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10th October 2007

Will People Buy New iPhones As If It Were Just Another iPod?

Apple (AAPL) has literally sold tens of millions of iPods since they first debuted. Some people have purchased more than two and some have purchased different versions (nano, shuffle, etc.). With all the excitement surrounding the iPhone, there seems to be a euphoria that’s blocking the future outlook. Will previous customers eventually buy new iPhones, like they did iPods?

iPods have been a craze, year after year, it’s been on the top of lists and consistently selling far more than other MP3 Players (i.e. Zune). Currently, the iPod product lineup varies in price from $79 to the all-new iPod Touch’s top-of-the-line price of $399. There isn’t any plan attached to these Apple products, and no necessary additional costs.

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Most iPhone purchases cost $599 (for 8GB model), alongside about a $60 a month voice and data plan from AT&T (T). Put the costs together and it is a phone/iPod that will cost over $2000 in total charges in the first two years. This price isn’t necessarily an unusual number for phones that need intensive data packages.

dry_ground_1.jpgThe question comes into play when you factor this exceptional amount of money alongside the possibility of Apple updating the product with 3G and more flash memory in the future. What will users do when the possibility of getting a new iPhone becomes a reality? Will they simply buy the new model and sell the old one, or will they hold out, and keep the phone for two to three years?

If this happens, the market could see a saturation of iPhones and the supply will outweigh the demand. Then, new model iPhone sales could quickly dry up. We’re hoping for the iPhone to continue to sell like the iPod did, but there could be trouble in the next couple of years.

Disclosure: Long Apple Inc. (AAPL)

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posted in Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), AT&T (T), iPod, iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod Touch, iPhone | 2 Comments

16th September 2007

Why Apple didn’t Create a Fully-Functional Wi-Fi iTunes Store

iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store Logo Consumers hoping for the Wi-Fi Music Store to be everything and more are out of luck. Turns out that the wireless method of purchasing iTunes music on-the-go is leaving out about 75 percent of the popular iTunes program. While this may be quite obvious to many, the mere fact that users can’t purchase or download literally “whatever they want” might be disconcerting.

At almost every Apple (AAPL) event, Jobs and various guests talk up the numerous features that encompass the Apple brand. Let it be clear that I would be considered myself an Apple fanboy, but please Jobs, you may have made a large misstep right here.

It’s unclear whether or not it was a creation problem or simply a program created with the sole-purpose of making more money. In many ways, the iTunes store is one of the first things that users click open on their computers. Some are navigating to the iTunes music store to simply purchase music, but a heck of a lot of other users are going somewhere else.

iPod Touch Sync In Progress

There are 6 main categories under the Library of the iTunes program. Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, Radio, and the all-new Ringtones sections. Here’s where Apple either slacked or didn’t do their job. Movies, TV Shows, and Podcasts have become exponentially popular over the past few years, but did Apple simply ignore there potential as a part of a wireless (Wi-Fi) iTunes Store?

iTunes Screenshot

In the last Apple event Jobs touted the incredible wealth of information and content that is available throughout the iTunes Podcast section. Best of all, the content is free to download and/or subscribe to, but unfortunately, it won’t be available to the iPod Touch or iPhone users. Simply put, you can put more money into Apple’s pockets by buying songs on the go, and when you wont to get the free stuff, like Podcasts or occasional free TV Shows, Apple neglected to develop a viable method for downloading those items.

What makes the entire situation so much worse is the fact that a smart user can’t simply hack the iPhone or iPod Touch to enable the ability to download their favorite Podcasts through iTunes. Users are at the absolute mercy of Apple, which most of the time serves them just fine, but unfortunately, they’re being left out on over 75 percent of the iTunes store and the general program’s capabilities. While this may seem like a simple rant and rave, it appears as though Apple ingeniously created a method of making more money, without thinking about the need for users to feel at home with the user interface and have fully-functional programs.

Disclosure: Long Apple Inc. (AAPL)

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posted in Apple (AAPL), iPod, iPod Touch, iPhone, iTunes | 3 Comments

5th September 2007

The Entire iPod Family Reinvents Itself

With the holiday season just around the corner, and an impressive new line of updated and new iPods, Apple (AAPL) is set-up to make a killing.

Here’s a brief rundown:

iPod Shuffle

  • Reinvented Colors
  • Product (RED) Color

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iPod Nano

  • New Stockier Version
  • Cut to $149 and $199
  • Plays Video
  • Slideshows with Music
  • New User Interface

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iPod Classic

  • New Name for Original iPod
  • 80 GB and a larger 160 GB Hard Drive
  • Rounded, All-Metal Casing
  • Now from $249
  • New User Interface
  • Black and White

product-black-classic.jpgproduct-white-classic.jpg

iPod Touch

  • 8 GB and 16 GB
  • 3.5″ Touch-Screen Interface (much like the iPhone)
  • Wi-Fi Enabled
  • Download Music from iTunes Store Wirelessly
  • Safari Web Browser
  • YouTube Online Videos
  • 8MM thin
  • Starting from $299

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iPhone

  • Wi-Fi iTunes Downloads
  • No longer offering a 4 GB version
  • Price Reduction of the 8 GB to $399!

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Disclosure: Long Apple Inc. (AAPL)

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posted in Apple (AAPL), iPod, iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod Touch, iPhone, iPod Classic | 0 Comments


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