Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
65,325
33,624
A Mercury News article reports on Apple's new 'iPod Mini'. According to this article:
Phil Schiller, Apple vice president of worldwide product marketing, also said Apple had not ruled out making an iPod at capacities smaller than 4GB.
With the Mini iPod rumors over the past few weeks being at least partially accurate... it's not unreasonable to conclude that even smaller capacity iPods are, in fact, being prototyped at Apple. Whether Apple can reach a significantly lower price point, remains unclear... but the introduction of the 2.0GB Cornice Drive is likely not coincidence alone.
 

desdomg

macrumors member
Dec 12, 2003
90
0
Well, on current form Apple would most likely produce a 2gig mini mini, that is just slightly smaller than the current model and costs $20 less.....
 

centauratlas

macrumors 68000
Jan 29, 2003
1,877
3,872
Florida
I still think a lower price iPod is a good idea. I might steal some sales from the bigger ones, but I still believe that it would get more from people who wouldn't buy a large size/high priced one anyway. The increase in sales, coming from others, would more than make up for lost sales from big ones.

They have to know that at some point in the next few years, you'll be able to get a 8GB flash memory card cheaply and someone will use it for an MP3 player.
 

iChan

macrumors 6502a
Jan 12, 2003
859
155
Dublin, Ireland.
i was kinda hoping for a 2 GB miniPod.

does anyone know if the ipod mini will look correct with the Belkin tunedok???

anyone knw??
 

sparks9

macrumors 6502a
Jan 29, 2003
602
0
Copenhagen
I don't think the minimini iPod would be smaller physically, it would probably use the same case but just have less HD space.
 

david_r_p

macrumors newbie
Jul 23, 2002
19
0
Southern California
Wishful Thinking???

I feel that this might be wishful thinking. Personally, I was hoping for a sub-$200 device yesterday. Not because I want one (I have a 30 gig ipod now), but because I want Apple to be dominant in this market. I'm sure they market tested the pricing, but my gut tells me $249 is too high for the "high end flash market" SJ wants to compete in.

I think it's only natural for we Mac-faithful to speculate on the "next" great device that Apple will release when what they actually release is less than hoped for.

p.s. I hope I'm wrong and Apple sells millions of these things.
 

arn

macrumors god
Staff member
Apr 9, 2001
16,376
5,817
Re: Wishful Thinking???

Originally posted by david_r_p
I feel that this might be wishful thinking.

It's not though.

Do you think the Mini iPod rumors were just the product of someone's imagination... and oh look, Apple happened to make a mini iPod at the exact same time?

It's clear the Mini iPod rumor sources were real. As a result, it's not unreasonable to conclude that the rest of the information is true and not just speculation.

The flipside to this example is something like the iBox... which NO ASPECT of came true. You can discard the entire rumor.

arn
 

Mord

macrumors G4
Aug 24, 2003
10,091
23
UK
do you have any idea how badly mini ipod's suck in the uk they cost £200 ($364)!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

VicMacs

macrumors 6502
Sep 7, 2003
476
6
Dominican Republic
cant you just order in the us?

Originally posted by Hector
do you have any idea how badly mini ipod's suck in the uk they cost £200 ($364)!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cant you order one in the US applestore and have it fedexed to you?

you wont pay 100 dollars for that
 

pjkelnhofer

macrumors 6502a
Sep 8, 2003
641
0
Boston
If they could find a way to put a 2 Gb drive into the current mini, I would believe it. But I find it hard to believe that Apple will make a third form factor for the iPod anytime soon.

I think our best hope for a sub $200 iPod is a price drop on the 4Gb in about six months (I would not be suprised to see an 8Gb for $249 and the low end iPod become the 20 Gb model at the same time).
 

Mr.Hey

macrumors 6502
Jul 17, 2002
370
0
Originally posted by desdomg
Well, on current form Apple would most likely produce a 2gig mini mini, that is just slightly smaller than the current model and costs $20 less.....


Current form factor; anything smaller and it runs into the same problems as the competition that SJ mentioned --- 1.5Gigs 2Gigs 3Gigs(?) and maybe 5Gigs by the next revision.
 

MongoTheGeek

macrumors 68040
the *Real* reason for 4 gigs.

I doubt the 2gig iPod would ever happen. I figure the size of the mini-Pod was determined roughly the same way the size of the CD was.

[apocryphal history lesson]
The president of sony decided on the size of the CD so that it would be big enough to hold all of Beethoven's 9th Symphony which runs a bit over 70 minutes, The size of a CD.
[/apocryphal history lesson]

Steve looked at the size of his favorites file and said 4gigs...

give it 6 months and prices will drop to 150.
 

Mord

macrumors G4
Aug 24, 2003
10,091
23
UK
Re: cant you just order in the us?

Originally posted by VicMacs
cant you order one in the US applestore and have it fedexed to you?

you wont pay 100 dollars for that

If you could do that the uk apple store would be redundent thanks nyway

It's just the cost of liveing in country with a fairly elected leader and a national health service (we would have free uni if the lib dems were in power

17.5% VAT
 

g30ffr3y

macrumors 6502a
Jul 18, 2002
676
0
buffalo ny
*The flipside to this example is something like the iBox... which NO ASPECT of came true. You can discard the entire rumor.*

didnt that phillips streamium thing sort of fill in the blanks on the ibox rumors???
 

arn

macrumors god
Staff member
Apr 9, 2001
16,376
5,817
Originally posted by g30ffr3y
*The flipside to this example is something like the iBox... which NO ASPECT of came true. You can discard the entire rumor.*

didnt that phillips streamium thing sort of fill in the blanks on the ibox rumors???

not really... it'd be like pointing to the Rio mp3 player as proof of the mini iPod manufacturers.

arn
 

sw1tcher

macrumors 603
Jan 6, 2004
5,885
21,224
Re: Wishful Thinking???

