I dunno if the $249 is market research. Most comments I've read seem to place "reasonable" at $200 and "ideal" at $150 or $100. The small form factor and the different colors are what people want, but in terms of technology, flash drives aren't that cheap and hard drives have only recently begun to get smaller. I think Apple jumped the gun on this one.
It makes sense from a developer point of view: something needs to go between the $150-250 flash players that store at most 256 MB and the $300+ HD players that store dozens of GBs.
But from a consumer point of view or a marketing point of view, it doesn't really. And it won't until these minis fall below $200. At below $200, the mini would keep the high end at the high end while eliminating the lower end and creating a new low end that starts at 1-4 GB instead of 128 MB.
But I'll wait and see. Steve Jobs said at the keynote that the mini is meant to compete with the high end flash players -- those that cost $250 but store only 256 MB. And I can see how the mini could all kill the players in the $150-250 range. If I were Apple, I'd be developing a trickle down strategy. Take the high end of a market and then develop cheaper versions, working towards the lower end of a market.
Anyways, when the iPod first came out, everyone said, "I want! I can't afford!" And then Apple created different price points for its iPod line. I'd expect a similar strategy with the iPod Mini.
This product seems to be a hybrid -- offering the GBs of storage that HDs are capable of but with the compactness that the flash players have. Technically (ignoring the price) it's well positioned between high end HD drives and low end flash drives. There really isn't a middle market out on the market yet -- the average consumer has to choose between having a few hundred MBs or a dozen or more GBs of storage.
For people shopping for a $250+ HD based player, the mini isn't worth looking at.
But, for anyone shopping for a $150-250 player, but doesn't need GBs of space, these people would be tempted to spend the extra dollars on an iPod. If I worked in sales, I'd definately say, "For an extra $50-100, you could get something with multiple times the storage and almost the same compactness." It's what I say to myself shopping for a player with a small form factor.
Which is what Jobs said in the keynote about going after the higher end of the flash market. He didn't say anything about positioning the mini against other HD players. He's not going after what geeks are buying, that's what the original iPods are for. He's going after everyday non-geeks who buy their MP3 players at Target.
Personally, I wish the price were lower but with competition against HD players, I wouldn't be surprised if the price went down (to say $200) or if a smaller capacity and cheaper mini appeared by Q3 or Q4 of this year.
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I dunno if the $249 is market research. Most comments I've read seem to place "reasonable" at $200 and "ideal" at $150 or $100. The small form factor and the different colors are what people want, but in terms of technology, flash drives aren't that cheap and hard drives have only recently begun to get smaller. I think Apple jumped the gun on this one.
It makes sense from a developer point of view: something needs to go between the $150-250 flash players that store at most 256 MB and the $300+ HD players that store dozens of GBs.
But from a consumer point of view or a marketing point of view, it doesn't really. And it won't until these minis fall below $200. At below $200, the mini would keep the high end at the high end while eliminating the lower end and creating a new low end that starts at 1-4 GB instead of 128 MB.
But I'll wait and see. Steve Jobs said at the keynote that the mini is meant to compete with the high end flash players -- those that cost $250 but store only 256 MB. And I can see how the mini could all kill the players in the $150-250 range. If I were Apple, I'd be developing a trickle down strategy. Take the high end of a market and then develop cheaper versions, working towards the lower end of a market.
Anyways, when the iPod first came out, everyone said, "I want! I can't afford!" And then Apple created different price points for its iPod line. I'd expect a similar strategy with the iPod Mini.
Because I'm lazy, I'll use what CompUSA sells as a reference point.
Compared to HD based players, the iPod mini doesn't compare too well, competing only on smallness and color:
Neuros HD -- 20 GB -- $200
Rio Nitrus -- 1.5 GB -- $220
* iPod Mini -- 4 GB -- $250
Gmini 120 -- 20 GB -- $250
Nomad Jukebox Zen NX -- 30GB -- $280
iPod -- 15 GB -- $300
But compared to flash based players the iPod Mini isn't such a bad deal:
iRock 860 --256 MB -- $150
BA500 -- 256 MB -- $150
DFP-200 -- 256 MB -- $150
Rio Chiba -- 128 MB -- $150
256 MB -- $150
S2 Sports NetMD -- $150
BA-500 -- 128 MB -- $150
128 MB -- $150
iAudio -- 256 MB -- $170
Mojo Headphone -- $180
RipFlash DX -- 256 MB -- $180
Mojo256F -- 256 MB -- $180
IFP-190T -- 256 MB -- $180
Mojo256F -- 256 MB --$200
Rhomba -- 256 MB -- $200
Rio Chiba -- 256 MB -- $200
Nomad Muvo NX -- 256 MB -- $200
Neuros -- 128 MB -- $230
* iPod Mini -- 4 GB -- $250
IFP-195T iRiver -- 512 MB -- $300
This product seems to be a hybrid -- offering the GBs of storage that HDs are capable of but with the compactness that the flash players have. Technically (ignoring the price) it's well positioned between high end HD drives and low end flash drives. There really isn't a middle market out on the market yet -- the average consumer has to choose between having a few hundred MBs or a dozen or more GBs of storage.
For people shopping for a $250+ HD based player, the mini isn't worth looking at.
But, for anyone shopping for a $150-250 player, but doesn't need GBs of space, these people would be tempted to spend the extra dollars on an iPod. If I worked in sales, I'd definately say, "For an extra $50-100, you could get something with multiple times the storage and almost the same compactness." It's what I say to myself shopping for a player with a small form factor.
Which is what Jobs said in the keynote about going after the higher end of the flash market. He didn't say anything about positioning the mini against other HD players. He's not going after what geeks are buying, that's what the original iPods are for. He's going after everyday non-geeks who buy their MP3 players at Target.
Personally, I wish the price were lower but with competition against HD players, I wouldn't be surprised if the price went down (to say $200) or if a smaller capacity and cheaper mini appeared by Q3 or Q4 of this year.