When you think iPod, which model comes to mind?
For me, it's the
iPod Classic, pale-coloured with the click-wheel and 320x240 resolution. But I wonder how popular that version of the iPod is nowadays?
We haven't had an update to the
iPod Classic since at least 2008 (that's when I bought one!). I was in a Mac store recently and I noticed that the
iPod Classic has remained virtually unchanged to this day. They're either desperate for a refresh or desperate to be axed.
Once you've gotten used to the luxury touch-screen/interface of the
iPod Touch, the benefit of the iPod classic become questionable.
With
iTunes In The Cloud and
iTunes Match, you'll supposedly be able to access your entire purchase history + uploaded CD collection over WiFi, so do we really
need huge 160GB internal harddrives any more?
Even if the
iPod Classic had Wifi, there would still be those who claim they couldn't make it from one WiFi connection to the next without 160GBs (2,000 hours) of music to listen to - but I would argue that the iPod Classic is due to be discontinued and the
iPod Touch and
Nano will somehow expand to fill its place.
Just as there will always be a separate
bigger, more powerful, more expensive version and
smaller, lighter, cheaper, more surface-level version of every product, I think it seems appropriate that the
Macbook Pro and
Macbook Air will remain separate entities for as long as Apple cultivates its two separate customer bases:
iToy users (I use my old white Macbook to listen to the radio while I'm the kitchen and to watch DVDs on/write emails while I'm in bed)
and
Design professionals (I use my iMac for animation and music content-creation).
I'll be buying a
Macbook Air and
Macbook Pro to replace both (to fill very different functions!). Obviously, most users want a single computer that fulfills everything.