The prices of flash have been dropping for months now, this price drop hasn't yet been reflected in the iPhone or iPod Touch.
The 8GB iPhone ($399) goes the the same it did in September 2007.
arn
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$100 Price Drop on iPhone and iPod Touch?
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The prices of flash have been dropping for months now, this price drop hasn't yet been reflected in the iPhone or iPod Touch.
The 8GB iPhone ($399) goes the the same it did in September 2007.
arn
Lord no.
Apple wants to sell MORE iPhones, not fewer. The more likely item is something along the lines of an "iPhone nano," which would perhaps be a bit smaller or maybe not have all the Internet features. The "SmartPhone" market is much smaller than the overall cell phone market. Releasing a product that just does calls, voicemail, calendar, and iPod features would get tons of buyers.
I agree with macman, the iphone pro would be a sound business decision, with the current 8GB & 16GB edge iphone falling in price (effectively becoming the 'nano').
Iphone Pro will be 3G, larger screen, ichat - in essence it will be the fabled mactablet. Especially if it packs one of the upcoming intel ULV chips.
And eventually a dock device for your desk will enable you to attach a full size keyboard, mouse & Monitor to your iphone/ipod touch, which will replace the macmini as apples entry level mac OS X device.
Ok, well did Apple ever say they were included in the original price? They need to make money somehow. IMO $20 is not a bad price for the increased functionality. Since the iPhone and iPod Touch were designed to be devices that rarely see a form factor change, just bumps in storage, they need to charge money for major upgrades because normally with regular iPods, you'd have to buy a whole new one. It's actually in benefit of the consumer, since instead of shelling out $300 for a new iPod (just to gain a few new software features like you'd have to do with the iPod Video), you just pay small amounts of money to gain cool new features and apps.
I've seen a lot of posts mentioning how expensive flash memory is in this and other threads and some saying prices have been dropping. I'll admit I haven't been following prices especially since you have to dig deeper to find costs companies pay for the materials used in their devices, such as flash chips, rather than just look up a flash drive on Newegg (which will obviously be different). When people say expensive I think $100 or more (for flash memory alone) per iPhone or Touch because of how much Apple charges for these products. However, according to this Business Week article an 8GB flash chip in the Touch is $32. (I think this is for the 1st gen 8GBTouch).
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2007/tc20071217_113525.htm
Not sure where Toshiba chips rank in quality.
Maybe $32 is expensive per 8GB flash chip (perhaps it's gone down since), but it is cheaper than I had expected. Although maybe I'm too tolerant in this sense.
Also a nice tear-down by iFixit:
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPod/iPod-Touch/130
I suppose this might be old news to most, but thought I would post it in case anyone found it useful as I did.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2007/tc20071217_113525.htm
Not sure where Toshiba chips rank in quality.
Maybe $32 is expensive per 8GB flash chip (perhaps it's gone down since), but it is cheaper than I had expected. Although maybe I'm too tolerant in this sense.
Also a nice tear-down by iFixit:
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPod/iPod-Touch/130
I suppose this might be old news to most, but thought I would post it in case anyone found it useful as I did.
I don't understand how people can get pissed off about price drops. You pretty much signed a contract that said you were willing to pay the price you paid for your product at the time you purchased it. If it's not worth it, then don't buy it!!!!
I think iPod prices won't be cut until around September, the usual time for new models and better specs.
I agree, people should stop complaining, and when you commit your self to something, make sure you won't have any regrets. Don't stop paying your rent to by the iphone for $500 and then complain because it was cheaper. everything loses their value, look at cars...except my wife, she gets better everyday (lol she's next to me).
Same, it's what we can always expect by being some of the first to purchase a new product release.
If I would have waited a year to buy my GPS, I could have gotten it for $400 cheaper than getting it the day it went on sale. I don't mind paying the price to have something on day one.
My 16GB iPhone was shipped yesterday. I originally wanted to wait for a 3G model but after they updated to 16GB, I just have a hard time believing in the 3G model for a little while. Next major "update" will probably be an 'iPhone nano' as stated above. I heard that 3G will have to be at least 6 months out anyway because the FCC has to clear the plans...anyone know if this is true or not? I just hope I didn't buy my iPhone at a bad time, I've been waiting for long enough for more memory...
