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15GB iPod Offer
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4th Gen iPod
Haven't read the whole thread here, but it occurs to me that they may also be flogging off the 15gb iPods because of the apparently impending 4th Generation iPod update.
If say they are going to EOL the 15gb and revamp the lineup for the 4th Gen iPods, then this a clever respinning of a problem into a solution for Apple.
Haven't read the whole thread here, but it occurs to me that they may also be flogging off the 15gb iPods because of the apparently impending 4th Generation iPod update.
If say they are going to EOL the 15gb and revamp the lineup for the 4th Gen iPods, then this a clever respinning of a problem into a solution for Apple.
Say what you will. This is a positive public relations move to help compensate for possibly damaging blunders in a) supply & demand and b) design flaws.
i_b_joshua
i_b_joshua
this is all good and nice for mini and lower end Ipod buyers, but for me I must have the top and when will there be a new update of them possibly design change? it has been a while, how about a cool new feature, apple needs to again make the highest price one the coolest to buy not the lowest.
Guess Apple forgot to offer the something for the "negative" voters.
What?
Apple forget to send you the following?
1. Free iPod
2. Free iTunes downloads for life
3. Free G5 PowerBook
4. Free Dual 3.0 GHz G5 PowerMac
What?
Apple forget to send you the following?
1. Free iPod
2. Free iTunes downloads for life
3. Free G5 PowerBook
4. Free Dual 3.0 GHz G5 PowerMac
jesuscandle said:
First off, I am not saying that this is a bad thing, but you can't say this isn't motivated by profit. Think about it...if the orders keep getting pushed back, then people are just going to cancel. It would be better for Apple to take a $50 hit and offer a 15GB iPod that would ship today instead of having a lot of orders canceled and not collecting on the profit of those orders.
jesuscandle said:
I do believe it is a great move on Apple's part expecially since it is a marketing nightmare they have created...although I believe they wanted to have demand be greater than supply on purpose just because that is a very effective marketing ploy to drive demand for a new product. This marketing ploy is purposefully done by thousands of companies a year.
However, reality says it costs them very little to provide this offer. We are talking $50 RETAIL...it probably costs them $12.50 more to produce the iPod vs. the iPod mini.
note: the below numbers are estimates, but based on traditional electronic and retail mark-ups and cost figures. The real numbers will not vary by much.
Breaking down the $50 goes like this:
Mfg. and part cost difference $12.50
(the only actual cost they are "eating")
profit for Apple computer $12.50
(not an actual cost)
Sales cost $12.50
(not an actual cost since the apple.com store has mostly fixed
costs associated with it)
AppleStore.com Profit $12.50
(not an actual cost)
so in other words...it only costs Apple $12.50. They do forgo some profits, but not any major real costs. Basically this $12.50 amount goes to pay for the cost (not retail) of a larger hard drive.
Still a great move on apple's part, but I agree with many who say most will just wait...although with the recent talk of defects in the mini's plug maybe more will take them up on the offer.
In a way it is Apple's fault. The number one responsibility of a manufacturer is to produce something to ship/sell. If someone can't deliver then they have not communicated enough with their suppliers about their needs, done enough research to see what demand might be, etc. Now, that being said, there are mistakes, but it does seem that Apple seems to have more than others...probably many are due to the fact they are pushing the envelope often with their designs- which is a good thing of course. However, it doesn't mean they should not pay more attention to making insanely great products that ship.Stewie said:
flyfish29 said:In a way it is Apple's fault. The number one responsibility of a manufacturer is to produce something to ship/sell. If someone can't deliver then they have not communicated enough with their suppliers about their needs, done enough research to see what demand might be, etc. Now, that being said, there are mistakes, but it does seem that Apple seems to have more than others...probably many are due to the fact they are pushing the envelope often with their designs- which is a good thing of course. However, it doesn't mean they should not pay more attention to making insanely great products that ship.
But it is not Apple's fault if Hitachi isn't producing the components in high enough quantities.
"Hitachi's Global Storage Technologies company admitted today that it is not churning out enough 1in hard drives to meet demand, but pledged to ramp up production volumes as quickly as it can."
bluefido said:
I would tend to disagree. The intentional under estimating of demand is a well known marketing trick. Nike has always done it with Jordans. This marketing ploy almost always results in free press coverage for the company and their new "hot" product. Stores get many more phone calls with people searching the world over for their new hot product, additional stores get calls for the product who might not normally stock the product or at least as many. It also convinces people that this is in fact the next BIG thing. Sony knew verywell how many PS2's they could have sold the first Christmas season they sold it. It was interesting that they all of the sudden come Dec. 23rd could meet demand and after the 25th well exceeded it. It was in no way an underestimate of demand...at least by accident.
superrcat said:
Actually I would say it is in part at the very least. They should not have picked Hitachi if they could not meet expected demand.
