Friday, September 7, 2007

Apple: Stuck in a pickle?

Is apple stuck in a pickle?...What does this even mean?...Many questions are hovering around the latest Apple news, including two brand new apple iPods, touch and classic.

The apple iPod touch, where the name says it all, is awaiting its debut later this month. This newly developed iPod features music, videos, photos, and now even websites. Could this be considered the smallest personal computer to date? Not to mention a brilliant partnership with Apple and Starbucks, where you can browse the iTunes store to preview, purchase, and even download music with no connection fees. The iPod touch, with the help of Starbucks gives a new meaning to "music on the go."

However, Apple doesn't stop with the release of one new iPod, they are also releasing the iPod classic. This is one monster of an iPod. Two versions of the new iPod, the 80 GB and the 160 GB, push the the edge of what we think can be possible in an iPod. Looking primarily at the 160 GB iPod, we see it can hold up to 40,000 songs or up to 200 hours of video. Perhaps, we should take a closer look at this, and crunch some numbers, so to speak. There are 24 hours in a day. the iPod classic holds up to 200 hours of video. This is enough video to continuously watch for 8 days and 8 hours, assuming you have your iPod classic plugged in. Another comparison of memory would be taking a look at the average laptop, containing 60-80 GB. The iPod classic doubles even a laptops memory capabilities. Could we perhaps be seeing a new era of technology, where you can get a laptop you can hold in your hand?

Even though these two iPods are gigantic in Apple news, there is even bigger news Apple has. Apple has decided to cut the price of the iPhone to $399. This is a 200 dollar price cut, which has many customers questioning Apple's marketing scheme. Macnewsworld reports Steve Jobs appeared to be dismissive of the iPhones early buyers. However Apple later decided to take conciliatory actions, such as offer early buyers $100 store credit towards purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store.

So, what does all this mean, many people may be asking. Could this unsuspected price cut for the iPhone lose Apple customers that would have bought the iPod touch or classic? Even though this looks bad for Apple customers, and it looks like Apple was only looking to make as much profit as they can, the Apple employees obviously want to try to make the customers happy and make the customers as happy as possible. So, perhaps it may just take some time for Apple employees to show that they want to make the customers as happy as they can.

1 comment:

Jose Alvarez said...

If you actually look at the new iPod's I think Apple messed up massively. The colors are really ugly. Also on the Nano they brought back the chrome backing which scratches extremely easily. I am glad I just bought a Nano before the new ones came out. Also I hear the reason for the price drop on the phone was because they were not selling very well. Don’t get me wrong, I love Apple, but they just messed some stuff up this time.