Steve Jobs, iTunes and Cheaper iPod?

[Jerry Spoon]

Originally posted by snahabed
I think Apple has a good pricing structure, it's just that an entry level model is missing. Price points of 199, 299, 399, 499 would be ideal, in my opinion (Maybe offer some iTunes downloads on the higher models, or discounts on accessories, to motivate people to go higher).

I don't know if you'd even need to offer the incentives for the higher priced models b/c I think as soon as you got your low priced 5GB ipod, you'd fill it, sell it, and buy a bigger one. That's already happening w/ the current available models.

 

[the_dalex]

Apple's strategy has never been "drive prices lower," but rather "drive specs higher." This has held true for all of their product lines... when they update, they just make the product bigger (or smaller), better, faster and keep the price point the same (before you nitpick, yes, I know there have been exceptions). It has worked VERY well and has kept them as a premium brand. Discounting a product discounts your brand, and Apple will never do that.

I personally don't believe that they want to sell a $100 iPod, just like they don't want to sell a $500 desktop. It's not their strategy. If they wanted to hit that price point that badly they would make a flash-based player, but that would be a bad move for several reasons.

I want a BMW 5-series for $15,000. They would sell a lot more at that price, and I would buy one, so they're stupid for not doing it! 🙄

 

[duffyb]

Cheap iPod

Actually, there was a segment on TechTV which pointed out that per MG (or GB) the iPod is the cheaoest player out there.
Something like .012 per KB

 

[Danger! Will]

I'd buy a new iPod for $199.
Even with my student discount at it's current lowest price it's $269.
I'd rather use the $69 extral dollars to download music from the windows iTunes music store.

 

[idkew]

I think everyone is missing a HUGE point here. The iPod is not designed for people who steal music. It is designed so people can bring their entire legal music collections with them. The price points, while expensive on the surface, are tiny in comparison to the cost of the music to fill them.

Think about it- the 40GB model can hold nearly 10,000 songs. At 99¢ a piece, that is $9,900. Even if a consumer was able to purchase songs at 50¢ a piece, it still costs $5,000 to fill an iPod. What is another few hundred dollars when you are already spending several thousand?

The $300 iPod still will cost $1,250 to $2,500 to fill. What is $300 in in nearly $3000? Bit more than 10%, or a little more than tax on most purchases. The ratio drops as you get a larger iPod. $500 (40GB model) of $10,000 is only 5%, or less than the tax you would usually pay for an item.

Everyone complaining about the cost of an iPod needs to stop stealing their music. Plain and simple. Sure, Apple has premium pricing, but it is not excessive when you factor in what the iPod is designed to do; play LEGALLY PURCHASED music.

 

[Danger! Will]

idkew

I think your missing a point. Not everyone has their music collection because of the iTunes music store. I'm 26 years old and have been buying cd's as a long as i can remember. So if I buy an ipod now and fill it with 1000 songs it's not going to cost me $990 plus tax. The music is allready mine. Not everyone has stopped buying cd's.

 

[idkew]

Originally posted by Danger! Will
idkew

I think your missing a point. Not everyone has their music collection because of the iTunes music store. I'm 26 years old and have been buying cd's as a long as i can remember. So if I buy an ipod now and fill it with 1000 songs it's not going to cost me $990 plus tax. The music is allready mine. Not everyone has stopped buying cd's.

Yes, BUT you did purchase that music at one point, and at an average price of $15 or more and album of maybe 8 songs, so you sill have QUITE A BIT invested in your music. Your iPod is still inexpensive in comparison to your CD colection.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Dont Forget

Ok HOw many of you original iPod (FireWire) owner's are participating in this thread? Did you forget that the iPod isn't just for music?? When it debuted It was swweett that you could connect it via FireWire and mount as a Hard-Drive This alone validates the iPod's premium prices. Off my rocker do you say?? Well just remember that flash based USB drives do-not offer, currently, 1GB or even 5GB size so that's the premium price taht gives you that ability. Not sure if iPod's will mount as external removable drives like USB drives on Windows; but I think that they do.

Also, Name one other competing portable jukebox that offers calender and phonebook that can synchronize with your Outlook or MusicJukeBox on the desktop like the iPod can; not to mention Battery life and games as well!!

Anyone???

 

[Phinius]

Originally posted by GregAussie
How much cheaper could Apple sell a car-radio sized iPod... I could go for one of them. A physically larger hard disk and no battery would make it cheaper. Make it removable so it can be placed next to your Mac for syncing occasionally (and preferably have a radio built in).

Apple would greatly expand iPod sale if there was a model made as a OEM or aftermarket player for automobiles. Afterall, the majority of music that people listen too in a day is accomplished while driving around in their cars.

 

[agentmouthwash]

I know 4 people that would love to buy an iPod, but $299 is way too much money, so they are looking at alternatives. A $199 5GB iPod would do the trick. They know how much better iPods are then the other mp3 player, but they can't afford it, plus they don't need 10Gb.

Apple is missing out on this market.

