The Not So Immortal iPod?
Is the iPod coming to an end?
Back in 2001 during a press event held on Apple’s campus, a new product was introduced - the iPod. On that October day, the iPod gained alot of positive press, as well as negative press. Some reporters even went as far as to saying the iPod would be a bigger failure than the Newton introduced several years prior. But only months away from its seventh birthday, we can all see what a success the iPod really was. As of March 2008, Apple had shipped 180 million of the popular music player.
However, there has been concern that iPod sales are going to be slowing with rapid rate. I’m sure you are aware that Apple recently launched its newest phone, the iPhone 3G, and they sold one million phones within a three day period. That number is incredible compared to how long it took Apple to sell its first million iPods. In my opinion, its only a matter of time before the iPhone starts to outsell the iPod. Every iPhone requires a minimum price of $70 a month. Oh, you want texting? Make that $90. So every iPhone costs $1880 over a two year period. Compared to a bunch of other phones with a two-year contract, its a deal.
Should we be worried?
The iPod will obviously be around for years to come, and its no secret that the next major transition is making all iPods with a multi-touch enabled screen. That in store, along with all of the great new possibilities it brings should lead to much more useful and intuitive iPods, along with another great platform. Not to mention the rapidly growing collection of Applications on the App-Store, and the expansion of iTunes services. We shouldn’t be afraid. At least not yet..
iPhone getting the iPod treatment
When I went to pick up my new iPhone 3G back on the 11th, I was shocked with the lack of accessories included with the device. When I bought my iPhone “Edge” if you will, it came with an abundance of accessories including a dock, and a power adapter that could be used around the world using the adapters that Apple sells. When I unboxed my new iPhone, I found no dock, a cheap AC adapter, and a Apple-designed paperclip. If you can recall back to 2001, the iPod included everything from a dock, to a power adapter. The current iPod lineup only comes with a syncing cable, and headphones. Apple’s Bluetooth headset is also going slim. It doesn’t come with a dual dock, yet it still costs about $100.
Final Words
What is your opinion? Do you think iPod sales will slow in the future? Do you think the iPhone will eventually be striped down to include the bare essentials?
#1
CSPIEGL » Blog Archive » Answere to: The Not So Immortal iPod? → cspiegl.com/blog/2008/07/30/answere-to-the-not-so-immortal-ipod
[...] I’m answering to a post which was originally written at desktopvibes.com-The Not So Immortal iPod?: iPod vs. iPhone vs. iPod [...]
#2
cspiegl → cspiegl.com
I answered to your question in a post at my own blog: http://cspiegl.com/blog/2008/07/30/answere-to-the-not-so-immortal-ipod/
#3
Aidan Girard → www.desktopvibes.com
Well I certainly do not think the iPod touch will ever leave us considering that the iPod touch usually has a higher capacity then the iPhone and it can do all the same things except for the phone feature. I think that the classic will dissapear first though.
#4
cspiegl → cspiegl.com
@Aidan Girard, I think you are right if you think that the capacity of the touch and the others will increase but I personally think that it’ll stay cause of the more space (160GB classic vs 16GB touch?)
But the next I think that there will be more touch on the other iPods (maybe).
For example the nano with touch? I think that would be a nice idea if the touch hardware will get cheaper.
#5
Jorge Quinteros → www.jorgeq.com
With all new features and capabilities that Apple has introduced to their fleet of products (touch screen, video), if anything else were to come, I think they would find a way to apply it to the iPod so as to now leave it behind, hence the iPod Touch. The product laid the foundation to what Apple has become in recent years and despite lagging sales, I don’t see it going away anytime soon.
#6
Daniel Hollister → newmediaeconomist.com
The iPhone 3G only gets about 5 hours of usage before its battery dies, which includes iPod usage. This limitation, plus the storage limitation, precludes it from being taken seriously as a real alternative to the iPod.
Furthermore, there are many situations in which an iPod is a better option. For instance, working out. Unless you really love asking for trouble, going running with your iPhone is just a bad idea. If I dropped my iPhone as often as I drop the shuffle I take with me… well, it would be very, very bad.
Those are just a couple things I can think of right now, but I am sure there are many more. The real issues currently with the iPod sales slouching are the economy, and the fact that their marketing muscle (and all the hype) currently goes towards the iPhone. Once that calms down and people snap out of it, and once the economy gets a little bit more on track, sales will be fine.
#7
ThomasThe iPod line-up will never go all touch. People still complain about the keyboard on the iPod touch screen, so they won’t be happy with it on an iPod nano sized screen!
Moreover, the click-wheel is still a much better way to control your music collection than the touch screen of the iPod touch.
#8
cspiegl → cspiegl.com
@Thomas:
I think the touch on a nano shouldn’t contain a keyboard just things like flick through the library, no notepad / wifi / safari or mail just an iPod for music / pictures / video.
Like it is now just simpler and a bigger screen, cause you can simply get the wheel away:D
#9
MaxYour lack of accessories may be related to the price cut… sigh…