at a high price point that only a few are willing to pay and slowly reduce the price over time. This way all sales are closer to what the various individuals were willing to pay. Note that there needs to be an absence of substitute products. Sometimes this strategy fits in well with initial production and supply problems. However in this case I expect it is mostly revenue maximization.
Try the open-source, rockbox replacement firmware! http://rockbox.org/
It breathed new life into my iRiver h100, and beats the crap out of the default apple firmware on my girlfriend's iPod video.
It doesn't do everything yet (like play videos), but you dual boot if you need to.
On a related note, one great thing about iPods is the firmware recovery routine...
With WiFi, I naturally assumed that it would stream to an Airport Express. But I haven't found anything about that on Apple's site, or anywhere else. Anyone?
I don't need another web browser or built-in itunes, but streaming would be real nice.
p
Dropping the price 1/3 in two months, and killing the cheap version translates to: "We're not selling the numbers we need".
4 84913.
Not for those who have studied business and economics, they may see revenue maximization. To avoid a redundant thread see: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=289019&cid=20
Yes, 16GB of flash memory isn't enough.
... by creating a huge demand for flash (or other suitable) memory, there's more motivation to produce higher capacity & lower prices thereon.
... but this tact will get you something better sooner.
/. ... but by creating the demand, the supply has appeared.
Yes, they could jam a hard drive in there.
BUT
Yes, you might not have the capacity you want now
Wasn't long ago the idea of a flash-based iPod was seriously scoffed at on
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
A microphone. VOIP with WIFI is kinda useless without a mic...
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
After they buy a 99 cent (or $1.39) song from iTunes, people accept that they should pay another 99 cents to be able to have that song play when someone calls them? Why do people keep putting up with this kind of crap?
Those who fail to understand communication protocols, are doomed to repeat them over port 80.
http://docs.google.com/
The Spoon
Updated 6/28/2011
At first, I was impressed with the demos of the new touch ipod. wifi integration? Built-in web browser? Slick touch-screen interface? And then, the nagging little details began to surface: 16 gig max capacity? My current 80 gig ipod is roomy indeed, and while it's not maxed out, any less than that, I'd be cutting it close. But wait--the new ipod is using USB flash drives...so logically, Apple will produce separate drives that you can swap out to easily mitigate the miserly space restrictions....right? Wrong. Let's not forget, people, these are the same devices with which you, the consumer, are not trusted to simply replace the battery. Swapping the drive? In your dreams. Second, since it has wifi, that means I don't need to plug in a USB cable to sync my ipod, right? Wrong. Of course, you can *purchase* new music over the ether, but something as insane as wirelessly syncing your library? You want the Brooklyn Bridge thrown in too? Finally, integration with Starbuck's. I love it when companies team together like this. Waltz into one of the 4 neighborhood Starbuck's and neato! A shiny new icon appears on your ipod! Guess what! It's called forced advertising. The best part is, thousands of people will consider this an indispensable "feature". Because, you know, when you're hopping yourself up on caffeine, you absolutely MUST have access to a music store. Once again I'm reminded of how indulgent we're becoming with our personal technology. As if cellphones weren't bad enough--people just couldn't live without being able to call Johnny up to discuss the latest gossip at any given moment--now we're going to have to tolerate folks who will absolutely *implode* if they can't check on the latest inane video uploaded to YouTube.
Hear, hear. I'm running Rockbox on my 5.5G. Absolutely love it.
The iPod Touch with a microphone as a VoIP WLAN phone would have been sweet.
Dude, I hear you, but as you no doubt also know, part of business and economics is also reinforcing the sense of value for those who already bought in. Deflating the price 33% is pretty aggressive, and likely to alienate early adopters. It's also a departure from the classic Apple tactic of discontinuing older brands as newer ones come in. In other words, up at that end of the price spectrum, the pickings were pretty slim, so they needed to slide down. The iPod touch is almost an admission that they suspect the AT&T contract was a dealbreaker.
