Understand that this forum is WAY WAY skewed by opinions of 21 and under fanboys. 🙂 I keep forgeting I'm probably arguing with 15 year olds here.
There is definitely a market for high capacity device. This had been Apple's approach to continually increase capacity for the LIFE of the iPod models prior to the Touch. If there wasn't a market, they would discontinue the Classic, plain and simple, because you know Steve Jobs really wants to.
It's also understandable that Apple can't yet put in 64GB nand flash chips in their devices as it's currently too expensive. Of course I understand this.
What I don't understand is why, with no real decrease in nand flash prices in sight a year ago, Apple didn't come up with a redesign of the Classic in some way to make it more modern. Even simply a widescreen, or put a hard drive Touch (if archos can do a hard drive in a touch screen without sacrificing battery life, why can't apple). Or use four chips in a Touch instead of two and make it thicker. I think some solution is possible without a MAJOR redesign.
But the conjecture here is that Apple does not do this because there is no market for a high capacity device. I say bull to that. There is - even if you consider just the whole "Classic" market for one. But even if research DID shows that there is (and NO ONE here knows whether that is true or not despite all the people who THINK they do), it comes down to one person making that call to do it or not. And Steve Jobs is obsessed with thinner and thinner products. And that's why it doesn't happen. He knows he has fanboys who will buy his product and assume everything Apple does is the best thing for their customers, so he doesn't care so much about market research. When the heck has he EVER listened to customer wishes?
OK - now here we go. Let me have it fanboys!
Tony
I agree with a lot of what you have to say there, Tony.
I'm definitely not a Apple/Mac fanboy (in fact, personally I hate people who think that Steve Jobs is the Second Coming and that they'll buy any old crap just because he tells them to... As for Fuhrer Jobs, I personally think he's a arrogant douchebag whose jeans are a bit too tight for him!)
In any case, he'll never listen to the public where customer wishes are concerned as he thinks he knows what's best, when in fact he's just a sad, pitiful little man who's so arrogant, he thinks he's better than anyone else when in fact he isn't.
One of these days, he'll end up pissing off the wrong people and he'll end up being kicked out of Apple and hopefully they'll bring in a new CEO who'll be willing to listen to the people who buy their products as well as potential customers.
Myself, I wouldn't have even thought about buying a Apple product until recently with the iPod Touch/iPad and even then, I'm only buying them (the iPad next year when the 2nd Gen version comes out) for the Apps as I'm going to university this year and there's a lot of Apps which will come in handy for my Foundation Cerificate in Computing course.
As for a MacBook Pro, I'm hoping to get one bought for me as a Disabled student using the Disabled Student Allowance as there's no way I could afford to buy one on my own (and even then, I'm a PC guy myself first and last!)
Where music is concerned, I'm not ashamed to say that I pirated a lot of my collection (especially where Japanese/Korean Pop and Rock is concerned) and if anyone here has a problem with that, I don't care what you have to say!