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New iPod Shuffle Contains $22 Worth of Parts

Look at everyone making excuses. The shuffle is still a crap player which I wouldn't even use if it were given to me for free. Seriously, at least put a button on it. I wouldn't buy it for $5. I can only imagine how horrible the sound quality on it is.

Really, the only ipod I'd consider is the ipod touch just for multimedia sake, but I have an iphone so there is no point. I'd honestly rather get an Archos 5 over an ipod touch but I heard archos has poor customer support. Though the ipod touch can sound better with 3rd party accessories. Yeah, never mind the whole archos 5 thing.

I really am quite disappointed with all of apple's ipods because of their poor sound quality compared to other manufacturers.
 
nutritious said:
I can only imagine how horrible the sound quality on it is.
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According to the excellent review by AppleInsider:

Thankfully, there does appear to have been a boost in the iPod shuffle's audio fidelity with this third iteration. The slight background hiss during quiet moments appears to be gone. Whether or not the intended output has improved is harder to determine and may vary from user to user, but in testing it seemed like the new shuffle was above the second-run model in quality but below high-end devices like the iPhone. Bass and treble are a bit more distinct.
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I'm with you, though; I wouldn't buy it. For me it's not the sound quality, it's the ease-of-use factor. The 2G shuffle's design is about as perfect as you can get. This one is a step or two down.
 
Profit Going On Here?

I'm shocked. SHOCKED to find profit going on here. Until further notice The Apple Store is closed! (Here's your bonus, Mr. Jobs)
 
Honestly, if you don't factor in R&D, marketing, wages, licensing etc... every software program ever written has a 100% markup...
 
think about it...

Do you honestly think Apple would sell an iPod for $22? This article is saying that the components/parts are worth $22. Apple has to be able to make a profit y selling it, so that is why they sell it for $79.

:apple::):apple:​
 
raggedjimmi said:
What a mark up! That's not great for me as a consumer though, but for a variety of reasons I'm sticking with my 2G Shuffle still.
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Buy refurbished, give Apple less money.
 

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MacRumors said:
Known by their numeric label 01005, which in electronics shorthand describes their dimensions in millionths of a meter
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The 01005 package size is actually an English package size, from the part dimensions in tens of mils (approximately; 1 mil = 0.001 inch); 01005 is about 10 x 5 mils. The metric size code is 0402, which corresponds to the official size in tenths of mm (0.4 x 0.2 mm). Almost all mechanical drawings for electronic parts these days are in metric units; English package names are still used out of habit. Yeah, I'm a pedant.

Here where I work, we don't design in parts smaller than 0603 (1608 metric, 1.6 x 0.8 mm) because they're a pain to solder by hand; our soldering iron tips are about 1/64" wide. It's hard to find good (read: don't bend out of shape easily) tweezers with tips smaller than that. If it weren't for automated assembly, using these small parts would be insane. Controlling placement and the proper amount of solder would drive up the price if humans had to do it, and that's before considering the increase in cost because of assemblies rejected due to manufacturing errors.

The fact that Apple can do this blows my mind. I mean, I can read the numbers and do the math like any other engineer, but still... sneeze on this thing before the parts are soldered down and the board fails. You're never going to find the parts.
 
Cromulent said:
Even taking that into account one would assume that they are still making a 50%+ profit on each iPod. Which, truth be told, is not actually all that much.

In retail 100%+ profits are common.
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Typical fluff of someone with no idea of what retailers actually pay for products.

100% margins in computers and consumer electronics are extremely rare. When I worked at an upscale shop back in the 90's we would often see 50% margins on the higher end products, where as many of the more budget oriented items had profit margins of 15-20%.

The only things that have 100% margin in the areas of consumer electronics and computers today are cables and extended warranties.

If Apple spends $25 or so on a Shuffle, they are probably charging distributors and large chains $50-$60 and they are then selling for $80, which means much lower than 100% margins for the retailers actually pushing these products.
 
Ok for this to cost the consumer $22 there would have to be a few things. The people who designed it would have to have done it for free, they would have a lonely human being making the aluminum housing for free and putting it together for free. Then that man would have to drive all the shuffles to each apple store for free.

Just because the parts cost $22 DOESN'T mean that all the money that went into it is discarded. Of course there is a markup, but its not $56 per shuffle!!!
 
One of these days...

...people will understand.

Wholesale markups are usually on the order of 30% of raw materials/parts. Retail markups are usually on the order of 100% of wholesale prices for mass-market stuff. In each industry, these markups are generally well understood.

So, backing things out from retail price: $79/2=$39.50 Wholesale Cost. $39.50/1.3=$30.39 Apple's cost. $30.39/1.2=$25.32 Manufacturer's cost.

That means that assembly and packaging should be (if you believe these markups) about $3.

Gross profit margin is the (retail price - cost)/retail price. Analysts track gross margins carefully with products because... R&D and Marketing costs are well understood and less volatile, not to mention fixed costs to the company.

