Apple doesn't do things
because they're smart things to do. Apple does whatever the hell it wants, regardless of what consumers might like, and when enough consumers complain or say "Hey, we want
this in this iPod" or something to that effect, that's when Apple perks up, takes note, and puts the capability
in the next generation product and you have to pony up the cost yet again to get it.
There was nothing stopping them from putting 3G capability in the first iPhone, but the fact that they
knew if they didn't do it the first time out that people would, of course, complain and whine and moan and talk about it -
but it would create massive interest in "what's next." The effect generated press and excitement and desire for round 2, iPhone 3G, and even with the lowered cost because of the AT&T subsidies, the sheer volume of iPhone 3G sales is probably triple (barely 3 months into sales) of the original iPhone itself.
They've been doing this for decades, I really can't imagine them doing business any other way. They don't make money by creating great products: they make money by
almost giving the customers what they really want and hinting at such things "for future versions" and then roll out the same product with an enabled feature or two the following year at some unannounced last minute event and drop a bomb on the sheeple when Steve pulls another magic item out of his Reality Distortion Field... and then the sheeple flock to Apple Stores to buy yet another iPod that could have had the features earlier. Go figure.
I thought people had figured this out by now.
Microsoft (dare I say it) has the right idea with the Zunes. The capabilities are there already in the hardware and those folks that bought a 1st generation Zune what, nearly 2 years ago next month, just got the features and new "stuff" in the latest v3 update, including the games (yes, they suck, but even so). And yes I wish the damned thing had a browser
of some kind to make the Wi-Fi actually useful but whatever. The point is they have the right idea: people spend a chunk of cash on an item and adding capabilities in firmware updates is a relatively easy thing to do as long as the hardware supports the functionality.
Adding Bluetooth support and FM radio capability - something that
seems 100% possible right at this moment based on the specs of that Broadcom chip - to the iPt with an "update" at some point in time will do
absolutely nothing to iPhone sales but it sure would make a lot of 2nd generation iPt owners damned happy.
It won't even make a ding in iPhone sales, so the whole idea of "biting into iPhones sales" by such an update is ridiculous.
