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More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser. Home / Editorial / The Rumor Mill iPod Sport, the SUV of Digital Music Players 2004.12.22 In the old days of MacWeek, Apple used to send up "trial balloons" to see how the market might respond to a new product. Today we have websites that exist only because of Mac rumors, and they've been at the forefront of the "flash iPod" craze. As always, this column is based on no inside sources. Instead let's try to think like a marketer. How would you sell a lower-capacity iPod to the public? Low Cost First off, it has to have a lower price. No matter how much smaller or cooler it might be, if it costs more than the US$249 iPod mini, not too many people are going to line up to buy it. Compared to hard drives, flash memory is expensive. A 4 GB Compact Flash card sells for $370-400 these days, but the Hitachi 4 GB MicroDrive sells for just $220 configured for use in a Compact Flash slot. It kinda makes you wonder how Apple can sell a 4 GB iPod mini for $249 and make a profit. Looking at the market, you can buy a SanDisk 256 MB MP3 player for $70, a 512 MB player for $115, and a 1 MB model for $154. There are no 2 GB models for an obvious reason -- they'd cost at least as much as the iPod mini. TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com Remember that we're dealing with Apple here, and that means a premium price that people are willing to pay. If others can sell 1 GB digital music players for $150 and up, Apple will probably sell the same capacity for $199. A 512 MB model might reach the market at $149. Should we hold out for 256 MB at $99? While Apple could do it, I don't think there's enough profit at that price point for Apple to go that low. And, unlike at least one website, I don't think Apple will cut costs by leaving the screen off the flash iPod. That's just silly. Low Capacity Apple markets the iPod mini as storing up to 1,000 songs on a 4 GB hard drive. That means a 1 GB flash iPod would store 250 songs, 512 MB would have room for 125 songs, and a 256 MB model would only have room for 60-65 tracks. Would you spend $100 for a device that only stored 60-65 songs when you can buy an MP3 CD player with 160 track capacity for about the same price? That's another reason I think a 256 MB player would be difficult for Apple to market. Small Size The iPod mini showed that people are willing to pay a premium for a smaller package, and a flash iPod could be even smaller than the iPod mini. Still, I don't think size alone is going to drive the flash iPod market. Solid State While I believe lower cost and a smaller size will be selling points that help offset the lower capacity of a flash iPod, I don't think they are compelling reasons in and of themselves. There should be a more tangible benefit. There is -- flash memory. You can run some flash memory devices through the laundry, drop it, and sit on it without destroying it. Hard drives are relatively fragile, and that's part of the reason for the iPod mini's aluminum case. Better yet, you can jog with solid state memory and not worry about damaging a hard drive. This is the tangible benefit, which leads me to the conclusion that Apple will christen the new model the iPod sport. Instead of spending $249 for an iPod mini and adding a waterproof housing, the iPod sport could be water resistant from the box. Scuba, snorkeling, skiing (snow and water) are just the tip of the iceberg. My guess is that we'll see the iPod sport in underwater yellow as one of two or three color options. Red and blue are my other guesses -- no white or brushed aluminum this time, just very solid plastic. Sure, Apple will sell the iPod sport to people who aren't into sports, just like the auto industry sells SUVs to people who never take them off road. And I think the iPod sport will be as hot as SUVs were before gas prices went up, especially if Apple offers 1 GB at $199. - Anne Onymus <This article is available in a printer-friendly version.> Low End Mac Reader Specials TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com OWC: Plug & Play Hardware RAID up to 8.0TB. High Performance, Data Redundant Solutions. FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB2, or eSATA. Hot Swappable Bays, Data Rates over 200MB/s. Click here Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac. Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs. Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you. Recent Rumor Mills Microsoft Announces Cash for Clunker PCs, 07.29. Beleaguered Microsoft, with declines in profits and market share, is offering cash for old computers to boost sales of new PCs with Windows Vista installed. StealthMac: 2 Hardware Solutions for Mac OS X on Windows PCs, 01.26. Apple has been working on hardware to put a Mac inside a Windows PC for over a decade. The latest developments, according to our MacMole. Apple Announces Mac OS X Licensing, 01.14. Apple decided it would rather switch policies than fight Pystar and others. OS X licensing program could change Psystar's future. New Apple drive supports Blu-ray and HD DVD, 09.11. Tired of being second-guessed and sometimes outmaneuvered by Microsoft, Apple has embraced both next gen DVD formats with its new SuperDrive Extreme. More in the Rumor Mill index. Links for the Day Mac of the Day: 17" iMac G4/800 MHz, July 2002 - The iMac 'grows up' with a 17" 1440 x 900 display. Group of the Day: LisaList supports Lisa users. November 8 in LEM history: 99: OS 9: I think I like it - 01: The simplified Mac life - Soured on Windows - Flea market Mac - 02: Little room for improvement in new 'Books - Combo drive upgrade for iceBooks - 04: Re-Porter - 05: Fix the old iMac or buy a Mac mini? - Apple's Copland project - 06: MacBook Core 2 - MacBook value equation - Cheap is as cheap does - 07: Problems with Classic mode in Tiger - The G4 Power Mac that won't run Leopard Support Low End Mac Recent Content on Low End Mac Quad-Core CPU Makes Sense in MacBook Pro, OS X 10.6 Causing Overheating, Overseas Power, and More, The 'Book Review, 11.06. Also Late 2009 MacBook reviewed, how to add RAM to new MacBook, 18.4in Acer notebook used Intel i7, and SanDisk SSD chosen for Sony VAIO X. Dumping Macs for Google Apps, SSD in iMac, Late 2009 iMac Performance Problems, and More, Mac News Review, 11.06. /newsrev/09mnr/1106.html WiFi Paranoia, iMac-O-Lantern, Magic Mouse Does Click, Free Clipboard Managers, and More, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.05. Also strange time stamps, problem with ColorIt on Intel Mac, and the story behind OS X 10.5.4 install discs. IDE Is Dead; Long Live SATA!, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 11.04. SATA has displaced parallel ATA. While IDE hard drives haven't disappeared, the best deals are in SATA hard drives. QuickTime X in Snow Leopard Imports, Trims, and Publishes Video Quickly and Easily, Alan Zisman, Zis Mac, 11.04. The long, slow process of importing video into iMovie to edit it, then render it to another format, is history as QuickTime X does that much more quickly. More links in our archive. Recent Deals Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.03. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 8-core. $2,299; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.26 8-core, $2,799; 2.93, $4,999. Best iPhone Deals, 11.03. New 8 GB iPhone 3G, $$99; refurb 16 GB 3GS, $149; new, $199; 32 GB, $299. Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.03. Used 867 MHz SperDrive, $348; 1 GHz, $499; 1.33 Combo, $298; SD, $559; 1.5 Combo, $448; SuperDrive, $589. Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used beige 300 MHz, $25; G4/366, $49; blue & white 350, $80; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15; shipping additional. Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used 400 MHz, $50; 733 MHz, $69; 933 MHz, $209; 1.25 GHz dual, $299. Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 11.02. Used 2.0 GHz, $800; 2.2, $900; 2.4, $1,000; refurb 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,949; 3.06, $2,169; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more. Best Mac mini Deals, 10.30. Used 1.33 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.42, $389; 1.5, $419; 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $350; Core 2, $439; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $770; Server, $990. Best G4 iBook Deals, 10.30. Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $225; 1.33 GHz, $298; 14" 1 GHz, $349; 1.33 GHz, $398; 1.42 GHz SuperDrive, $498. Best Classic Mac OS Deals, 10.30. System 6.0.8 floppies, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5, $20; 7.5 CD, $4; 7.6 $13; 8.1, $11; 8.5, $20; 8.6, $90; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $30. More deals in our archive.

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