So no, it's damage control, much like your multiple postings.
Apple is only of many poster children of this expression.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Yes. This also comes with Safari.
Why can't U just link the product page instead of making us search around the store?
Actually, there are three. You can set up your own GMail POP client instead of using the built-in GMail one--I chose Door #3 so that I could use my permanent email address, not my gmail.com one.
Yes, there are shortcomings using either the Safari or POP version of GMail, but (and maybe I'm fanboi rationalizing), POP works for me for my mobile email needs...
One more thing. I think the iPod Touch is very cool, but I'm not complaining about shelling out more for the iPhone--email (yeah, yeah, they could put the email client on the Touch), camera, sms, and...phone make it worth the extra bucks...
Twelve-and-three-quarter inches. Unyielding. This wand belonged to Bellatrix Lestrange.
Long live the king. The new Newton rises.
like m.gmail.com ?
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
Actually, that's just a SteveJobsNano standing in front of it. He's only 15mm high, but has nearly the same RDF as the classic!
So it's $50 more for one 10th the storage of the regular ipod. Hmmm... nope, I don't think so. You have all this video ability in this device, but not enough space to really make use of it, and it costs MORE than a similar device with 10x the storage. I expect a premium, but not that big a premium.
Then again, this is an apple product, so I guess it's par for the course.
--Not to be worried, Pitr fix.
Whenever Apple announces an iPod with a capacity larger than previously available, Slashdot always gets these "N GB ought to be enough for anybody" posts. This ignores the considerations that A) you can never have too much storage space, and B) not everybody uses their iPod the same way you do.
Suppose someone is into classical music. They take the complete works of Bach and Mozart, make lossless rips of them (compression artifacts are particularly bad for classical), put them on their iPod. That fills up an 80GB iPod right there, just for the works of two guys. Now suppose this user wants to listen to other composers, or have performances of symphonies by multiple orchestras, or have music of other genres on there as well, or have room for some video... they go with a 160GB iPod, not because it's "O-VER-KILL", but because there isn't a Terabyte iPod available.
From my best and latest information gathering about the
new Ipod Touch. You will still be tethered to the new
Apple wonder via headphone wires.
How does a company that is so tech savvy and audio rich,
miss this feature? A number of cell phones sport A2DP
Profile. Which basically allows you to use bluetooth
stereo headphones to listen in excellent audio quality
to your music or movies and not have to be strangled
by a cord.
Either someone is making a mint off the little headphones,
Apple is saving such a cool feature for a software update.
(only for the current Iphones.) Or Another still yet to be
released Ipod is coming that has bluetooth and A2DP.
It's also possible that Apple hasn't the money or skills
to bring A2DP to it's products. Who'd a thunk it?
In other words -- get over it already. You're not unique or interesting because you developed a filing system in your head that's less intuitive for 99.9% of the rest of the world.
World's tallest building rises in the desert
I don't understand the impetus behind removing all tactile controls from a portable audio player.
Oh, it makes perfect sense. iPod Touch is like a slut. You watch, and keep watching, and before you know it you want to reach out and touch it for yourself. So finally it's yours, all yours to gaze and touch as much as you want. And it's great at first, when everything is new and fresh. But as you constantly touch and slobber all over it, it gets worn and dirty. You try to protect it or make it look better by putting on some accessories (make up) but it really does the trick. Having lost attention to it, it becomes far easier to lose... and eventually it is lost.
But that's ok, because by then the iPod Rub will have come out and be even more slutty than the iPod Touch.
Dude, I hear you, but as you no doubt also know, part of business and economics is also reinforcing the sense of value for those who already bought in. Deflating the price 33% is pretty aggressive, and likely to alienate early adopters.
