"I went to Circuit City yesterday and they had a 1gig flash for $200"
Thats what it would cost you or me to go buy it,not what Apple would have to pay,which would likely be far less.
Few of us of any clue what it would cost Apple to make a flash based player. Maybe they have found a way to pull it off at the desired price point and that is why Steve has allowed it to proceed. Maybe they are going to take a profit hit as the flash will really be a tool used to sell another more expensive product?
It also bugs me how some people have the "well,I don't need it so they shouldn't make it" attitude.
First, 'just $50 more' or 'only another $100' might not be doable for some. After bills one might only have $150 to play around with. In my case,I have a gf who needs whatever hot toy I'm getting so if I can get both of us a 1GB ipod for $300 as opposed to a single $300 ipod for myself,all the better..for her anyway. Not everybody is a single gadget geek with $500 a month in play money.
Some have become obsessed with the idea of an entire music library in ones pocket but really,most are happy with anywhere from 100-400 songs. Most people are at thier computers every day so hooking a ipod up once/twice a week to update shouldnt be a big deal. Whats the point of having 3,000 songs if you only listen to 125 of them on a regular basis?
A 1GB flash ipod for under $200 has many advantages and would be very desirable to many with a bulk of those being extremely active people and the rest folks who simply dont have the cash for a HDD player.
And while the iriver 512mb is $200,I seriously doubt if Apples will offer direct line in encoding,a fm tuner or a voice mic as iriver does.
So,like with ever other player...Apple will offer the cool sexy player thats fun and easy to use with more storage while iriver will offer the player with all the extra stuff and features some need.
I do not doubt this flash ipod will happen but I see some big catch involved few are thinking of.