Net Profits and Net Margins are what comes after all the other costs have been factored in. This gives a sense of management effectiveness, rather than product profitability.

And, for anybody thinking a retailer is making bank with a 100% markup, I suggest you take a business class or start your own business and see how it really works.
 
LethalWolfe said:
I think everyone should be required to take at least a basic business class at some point in their life so we can cut down on the amount of outrage based on ignorance in the world.


Lethal
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Who's outraged.

I have one of these things and I have to say its a POS. I have reverted back to my 2nd gen shuffle.

I can't use my preferred headphones and the headphones are adequate at best.
 
I find it awesome that the parts are not just common parts and that they are as small as they are.... size of a grain of salt-Now thats small!
 
JoeDMD said:
With the ipod, companies besides apple do the research to create the technology that goes into the product, and apple simply comes up with a design to combine the technology into a product.
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Really? That's why all MP3 players are alike?

Due to an Amazon marketplace scam, I ended up with a previous gen shuffle clone. They even copied the form of the shuffle. But trust me, they may have had a lot of the same parts, but this was not anything like a shuffle. Even a chinese copy is not close.

So, Apple spends time and money coming up with many, many iPod designs, brings some to full prototype, but only a few make it to production. It's not anything like a Dell tower, where they basically assemble off the shelf parts, put on a Windows OS, and call it a day. That is true minimal R&D. Apple's R&D is some of the most extensive in the industry. It costs money.
 
bruinsrme said:
Who's outraged.

I have one of these things and I have to say its a POS. I have reverted back to my 2nd gen shuffle.

I can't use my preferred headphones and the headphones are adequate at best.
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Doesn't someone make a extension cord that has the controls built in and let's you plug any head phones in?

If not someone should.

Another idea like that, that i have been thinking about since before the first shuffle and is even now more predictable...
Make a nice set of over-the-ear headphones and plug the shuffle into the side of them. Then have the controls built into the sides of the headphones.
 
mikeinternet said:
Doesn't someone make a extension cord that has the controls built in and let's you plug any head phones in?

If not someone should.

Another idea like that, that i have been thinking about since before the first shuffle and is even now more predictable...
Make a nice set of over-the-ear headphones and plug the shuffle into the side of them. Then have the controls built into the sides of the headphones.
Click to expand...

no third party support.

I was thinking about cutting and splicing a pair of headphones i like.
 
ikramerica said:
Really? That's why all MP3 players are alike?

Due to an Amazon marketplace scam, I ended up with a previous gen shuffle clone. They even copied the form of the shuffle. But trust me, they may have had a lot of the same parts, but this was not anything like a shuffle. Even a chinese copy is not close.

So, Apple spends time and money coming up with many, many iPod designs, brings some to full prototype, but only a few make it to production. It's not anything like a Dell tower, where they basically assemble off the shelf parts, put on a Windows OS, and call it a day. That is true minimal R&D. Apple's R&D is some of the most extensive in the industry. It costs money.
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Well stated, however not a lot of people seem to understand the costs of research and development. It appears to me that the general population is embracing the road to mediocrity in all things, where cheap is valued and any thing else is "pretentious", "unnecessary" and "brand driven". I've lost count of the numerous individuals proudly stating how they can throw the same parts together and get a Windows based OS that is more powerful for less than its Apple counterpart. Any one can build a car or computer if they are educated in that field. However, can they build a car that drives well, is safe, and looks and feels like a top of the line car? Can they build a computer that runs well, is beautifully designed and meets their needs? Or is a computer or car that gets you from point a to point b, regardless of how or in what method, the desired option? Is mediocrity better than exceptional? I'm saddened that more often mediocrity is the desired choice.

My above comment isn't directed at the shuffle per se, but more so at the comments regarding Apple hardware as overpriced and pretentious, which seem to be increasingly prevalent on MacRumors.
 
bedifferent said:
Not a lot of people seem to understand that concept. It appears to me that more and more America and the general population is embracing the road to mediocrity in all things, where the cheap is better and any thing else is "pretentious", unnecessary and "brand driven". I've lost count of how many individuals state how they can throw the same parts together and get a Windows based OS that is more powerful for less than its Apple counterpart. Any one can build a car or computer if they are educated in that field. However, can they build a car that drives well, is safe, and looks and feels like a top of the line car? Can they build a computer that runs well, is beautifully designed and meets their needs? Or is simply a computer or car that gets you from point a to point b, regardless of how or in what method, the better option? Is mediocrity better than exceptional? I'm saddened that more often mediocrity is the desired choice.
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I think exceptional is better than mediocrity.

Good post, just like the others.
 
mikeinternet said:
Why couldn't this be done? The shuffle wouldn't know the difference between these and other headphones.
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This can be done, I just have to purchase another set.

You need to cut and splice after the remote.
The remote is needed to control the volume, most unfortunate.
 
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