The flaw with your logic is that your are assuming that these early iPhone buyers are part of a rational market. They are not. Those early adopters already got want they wanted, winning the pissing contest, first on their block, attention, etc. Anyone with half a brain new that these high prices were temporary. Also, may were hard core Apple fans. Some of these people may kick themselves for not waiting, but they will not abandon Apple.
Steve Jobs invented a phone for calling my mother.
Sig cannot be found.
double click
Yeah, no kidding.
At my current employer, some employees were recently given awards for their technical training sessions at the company's technology forum. The 2nd and 3rd place winners won Zunes. What an insult! Of course, this company has been treating us like crap a lot lately anyway, with all the layoffs and such.
When you post anonymously, it's OK to say that you work for Microsoft. ;-)
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
BZZZ! Wrong. Had Apple suddenly lowered the iPhone's price out of nowhere, it might have suggested that the company needed to boost sales in the same manner as Sony's PS3 price cut. However, what really happened was that Apple released a very popular product that nearly a million people were happy to pay $600 to buy within the first two months.
Apple then released the iPod Touch, which delivers 60% of the iPhone's features - no cell, no Bluetooth, no camera, no mic or speakers, but largely everything else: the iPod and the "Breakthrough Internet Device!!" The iPhone's price had to drop. Anyone who wanted an iPhone got their phone, and now millions more will grab one at the lower price. People complaining about the $200 price drop should take some consolation from the recent $600 price drop on the significantly improved iMac, and the fact that the iPhone's hardware price is only a small fraction of the price with service. So ownership of the iPhone didn't drop by some monumental huge percentage, but merely from $2000 to $1800 across its two year contract.
I don't know why this was modded funny, the iPhone OS has been cracked wide open to run 3rd party apps without hardware modifications, with a complete development toolchain available. Its not even that different from normal OSX programming, from what I have seen. I would love to be able to a nice looking portable device that could run MAME or a terminal emulator at a pinch.
sheep.horse - does not contain information on sheep or horses.
Besides, if you want free ringtones from any audio source, you can already install them, without jailbreaking your iPhone:
http://www.cocoadex.com/Ringtones_1.1.dmg
With an iPod that has more HD space than my MacBook is apple going to make it possible for you to use the iPod as your backup device for the new Time Machine Feature in Leopard?
Make them into "compilations" and turn on "group compilations"
Learn things.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
I'm kind of enjoying this strange fantasy world of yours. Could you tell us some more tales of it?
I've read through a lot of comments and I'm seeing a lot of people discussing the iPhone price drop (which is pretty huge) and how it's a smack in the face to early adopters.
Question: If a company purchases a few million additional components which is used in both the iPhone and ipod touch wouldn't that drive the cost down of the iphone?
To me I see the Ipod touch as an iphone in a different suit. And since the iphone is only available in the US market their new phone (or a lot of the required components) just opened up to a massive market including Japan, UK, Canada, etc.. Also, the early adopters who went out and spent the money only proved the market was ready for such a change in user input.
So to all future buyers of the iphone, you just lucked out. At least Apple appears to be bringing the cost savings back to the consumer. . or this could be an evil scheme to take over the phone market!
We also know that Joe Average is fully willing to pay $1.98, especially for both song and ringtone. Ringtones at $2, $3, even $4 are a completely proven market - a MASSIVE market. People ARE willing to pay. And you know what? For $0.99 over what I've already paid, I'm not sure I wouldn't either.
-Daniel
I'm not an actor, but I play one on TV...
I don't know if you were watching AAPL a few years ago, but there was a time when 5 execs (including then-CFO Fred Anderson) sold a bunch of shares right before a bad quarterly announcement (which precipitated a huge drop). The SEC said the trades were "well timed" but didn't do anything about it. This feels like a repeat.
I almost sold everything this morning while it was still at 144, but I checked the history and saw that the stock went up after last year's Sept. iPod announcement, so I figured this year might be similar and waited. Boy do I feel like a chump now. CFOs are scum, and if you don't sell when they do, you lose big time.
Free Hans!