Originally posted by david_r_p
I feel that this might be wishful thinking. Personally, I was hoping for a sub-$200 device yesterday. Not because I want one (I have a 30 gig ipod now), but because I want Apple to be dominant in this market. I'm sure they market tested the pricing, but my gut tells me $249 is too high for the "high end flash market" SJ wants to compete in.

I think it's only natural for we Mac-faithful to speculate on the "next" great device that Apple will release when what they actually release is less than hoped for.

p.s. I hope I'm wrong and Apple sells millions of these things.

Yeah. A good price would be something like $229 or $239.

To me, it's about the public's perception. $229/$239 is much closer to $199 than $249, even though it's only a $20/$10 difference (not much, i know). But IMO, people are more like to go "Oh, the iPod mini is only $30 more than this Rio, and it holds over 10x more songs, too! I'll just get the mini instead."

At the $229/$239 price, it also doesn't make people say "Well, the 15GB iPod is only $50 more than the mini. I'll get that one instead." Unless, that's what Apple is trying to get people to do?

Oh well, just doing some (not very good?) thinking.
 

pjkelnhofer

macrumors 6502a
Sep 8, 2003
641
0
Boston
Re: the *Real* reason for 4 gigs.

Originally posted by MongoTheGeek
[apocryphal history lesson]
The president of sony decided on the size of the CD so that it would be big enough to hold all of Beethoven's 9th Symphony which runs a bit over 70 minutes, The size of a CD.
[/apocryphal history lesson]
This is a great story. I had never heard it befored, but I even found it on Sony's website:
from the Sony website
But it was Ohga, a trained musician, who decisively presented Sony's argument for a 12 cm, seventy-five minute disc. He argued that, Just as a curtain is never lowered halfway through an opera, a disc should be large enough to hold all of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
May or may not be true, but still great story. Oh, the things I have learned on these forums.

I suspect the iPod mini size is more based on what size drive was availible, affordable and made with Apple specs. Of course, you were probably being sarcastic.
 

Powerbook G5

macrumors 68040
Jun 23, 2003
3,974
1
St Augustine, FL
For me, a 2-3 gig iPod would be pretty awesome. Considering I have about 950 megs of songs in iTunes, at 2-3 gigs, I could still triple my library and still have the space to fit it all in iTunes. I know I could get another player for cheaper and just convert my AAC to mp3 or something to play them on, but I would love an iPod, I just don't care to spend the money for 15 gigs when I don't ever see myself needing the space. I am not one for huge music collections, I just have a small CD collection and a collection of songs that I like and generally stick to at any given time, so I have no need to ever have 15-40 gigs worth of songs with me at any given point. Even with 2 gigs worth of music, that'd be more than enough to last for a couple of days worth of continuous music, and I don't see when I'd even listen to that much music.
 

desdomg

macrumors member
Dec 12, 2003
90
0
Re: Re: Wishful Thinking???

Originally posted by arn
I
The flipside to this example is something like the iBox... which NO ASPECT of came true. You can discard the entire rumor.

arn

Well, you certainly gave it lots of prominence on your site ARN - what were your sources again? You did move it from page 2 to page 1 after all ...
 

pjkelnhofer

macrumors 6502a
Sep 8, 2003
641
0
Boston
Re: Re: Wishful Thinking???

Originally posted by arn
The flipside to this example is something like the iBox... which NO ASPECT of came true. You can discard the entire rumor.

arn

Does this mean I should uncross my fingers and put my old DVD player back on top of the TV?
Damn! :)
 

sonofslim

macrumors 6502a
Jun 6, 2003
742
0
Re: the *Real* reason for 4 gigs.

Originally posted by MongoTheGeek
I doubt the 2gig iPod would ever happen. I figure the size of the mini-Pod was determined roughly the same way the size of the CD was.

[apocryphal history lesson]
The president of sony decided on the size of the CD so that it would be big enough to hold all of Beethoven's 9th Symphony which runs a bit over 70 minutes, The size of a CD.
[/apocryphal history lesson]

Steve looked at the size of his favorites file and said 4gigs...

i've heard the CD thing too, although its veracity is uncertain. as for the iPod mini, seems more likely that 1,000 songs is a nice round number with just enough zeroes to impart a sense of value and technolust that fits with Apple's branding strategy.
 

voodoofish

macrumors regular
Jan 6, 2004
182
3
London
Re: Re: cant you just order in the us?

Originally posted by Hector
If you could do that the uk apple store would be redundent thanks nyway

It's just the cost of liveing in country with a fairly elected leader and a national health service (we would have free uni if the lib dems were in power

17.5% VAT


Um no, if you add VAT to the US price (US prices don't include sales tax, which varies from about 6-8% state-to-state) it's $293, not $364. Even including the sales tax difference, the iPod mini is more expensive in the UK than the 15GB iPod in the states. I don't see what the NHS has to do with that (and note the US spends as more money as a % of GDP on state health care as we do (in 1997 6.5 vs our 5.8) ~and~ their GDP is higher than ours; I know where I'd rather live). I qualify for student discount and yet iLife costs more with a student discount in the UK than the full price in the US. I'm just gonna buy them both on a trip over there; the price difference is ludacris.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.