This is Apple clearing out its 15GB iPod inventory and not shipping products on time (and constantly delaying estimated ship dates). I'm not impressed by this news.
I think that was nice of Apple, and besides, helps them move 15 GB iPods out the door for what they have comming next. As far as profit, I dont believe apple is lossing to much in profit because of it. They know what there doing or they wouldnt have done it.
CNN reports on iPod Mini static problem
Well, tonight CNN Headline news had a report on the iPod Mini headphone jack/static noise problem. Thus, if it has gone to that level of notice you can probably conclude that there MAY in fact be a design problem on the mini. In any case, I think it can definitely be said that there are manufacturing problems with the mini. By that I mean that they either have a shortage of parts, limited factory capacity, or a design problem in the hardware (which they are trying to fix). It could be all three and it may not even be Apple's "fault" (e.g. hard disc shortage appears to be a third-party issue).
IMO, the 15GB iPod offer is probably good for customers but bad for Apple's bottom line. How serious this becomes will probably be known in the next month or two.
Well, tonight CNN Headline news had a report on the iPod Mini headphone jack/static noise problem. Thus, if it has gone to that level of notice you can probably conclude that there MAY in fact be a design problem on the mini. In any case, I think it can definitely be said that there are manufacturing problems with the mini. By that I mean that they either have a shortage of parts, limited factory capacity, or a design problem in the hardware (which they are trying to fix). It could be all three and it may not even be Apple's "fault" (e.g. hard disc shortage appears to be a third-party issue).
IMO, the 15GB iPod offer is probably good for customers but bad for Apple's bottom line. How serious this becomes will probably be known in the next month or two.
I'll ditto many here and say it's a good customer service move for apple.
My question is, how do they expect to keep up the ipod mini hype if it doesn't ship, or there are complaints about it (product itself or shipping)?
Ipod mania was going steady, and apple did the very smart move of announcing the mini, and majorly increasing apple hype, before general ipod hype dwindled. But, now that they aren't shipping.... they'd better update size/price not too long after these ship, to keep on top of the market.
My question is, how do they expect to keep up the ipod mini hype if it doesn't ship, or there are complaints about it (product itself or shipping)?
Ipod mania was going steady, and apple did the very smart move of announcing the mini, and majorly increasing apple hype, before general ipod hype dwindled. But, now that they aren't shipping.... they'd better update size/price not too long after these ship, to keep on top of the market.
Apple missteps
How would anyone rate this as a positive?
Let's look at the facts. It is doubtful that Apple can't make them fast enough.
I believe this shortage is due to the fact they've pretty much stopped production due to the sound-plug malfunctions. It doesn't make sense for them to continue production when 75% of customers are going to file complaints/replacement requests after three or four months for a defect Apple knew existed. In short, it would be unwise to sell a known defective product knowing you will have to fix/repair it in the future.
Apple is probably selling of current stocks, fixing the problem then restarting production.
Although it does make me want to order a pink iPod(nonexistant supply in most stores) for the student price of 229 and get the 15 gb instead. Saving of 40.
How would anyone rate this as a positive?
Let's look at the facts. It is doubtful that Apple can't make them fast enough.
I believe this shortage is due to the fact they've pretty much stopped production due to the sound-plug malfunctions. It doesn't make sense for them to continue production when 75% of customers are going to file complaints/replacement requests after three or four months for a defect Apple knew existed. In short, it would be unwise to sell a known defective product knowing you will have to fix/repair it in the future.
Apple is probably selling of current stocks, fixing the problem then restarting production.
Although it does make me want to order a pink iPod(nonexistant supply in most stores) for the student price of 229 and get the 15 gb instead. Saving of 40.
numediaman said:
I'm sure someone has said it, but just in case...
If they ramp up to make huge numbers then after the launch they are left with facilities to produce way too many than their market can support. Then you've got the counter point of "Why don't they just build a bunch and build up their supply before releasing it". Apple is all about cutting edge these days, and we all want stuff now, not later. I think that in general the delays have not been major for product releases, and the reason the Mini has been so bad is because of a drive shortage.