LOL, they first dropped fw on the older ipods, then tried to discontinue FW800 on the MBP, then they dropped it entirely from the Airbook-series (well, "series" might be saying too much), and you hope for them to put a firewire connection into the Touch and iHoe (there's a joke in there somewhere )?
Hell, the next step will be selling you a 800MHz ARM Processor at a premium. Then after you bought it, it will turn out it has been down-clocked in order to save on batteries. And then after a month, they'll "update" it to said 800MHz for a measly 120 bucks, having all the apologists will say that is swell and dandy and it's because of they had to, because of the new set of laws.
But that's not half of it. After having promised that the device will be capable og USB-host to do backups a year after, they will still have failed to make the device do that, so they simply abondon the idea and introduce a new product, that can do that out of the box (think Airport Extreme/Time Capsule).
Apparently that is the new Apple way: Think Differently, indeed.
Just think, in a year there will be a 64GB iPod Touch! That'll just piss off everyone buying a 32GB now!
A year? Perhaps mid to late 2008? It's possible I think. The 64GB is the one I'm waiting for (when it gets under $400). And THAT will most likely be next year. However I would have to wait and see how crippled it still is and what features are available. Hopefully by that time Apple will resurrect disk mode and support Flash Player among other things.
As far as the speculated price drop this month, on the one hand it seems too close to the recent RAM update on the other hand I could see Apple testing our limits with their "creative" marketing strategies.
confused, I thought this is what made the iphone so unique, take that away and ...
Wow, and to think that I 'just' have 87 GB (and counting) of songs on my Macbook. This does not include videos and podcasts that I've bought and downloaded from iTunes.
I wonder how many years until a 100GB+ iPod Touch?
It does, and there are many people (like me) who would utilize a bunch of the Internet through cell stuff.
BUT, there are also millions of people who think almost all cell phones are complicated. Many people just want a phone that will call people easily. Apple does well with Leopard by making new stuff easy (hello Time Machine). With Apple taking the existing technology of portable media devices and making those uber simple, why not think they could do it with cell phones?
Notice Apple's lines of iPods and Macs. You have the Touch/iPhone, which cater to the "ooh, gotta have it" folks, down to the Shuffle, which caters to a market that just wants a little thing to play music and not much else. You then also go from the hoss Power Mac down to the Mac Mini.
I doubt most of us on here would want something like this "iPhone Nano" I'm describing, but I also don't want an iPod Nano. Yet it apparently sells pretty darn well.
I bought my iPhone on Friday...
I love my iphone and I am going to enjoy using it over the next few weeks or so till the price drop. I'm going away for a week so assuming my iPhone takes all my video ( really need to catch up on the first season of heroes!) I will have no need for the extra space.
I know there's always the option to sell my phone on ebay. Unlocked an iPhone seems to sell for over the odds!
Anyways... Predictable move by apple, good one when it happens. Certainly be a good move against the n95.
I love my iphone and I am going to enjoy using it over the next few weeks or so till the price drop. I'm going away for a week so assuming my iPhone takes all my video ( really need to catch up on the first season of heroes!) I will have no need for the extra space.
I know there's always the option to sell my phone on ebay. Unlocked an iPhone seems to sell for over the odds!
Anyways... Predictable move by apple, good one when it happens. Certainly be a good move against the n95.
Touch / phone pricing not the issue
The problem with the iphone is the lock-in plan.
I use a mobile phone only lightly and I therefore can't justify the cost of the contract.
That leaves the jailbreak as the only viable alternative - sacrificing access to a few of the best features.
What's required is a low use tariff + 'all you can eat' monthly charge or a PAYG option
The problem with the iphone is the lock-in plan.
I use a mobile phone only lightly and I therefore can't justify the cost of the contract.
That leaves the jailbreak as the only viable alternative - sacrificing access to a few of the best features.
What's required is a low use tariff + 'all you can eat' monthly charge or a PAYG option