Well, it’s September and you know what that means—time for Apple to announce a whole new lineup of iPods! Today’s announcement about a new product lineup was a bit more exciting than usual because it included a new iPhone-like product as well.
The new “best iPods ever” lineup features the iPod shuffle (1GB, in five “remixed” colors, for $79); the iPod Nano now reshaped in a shorter and squatter form factor to accommodate a color screen for playing video (4GB model $149, 8GB model $199); the iPod Classic, which plays video and music and boasts 160GB of storage (price tag $249); the iPod Touch, which is essentially a iPhone without the phone, featuring the cool multi-touch interface found on iPhone, plus a 3.5 inch display and WiFi Web browsing (8GB model $299, 16GB model $399); and of course iPhone which will soon be even more of a value proposition, Apple claims, when the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store launches. Also coming soon: custom ringtones.
I must say, I do appreciate that the Nano is now video-enabled without losing its solid-state, Flash storage. I’ve had a Nano for almost a year now, and love its big storage in a small and relatively indestructible nature thanks to solid state media. Look, Ma, no moving parts! I would consider upgrading to the new Nano just to get video capability. By the way, the iPod Touch also uses a Flash drive.
No Apple announcement would be complete without some words about iTunes, and this one was no exception Apple is now in the processing of rolling out iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, which as the name implies will let users download music wirelessly using the WiFi capability on the iPod Touch or the iPhone.
Apparently as a way to demonstrate how powerful Wi-Fi Music Store can be, Apple is partnering with Starbucks Coffee on a couple of value-added features. Basically here’s how it will work: a user walks into a Starbucks Store with an iPod Touch or iPhone and the device recognizes the Starbucks wireless network and auto logs into the iTunes Store (free access). The device then displays the song currently playing in the store, along with ten previously played songs. The user can then opt to purchase a copy of that song on the spot. Wi-Fi Music Store will be available at Starbucks stores Oct. 2 in New York and Seattle, Nov. 7 in the San Francisco Bay Area, Feb. 2008 in Los Angeles and March 2008 in Chicago.
The “Now Playing” feature IMHO does have significant potential, assuming (as I do) that it eventually will be freed from the confines of Starbucks by expanding the concept to other stores that play music. (Like, say, a store that sells music.) Talk about a way to market songs! For such on-demand access to purchasing music as it is heard, I’m sure lots of people will be willing to pay per track—assuming the service works quickly and seamlessly enough.
What’s perhaps most significant about today’s announcement from Apple, I think, is that after the company introduced a fully converged device earlier this year, it is now in a sense re-diversifying by introducing a product that appeals to people who want a little less convergence; people who don’t want to pay $600 for a phone, even if it is cool, but will pay $400 for a music player that lets you surf the Web and download songs wirelessly. But wait—there is also a $400 iPhone. Will people really pay $400 for what is essentially a dumbed-down product when they could pay the same amount for the whole package (albeit 8GB vs. 16GB)? Time will tell.