All that said, I would almost bet anything they make more money off the 15gb iPod even at the $249 mini price, so I do think it's a bit silly.
numediaman said:
Every time a popular new car comes out, there is a supply shortage. Some models have a six-month waiting list for the first two years or more. I've never been offered a higher priced car at the same price as the one I wanted! I agree that Apple has this problem way too often, but they also have a lot of problems with products that don't sell, so I think its good to have lean inventories. If only a few people accept the 15 gig iPod, that will still shorten the wait slightly for those who really want the mini.
fpnc said:
I switched to Mac in November 2000. I switched partly because the iMac was pretty
, but mostly because of what I had heard about the stability of the software and the high quality of the hardware. They do now seem to have a lot of products where a defect is found shortly after release. Maybe instead of laying off on a regular basis, they should follow Toyota's lead and move any extra manpower over to special projects and temporary assigments in quality control.And, I am still bugged by this little line across the top of the bottom of the bezel around the display on my iMac. It almost looks like a wrinkle in the plastic. God, I wish I had never noticed it!
mvc said:
Seems true, but reminds me of a problem with updates to the ipod line. I'm not sure that many people, especially those that get their music legally, really need more space than the current ipod/mini line holds. Lots of people who would have bought the 15 will go, ohh, great, I can now double my hard drive space for the same price...now, if only I had the music....
So, while I think that apple needs to increase ipod storage capacity for some of the market (like myself), for many they need to make it cheaper, or smaller, or more stylish to keep the edge over other companies.
so, I hope 4th gen. Ipods come with 2nd gen mini's up to maybe 12 gigs, to keep the various groups satisfied.
I think a lot of mini buyers (particularly b/c they didn't pay 50 bucks more for the ipod anyway) will not be happy with this, except that it looks generous on apple's part, because they won't have enough music, and like the small size and look of the mini.
Lastly, this whole line of thinking led me to ask...what if the mini goes up and up in capacity, will there still be a market for a bigger ipod, both physically and by capacity? of course the bigger drives will be cheaper, or just higher capacity...and I think one of the great things about the ipod, particularly about the mini, is that it makes it's own market, for updates or just higher up the product line. I mean, when the ipod was 5 GB, few people could imagine wanting 40 GB of music, esp. in one place. But, it makes people listen to music so much more, b/c it's so accessible, that people get tired of it, find new stuff, want more in general.
I belive this is bad news. I think Apple has stopped production and is redesigning the the mini.
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=420
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=420
I'm not "that many people", just one. My 20gb iPod now contains 14.89gb of music. I must admit, I have illegally downloaded a few hundred songs, mostly back when Napster was on its last legs. I have purchased about 50 songs from iTMS. The reason my iPod is so full is because I imported all the cd's that I own and could find. These go back to around 1988. I still have about 10 cd's that I am searching for, and 8 more on the way from BMG. I guess I am hitting the age where new music isn't doing it for me much any more, but I'd say I'll have to start picking which songs make it to my iPod before long. I couldn't stand country music until my wife turned me on to it 5 or 6 years ago. I hear an old country song almost every day that I like, but had never heard in the past because I didn't listen to it. I grew up as a big rap fan, and now, those old r&b songs the the rappers love to sample are more appealing to me than the rap music itself. I plan on buying a lot of that! Rock music? I heard a lot of rock songs on the pop stations as a teenage that I liked, but wasn't particularly interested in. Looking back, there are a lot of rock bands from the 80's and 90's whose music I intend to purchase eventually. Anyway, from my standpoint, bigger iPods will always be a good thing. My library keeps growing and growing, and it isn't including the new music that I don't like but probably will like a few years from now!dontmatter said:
dontmatter said:
Quite a few weeks ago I posted a similar comment. In fact, I said then that the iPod Mini was destine to become THE iPod, replacing fairly quickly the original form. Because of that the next generation of the "big" iPod probably has to be more than just an audio player with a few minor extras tacked on. The next step up would be a media player for pictures and possibly video. It sounds cool and all, but would a large number of people really use such a device? I'm not certain that they would.
I think we also need to consider the impact of both PDAs and multi-function cell phones. Such devices seem certain to replace the higher-end and/or larger iPod format, so the real growth area for MP3 players is probably at the iPod Mini level and below (not upwards in price and HD capacity).