 

[Macco]

Originally posted by snahabed

What else IS there? The processor, 1 bit screen, plastic casing?

Ugh. It's at least a 2-bit grayscale screen, as you can see in the back of the Solitaire cards and in the empty slots on the battery charging icon when the iPod is sleeping. People get this wrong so often.

 

[iMeowbot]

Originally posted by Phinius
Apple would greatly expand iPod sale if there was a model made as a OEM or aftermarket player for automobiles. Afterall, the majority of music that people listen too in a day is accomplished while driving around in their cars.

A well made in-dash iPod dock with driver-friendly controls would be a nice thing to have. Slide it into a cassette-like slot and have remote controls on the faceplate.

I don't think that a permanently dash-mounted iPod is practical in the short term. I sure wouldn't want to have to take a notebook out to the car to load music (or keep a 75-meter network cable handy!), and wireless networking is still a bit immature, especially at speeds that would make large transfers bearable.

Another advantage to going with a dock would be to keep the cost of that part down. The support issues get interesting and expensive with anything that a customer might want to install in a dash.

 

[idkew]

Originally posted by iMeowbot
A well made in-dash iPod dock with driver-friendly controls would be a nice thing to have. Slide it into a cassette-like slot and have remote controls on the faceplate.

I really think this is a nice idea- we have a dock for home use, even a "loud speaker" dock for light headphone-less listening. Maybe Belkin can team with Apple and make this third way of listening- an in dash car dock. Sure there are other ways of doing this, but the FM transmitters do not sound great, and the tape adapters are getting obsolete.

Plus, as a simple dock, theft would be less of a concern since most of the expensive circuitry and data storage are removable.

I would definitely be in the market for this solution.

 

[topicolo]

One interesting thing I remember reading about in a Fortune magazine article about Apple is that they apparently make as much profit from an ipod as an imac.

Thems fat margins!

 

[singletrack]

$199 iPod. Sure, that's going to happen.

Do people actually look at the prices of the competition before demanding Apple lower prices? Creative's NOMAD Zen and Jukebox HD players are $299 and up, and have less features. The base model has a bigger disk for the money but it's certainly no iPod in the feature stakes. Rio's are $399.

There's cheaper players using bigger hard disk and cheaper components with even less features eg. Archos.

The only way Apple will get a cheaper player out is to do a non-hard disk model and that seems to me to be filling a price point rather than a feature set people would be happy with - 1.5GB max RAM is no substitute for a hard disk.

 

[dongmin]

Originally posted by iMeowbot
I don't think that a permanently dash-mounted iPod is practical in the short term. I sure wouldn't want to have to take a notebook out to the car to load music (or keep a 75-meter network cable handy!), and wireless networking is still a bit immature, especially at speeds that would make large transfers bearable.

Bingo. Someone with some sense. What's the point of having a built-in dash mp3 player when you can have a portable one that you can use anywhere? All you need here is a dock that connects to your car stereo, like an iMotion for the car.

 

[SiliconAddict]

Originally posted by tgrundke
Also keep in mind that Apple has no real incentive to lower the price of the iPod at the moment. It is currently the best selling MP3 player and as long as quarterly results show the iPod to be *increasing* in marketshare, there is no reason to lower the price.

It should be interesting to see what price point the Dell Jukebox comes in at. If they seriously undercut the pricing structure Apple has for the iPods it could force them to drop their prices.
The dell offering may not be as pretty as the iPod but if it saves the consumer (guess🙂 50$-$100+ on a device that sole purpose is to play music then does it really matter?
Also keep in mind that there are now rumors that HP is also entering the portable music device arena (There have been few places Dell has gone where HP hasn't followed.) This could further complicate things for Apple if HP and Dell get into a price war. This is exactly what happened on the Pocket PC front. Back in 2000-2002 Pocket PC’s were running aprox $450-$700. Along comes dell with price ranges in the $250-$299 undercutting everyone else forcing them to drop their prices. Consequently you have most Pocket PC’s today in the $230-$500 range max.
Apple may have no choice but to drop their prices in the long run. At least if they want to maintain that 30% of the market. The iPod IS something special but that doesn’t mean people wouldn’t choose something cheaper if given the chance.

 

[asphalt-proof]

The only way Apple will get a cheaper player out is to do a non-hard disk model and that seems to me to be filling a price point rather than a feature set people would be happy with - 1.5GB max RAM is no substitute for a hard disk.
--------------------------------------------------

I agree: Flash-based mp3 players are really not that cheap when you compare how much music you can put on them. In fact, they are expensive for the amount of storage available. It still cost you at least $70 for a 128mb MP3 player. That will get you about two CD's on it maybe 3. Fine for working out but that doesn't seem to be the demographics the iPod is hunting for.

Everybody wants cheaper prices... its the American way. I have to agree with those who say that if you really want it you will find a way to pay for it. Its all about priorities. Nobody will die if they don't get one and the earth want spin off orbit into the sun if Apple doesn't meet the price point of everyone. I'm sure that Apple could produce a 60gig iPod for $200 with all the accessories and somebody would complain that it cost too much. Get over it! Life is made of needs and wants and an iPod is definately not a need. (By the way, the buy-a-bundle program earlier this Fall was a great deal.. I got my iPod with educator discount for $69. So yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus.) Sorry for the acerbic reply. As a school psychologist its my job to make everyone feel warm and cuddly but sometimes people tick me off with their "I deserve it attitude".

