2 Comments

Apple Will/Will Not Release an iPhone-esque iPod Anytime soon

May 28, 2007 by in Apple with 2 Comments

This weekend seemed to be the weekend for dueling iPhone/iPod editorials. Over at TUAW David Chartier hypothesized that Apple will NOT be releasing a full screen iPod ANYTIME soon.

Put yourself in Apple’s shoes: you’ve just smashed one out of the park with the iPod. You spent a few years working on it, polishing it, developing generation after generation of updates that instantly make the previous version look old ‘n busted. [...] The mobile phone market currently speaks in the mouth-watering language of ‘billions,’ while Apple’s iPod sales – impressive as they may be – are playing in the kiddie pool at ‘millions.’ Whether you want a mobile phone packed into your iPod or not, you can’t ignore the fact that the mobile phone market makes iPod sales look like the Zune’s on a good day. [...] Are you really going to cannibalize the profits off your most anticipated device of all time by yanking out a key component (the phone) and selling it for $200 or $300 less? Before you skip what little is left of this post to try and answer that question, let me save you the trouble: the correct answer is no, no you wouldn’t – under penalty of death.

But over at Mac.Blorge, Triston McIntyre rebuts:

Second only to talks of Leopard and the iPhone are musings regarding the next big step for the iPod; admittedly, with the most anticipated operating system and cell phone launches coming hand in hand from Apple in the very near future [...] releasing an updated iPod will not detract from iPhone sales. If you can believe that the iPod update that will come at some point will not be a phone-less version of the iPhone, it only follows you cannot compare Apples (wink) with oranges. Those that are interested in the iPhone will do whatever they must do to obtain it; similarly, those who want an updated iPod will not waste the money on the iPhone to buy a smaller-sized iPod. Such a comparison is quite ridiculous; why on earth would a reasonable iPod lover who has no interest in a new phone downgrade from a high capacity to a low one, and take on extra features they will never use? [...] Again, as such it is to be expected that if an updated iPod will not be a downscaled iPhone, Apple should accordingly continue production of new iPods to maintain its veritable strangle-hold on the media market.

Both good arguments. Apple is in a very unique position that it could simultaneously pull off launching both touch screen iPods and an iPhone at the same time. When they launched the shuffle dod it eat away at the 80GB iPod sales? No! So why should a near simultaneous launch be out of the question?


  • Mr

    Its not a matter of cannibalising their sales, its about the detrimental effect it would have on the iPhones Wow factor. (as much as I hate to use that term…)

    Apple (and commenters) have built up the features of the iphone so much, to Apples benifit, that if an ipod were to arrive at the same time with most of the same features then Wow factor of the iphone would be reduced. They want everyones attention on the iPhone (no distracting iPods). Apple knows that the iphone could sell billions and its not worth forsaking that for anything

  • Ian

    Honestly, I think Apple can pull it off nicely if they set the right price points. The “low-end” iPhone will of course cost $499, which currently is $150 more than the high-end iPod. If they came out with a widescreen multitouch iPod, I can foresee a higher price of $399, but maintain the same capacity (or even reduce it for favor of solid state). With a price difference now of only $100, I imagine people will be torn with the dilemma of paying less for a single-feature iPod, or more for a multi-feature communicator. Think of it as the movie-theater popcorn problem: you’re still paying a $5.00 for a thing of popcorn, but for only $0.25 more you can get oh so much more.

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