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Apple Prepares For the Coming iPod Slump
Hugh Pickens writes "Companies like AOL have stagnated along with the products that made them successful as a mature market and downward pressure on prices led to a nasty death spiral, but Saul Hansell writes in the NY Times that Apple has used its amazing six-year run with the iPod to nurture other business lines. Even though the number of iPods sold this quarter grew only 1 percent from the same quarter a year ago, Apple should be able to sustain itself with three business lines that will help it withstand a collapse in the MP3-player market: a continuing revenue stream from the iPods that have already been sold because of the iTunes Store, product upgrades to the iPhone and iPod Touch that are so different that they may well appeal to a significant number of iPod users, and perhaps most significantly, sales of the Macintosh which showed an increase of 51 percent by units and 54 percent by dollars."
Make a 12" or 13" MacBook Pro. If that happens, then I will buy a new Mac. Otherwise, they can see how many suckers they can sell a $2500 manila of hot air to...
Cretin - a powerful and flexible CD reencoder
Yeah, and like you'd get your mother to replace her battery when it runs down. Then again, you likely live at home so would do it for her.
You felt really witty when you did that "absurdly high/absurdly convenient" line didn't you?
The Ipod blew up during the star phase of the product cycle. Now it is in the cash cow phase, as it is a considerable profitable enterprise and thus a myriad of firms have capitalized on making similar products. Ipod's will continue to sell to yuppies who enjoy paying for an overpriced mp3 player with a network of music that lacks diversity to foreign markets. As a US consume I can enjoy not having access to England, Hollands and Germany's fine selections of electronica, which Itunes America lacks almost entirely. Mac sales have gone up, most likely to the yuppies who cannot sync the Itunes software to a Windows box and decide to buy the Mac due to the customer support representative with Mac stating, "it works better with a Mac," or the idiots logical thought process that decides a Mac is a cost effective option (cough, cough). Buying a Mac is for the glorified rich who eat too many donuts and watch too much TV. If you enjoy my lovely view of the world, read my blog. http://pupples.blogspot.com/