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iPod touch When is Apple going to say if this year will be the iPod Touch 5g?
- Thread starter Cata M.
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There will be a iPod 5G. Guaranteed.
You need to look at the numbers, third quarter they sold 7.54 million iPods. Obviously not all of those are iPod touches but you have to figure a pretty significant chuck of that number is.
Lets say 4 million were iPod touches... that is 880 million in revenue on iPod touches in three months. While the iPod business is declining do you think Apple is ready to give up 880 million dollars every three months? I sure as hell would update it.
You need to look at the numbers, third quarter they sold 7.54 million iPods. Obviously not all of those are iPod touches but you have to figure a pretty significant chuck of that number is.
Lets say 4 million were iPod touches... that is 880 million in revenue on iPod touches in three months. While the iPod business is declining do you think Apple is ready to give up 880 million dollars every three months? I sure as hell would update it.
Yeah I agree.They don't sell well anymore.Everyone is interested to the iOS devices
Last week of September (first week of October?) is the media event, so I expect pre-orders to start the day of or soon after.
True, but this year is different (obviously).
They need the entry shuffle device. It's a prudent and useful iPod. It should be $29, though, for 4GB; max $49 for 8GB or whatever the top end will be with whatever special exterior.
The Nano is and has been the sad fifth wheel for a year. The generation before this one was an iPT lite. This generation is an ultra-expensive iPod Shuffle. They should chomp that out of the line and offer a $99 or $129 iPT with 8GB and trimmed down features (low-res screen, 8GB, low-res camera). Then the retina display models should go $199 and up.
Nano was an amazing device 5 or 6 years ago. Nowadays it is a mess and an overpriced hindrance. All the iPod line should be slowly crunched down to a $99 and sub line-up (aside from more-capable iPTs) to make way for the phones and iPads and other devices coming, and creating entry-level products for people to discover Apple's music/app services.
Any ideas for the specific media event day for the iPods? Last year it was on a Wednesday and the first of the month. This year the first is a Thursday. They could have it then or Friday. The first Tuesday or Wedneday though is the 6th and 7th respectively. If it's the first this year then invites should go out this Friday, otherwise we might see invites next Friday. I'm hoping it will be then (6 or 7th) rather than later in the month. I expect the event to be on campus and not the Moscone Center so checking their schedule won't be much help. 
This is digging up a rumor from earlier in the summer ...
What if Apple were to drop the iPod touch line completely and reposition the iPhone4 as an unlocked device for $300 (8GB, perhaps 16GB)? The benefits of this would be a simplified product matrix for Apple to handle, and the folks who opt for this would get GPS and optional data plans. If they want to add phone minutes, they could.
The downsides would be the size of the device, loss of 32GB/64GB models, no dual-core A5.
The upsides would be GPS, 3G data plans (optional), voice plans (optional), better cameras.
Hmmmm....
I've argued this myself but we don't know for sure what Apple will do. We have heard that the low cost iPhone 4 will be 8GB though and in defense of the Touch there are a lot of people who buy it that need or at least want much more storage than that. Even I need at least 16GB and want 32GB. I would buy a Touch over the iPhone based just on that spec alone.
That's why I would argue that the Touch needs to be redesigned as a combo game player and iTunes device with a larger screen and more storage. The cheap iPhone would replace the old Touch and a new Phat Touch would have it's own niche.
We shall find out soon though
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Well i just don't see apple to drop the line.Let's focus it.Usually kids are buying the Touch.If apple drops the ipod touch line and replace it with cheap iphones kids may not be able to buy it.Even the cheap iphone will be min 300$ and the ipod touch is currently 230$ and is more affordable.And also i cant think kids of 10-12 years old with a plan
I seriously doubt this. Apple rarely (never?) differentiates their portables on spec like camera quality, screen, processor. They differ in storage size and function: this one's a tiny guy, this one's the iPod Touch media player, this one's a phone. In this way, perceived quality is the same across all products - they never have 'the Mac with the junky screen and the Mac with the good screen' in the same category differentiated on price.
No, it doesn't work like that. It doesn't really matters if it's used only one assembly line. What really matters is that Apple needs to buy more components than needed. Not only it's ineffective, it's also expensive and it doesn't simplifly anything.
Also, the iphone 4 doesn't cost 300$. Check how much it cost unlocked and you will be surprised.
