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iPod touch When to buy a new iPod Touch? March/April 2012

A

aaroniofjm

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 27, 2011
2
0
Hello. I am looking to buy a new iPod touch, but I need the latest and greatest. Now, here are my speculations:

The New iPad just came out, so I don't know when Apple is going to have their next event. I assume their next even will be in about 2 months, and the invitation for this event will be about music. In the event they will announce all new iPods, including the new iPod touch, Nano, Shuffle, and maybe even the iPod Classic. (By the way, if they don't release a new Classic, they will end it's production line.)

The iPod touch will include a new 5 MP camera as seen on the New iPad, No A5 X Chip (The reason I think it won't get the A5 X chip is because Apple usually wants the iPhone to get the upgraded specs before the iPod, and the iPhone has not received the A5X Chip yet.), and some other features like keyboard voice dictation. This new iPod will NOT have Siri. Thats all I can think of for speculations of the new iPod touch.

Can someone tell me if these speculations seem correct, or I'm speaking nonsense, and should not wait for the new iPod touch. The only thing I'm interested in the new iPod is the upgraded camera, otherwise I would get the current iPod now. I want your thoughts, opinions, rumors, whatever... What do you think?
 
aaroniofjm said:
I'm speaking nonsense
Click to expand...

There has been considerable speculation on this topic in numerous other threads (such as this recent one).

iPods have been released in September for quite a few years now to take advantage of the back-to-school crowd.

Further, many think it amy be the end of the line for the iPod Touch, though I still believe an update will come out this September.
 
apple didnt even want to bump the new ipod touch to A5 chip last year, what makes u think they will even bother with A5X.

Apple probably will include A5 single core much like the apple TV.
And introduce 7inch ipad this september
 
I think you're hoping and waiting for something that's never likely to occur.

There have been ZERO rumors about any new ipod touch; there have, however, been numerous rumors about a smaller ipad. That is what I think will be taking the place of the ipod touch.

So if you want to purchase one, you may as well go ahead.
 
September is most likely for the next update, if it gets one. I would buy now rather than wait until next month. It is very unlikely you will miss out on an update in that timeframe.
 
I'm thinking that there won't be an update for the iPod touch this year, there wasn't last year, unless you count the option of having a white or black iPod.

Even though 5MP camera would be great and so would a bunch of other things, I doubt it's going to happen. It's looking like it's the end for the iPods, I'm assuming. I could be wrong, though. I could be very very wrong.
 
old-wiz said:
Far more likely we will see a 7" iPad and dropping iPod Touch.
Click to expand...

I would say just the opposite:

Far more likely we will see the iPod Touch refreshed and no 7" iPad this year.

Let's check back later and see who's right.

:)
 
The main driving force behind the iPod Touch development was at the time the iPhone was limited to select carriers around the world due to agreements and difficulties. AAPL being the intelligent corporation they are did not want to miss out on profit margins. Because of that a device was developed which did everything the iPhone did minus the actual phone part.

Now'a days everyone and their grandma(mine included) has an iPhone of some variant. Thus the gap has been mostly filled. Just look at the forum activity on this very website. The iPhone forum has around 2,000 users average while the iPod Touch is more like 200-350 active users.
 
...there's still the odd kid who can't afford the $1000 iPhone contract who the iPod Touch may appeal to.
 
I do not have an iPhone and will be highly unlikely to get one.

1. I cannot afford the higher contract costs.

2. I have a great T-Mobile family plan that i have used for years and really really am happy. (6 years+ now)

3. I live in a rural area where service is still a little missing (ATT) along the Interstate. No clue about Verizon.

4. I am on my 3rd iPod Touch (a 3rd gen) and want to upgrade.

5. Two of my kids on the family plan do not want to have to pay for iPhone contract costs. They also have iPod Touches.

6. If I want to give an iPod to a young child (say under 10) to play a game with I do not have to worry about them calling Nigeria.
 
bobob said:
According to this breakdown of the most recent Apple financial results, 11.6 million iPod Touches were sold in the last three months of 2011 - - that's a pretty good chunk of sales.

So, is it still "bad economics" for a business to innovate for ~40 million people?
Click to expand...

1-iPod touch users have been moving on to iPhone
2-Apple gains a higher profit margin from iPhones rather than iPods
3-If anything last year may be Apple's biggest move to convert people to iPhones by not updating the touch line
4-For a multi billionaire company, 11.6 purchases does not warrant innovation for a product
5-You also have not viewed Apple sales over the years where iPods were once 20% of all Apple Revenue and has dropped to below 5% in 2011
6-It doesn't take a nuclear physicist to know that it is time to move on to greener pastures
 
Invincibilizer said:
1-iPod touch users have been moving on to iPhone
Click to expand...
That's true, at least for those with enough money for an expensive cell contract. However, MacIke has just made a compelling argument as to the stable market of the types of people for whom the iPod Touch will remain a more suitable device.

Invincibilizer said:
2-Apple gains a higher profit margin from iPhones rather than iPods
Click to expand...
Possibly true, especially given their arrangements with cell service providers - - though I imagine there's still a healthy little profit to be had from selling their $299/$399 iPod Touch products.

Invincibilizer said:
3-If anything last year may be Apple's biggest move to convert people to iPhones by not updating the touch line
Click to expand...
Incorrect - they did add the strangely popular white case, and if anything, there lack of other hardware bumps to the iPod Touch in 2011 means the 2012 update will be a significant one.

Invincibilizer said:
4-For a multi billionaire company, 11.6 purchases does not warrant innovation for a product
Click to expand...
That's 11.6 million units, in three months.

In comparison, Apple sold 37.04 million iPhones and 15.4 million iPads in the same time period, therefore the iPod Touch accounts for 19% of iOS devices sold, significantly broadening the installed base of their mobile operating system. With the fierce competition with Android for mobile OS market share, I can't imagine Apple will just write off an easy 19% of their devices.

Not only that, but Apple has used the expensive innovations developed for the iPhone platform to trickle down to the iPod Touch for little additional development cost. There is a wide choice of mature components that can be added to the iPod Touch this September with almost no cost or effort by Apple.

Invincibilizer said:
5-You also have not viewed Apple sales over the years where iPods were once 20% of all Apple Revenue and has dropped to below 5% in 2011
Click to expand...
By that reasoning, Apple will soon be dropping their line of Mac computers, who's revenue share has dropped from 28% in Dec '09 to just 14% at the end of 2011 - a much, much faster drop than that of the iPod.

Invincibilizer said:
6-It doesn't take a nuclear physicist to know that it is time to move on to greener pastures
Click to expand...
No, it takes a marketer, or at least someone with a lick of common sense to see that the grass is still plenty green on the iPod Touch side of the fence.
 
I can see where Apple would consider dropping the iPod Touch IF they plan to offer a 7-inch iPad in the near future. In reality, the iPad IS the iPod Touch on steroids. So, it could be argued a 7-inch iPad would be an "upgrade" for the iPod Touch.

By that reasoning, it could be thought the iPod Touch will be phased out as a separate entity, blended into the iPad family. At the moment, it's really a redundancy of both the iPhone and the iPad except for its size and ability to handle phone calls. It would make sense from an economic standpoint to narrow the product line, yet continue the iPod nano (or some similar form - maybe resurrecting the classic) for those wishing only (relatively inexpensive) music transport.
 
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