 

[SiliconAddict]

Originally posted by singletrack


Do people actually look at the prices of the competition before demanding Apple lower prices? Creative's NOMAD Zen and Jukebox HD players are $299 and up, and have less features. The base model has a bigger disk for the money but it's certainly no iPod in the feature stakes. Rio's are $399.

Yes we do.. Small tip: do your homework before spouting such garbage.

Even then you are missing the point. People looking for cheaper devices will simply bypass the iPod because of price and skip to CF, SD players which are hundreds cheaper then the cheapest iPod. Getting a $199 iPod on the market would get people on the fence to jump to the iPod.

 

[singletrack]

Originally posted by SiliconAddict
Yes we do.. Small tip: do your homework before spouting such garbage.

I was quoting the manufacturers prices from their own websites. Yes I've done my homework.

What retailers choose to quote is up to them, not Apple however it does seem that retailers choose to keep the price up rather than discount to sell. I presume that is because people still see the iPod as being worth the money, they can sell them and they are selling increasing numbers.

FYI, The RRP for a Toshiba 5MB player is $349 http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/digitalaudio/product.asp?model=MEG50AS

I can't imagine anyone wanting one of those at that price when they can have an iPod or NOMAD Zen for less. I imagine that, and the bad reviews it gets, is why it's being discounted so heavily.

 

[Kirtus]

When I can afford it I will buy the iPod no matter what the price. Quality is what I care about and the iPod is in a word QUALITY!

 

[iPC]

Originally posted by tristan
I think it was a dumb question by the interviewer. The miniature hard drive alone costs around $100, so you're really not going to see a $100 ipod anytime soon.

Anyway, Apple considers itself a premium brand, and generally prices its products a little higher than the competition. It's like asking Louis Vitton if they'll come up with a $20 handbag. Even if they could do it, it wouldn't have the quality that you'd expect.

I think Apple's prices get out of hand sometimes. I almost bought an airport last week - almost - then I found a 4 port wireless hub/router for $30 after rebate. Sure, the airport's better, but if something will do the job for $30, it's hard to justify spending $200. (Especially in a recession.)

How is the ariport better? If it was, isn't the cost justified? Obviously not.....

 

[jettredmont]

Originally posted by idkew
Yes, BUT you did purchase that music at one point, and at an average price of $15 or more and album of maybe 8 songs, so you sill have QUITE A BIT invested in your music. Your iPod is still inexpensive in comparison to your CD colection.

And that must be why the >$500 CD player market is so dang hot these days!

Yes, $300-500 isn't a lot of money in the Big Picture sense. I mean, you've got to have a PC of some sort to use it anyways, and that most likely cost significantly more than $500 too. And you probably have a house in which your computer is sitting which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, or else you use your computer at work in an office rented for thousands of dollars a month ... Still, though, you can enjoy your music collection without the iPod, your computer runs without the iPod, and your house still miraculously stands without an iPod inside.

The iPod is an investment, and is either worth it or not based on its own merits.

 

[Rod Rod]

Apple Pricing

Originally posted by singletrack
I was quoting the manufacturers prices from their own websites. Yes I've done my homework.

What retailers choose to quote is up to them, not Apple however it does seem that retailers choose to keep the price up rather than discount to sell. I presume that is because people still see the iPod as being worth the money, they can sell them and they are selling increasing numbers.

FYI, The RRP for a Toshiba 5MB player is $349 http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/digitalaudio/product.asp?model=MEG50AS

I can't imagine anyone wanting one of those at that price when they can have an iPod or NOMAD Zen for less. I imagine that, and the bad reviews it gets, is why it's being discounted so heavily.

Retailers do not choose to keep the price of Apple products up. They are contractually compelled by Apple to list prices at the Suggested Retail Price. Your presumption is mistaken. The biggest deviations from Apple's SRP are on the order of $5. MacMall, which sells Studio Dislplays for $50 less than SRP, can only do so as a "shopping cart special," which is different than listing the lower price up front.

The heavy discounts on non-Apple products are there because the other manufacturers give resellers a lot more freedom in pricing.

 

[jayscheuerle]

For its limited ability, the iPod is not a wise investment of $300+ dollars for me. I'll never have that much money to spend on a glorified Walkman™. If I ever do get a non-CD based mp3 player, it will be under $100.

I also need to update my beige G3, but even the used G4 market is obscenely priced. The eMac and iMac are not options for me. From an Apple II+ to a Mac Classic and a 6100, I've been an Apple user, but Apple's pricing me out of their entire ballgame. It's a shame, because I really like OSX, but if my beige box would die tomorrow and I could only pull together $500, then only the most meager of upgrades (ones where I'd barely notice a performance difference) would be affordable on the Mac side.