I do know what it costs to produce the current iPhone4. I'm talking about repositioning it at a lower price point. I'm sure Apple can streamline the device and also put in cheaper components to meet this price point. This is routinely done in the CE business as smaller parts and components become available (usually at lower costs).
Also, I don't recall saying anything about assembly lines. I said that by eliminating the iPod touch and slotting the low-end iPhone in its place, Apple can simplify their product matrix.
Right now, the iPod touch is sort of an odd-ball in the iPod matrix. It's the only iPod capable of iOS apps. The other iPods are pretty much media players and not much else.
By getting rid of the touch, the product matrix becomes more focused.
iPod - music/media players
iPhone - smartphone/multimedia/internet devices
Macs - traditional computer
iPad - post PC computer
aTV - still a hobby
I would disagree with your logic. Yes a lot of kids have bought (or have them bought for them) Touches in the past. But that was then and this is now. What is different is this.
1: They got them to be cool and an iPhone was too expensive. However the average initial age of cell phone ownership has been dropping. They don't pay for the plans, their parents do. There is a rapidly increasing pool of used iPhones as their parents upgrade to a new one. We have had used 3G's 3Gs's and soon 4's flooding the market. Given a choice of buying their child a new Touch it will make much more sense to most to just give them this older but still cool used iPhone at no acquisition cost and just pick up the plan payments. The kids want a phone anyway and the killer feature for parents is Find My iPhone which allows them to find out where their kids are at any time. If you don't think that is highly desirable you are not a parent.
I believe Touch sales going forward are not going to be as strong as they were. Currently Touches sell best during the model refresh time (September through December) so if the next gen (if there is one) does not differ significantly from the current one then sales will suffer even more. That would be a signal to Apple to drop the line or redesign the device for another niche.
2: Besides the kids issue there is the cheap iPhone issue. A cheaper no contract iPhone is going to attract a certain amount of the Touch market share. I don't know how much as it depends on how cheap it is but the effect is there and you can add to that the number of people buying a used iPhone off contract now instead of a Touch. You want GPS get a used or cheap iPhone and not a Touch is a common piece of advice.
The two issues I point out is why I believe Touch sales are going to decline considerably. I would think Apple has enough marketing geniuses to reach the same conclusions and bring a new device based on the touch as soon as possible.
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same.i just trust apple and i hope they release a new ipod touch this year
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They would not do that as it would cannibalize sales of iPhone 5. Plus Apple likes to maintain a high profit margin, with data,voice chips basically within an ipod touch and with R&D, Apple wouldn't profit much from a 300$ device.
Perhaps. For this to happen, I'm guessing that Apple would be trying to strike a balance between high profit margins and a larger user base. If they can tap into the low end market with an iPhone suitable for prepaid users, that could be a huge boon for them. They may make less money on each device, but they make it up in volume.
Agreed. Apple does indeed enjoy high profit margins.
I think you're overestimating the component/manufacturing costs of an iPhone4/iPod touch. At the debut of the iPhone4 (18 months ago??), the costs of the components were reportedly $185. Since then, the A4 chip and retina display has been added to the iPod touch line, thus we can reason that the component costs for the CPU and screens is much lower. Also, the retina screens have 2 separate suppliers, increase supply and decreasing costs.
As for the R&D, I would expect the form factor of the device to be the same as the current iPhone4. The antenna design may be different, so they'd have to absorb some costs there, but for the most part, the R&D has been paid for.
Lastly, look at the current iPod touch. It sells for $230 and has the A4 and retina display. How much would adding the Qualcomm chip cost the end user? I'm guessing that Apple could put all of this stuff in a package (A4/retina/8GB/cell/3G) and sell it for $300 and still make decent margins.
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Don't forget Apple's brand...
700$ iPhone4 to a 300$iPhone is very close to impossible.
I just can't see that happening especially with how much ATT and Verizon already pay Apple for iPhone4 and 5 later on. It would be a low blow if Apple came in with a cheap 300$ phone that will no doubt steal iPhone4 sales.
I still think Apple is trying to convert touch users to phone and I suppose they would continue doing that.
I do believe in iPhone4S as a cheaper alternative but it would not be at 300$ or even 400$ so Apple this year would still be releasing a new iPod touch.