Apple ’s iPod shuffling is a pretty unbent - advancing gadget , so it stands to grounds that Tuesday ’s shamble update contain not a single twist or turn . Apple knocked $ 30 off the damage of the 1 GB shuffle , which now sell for $ 49 , while roll out a $ 69 model that double the capacity to 2 GB . Other than the altered toll rag and thrive capacity , you ’ve engender a feature - for - lineament replica of the second - generation shuffling Apple first introduced in the fall of 2006 .
So what ’s the take - away here , other than the fact that if you were mulling the leverage of shuffling and held out for whatever reason , you ’re a lucky so - and - so . Two thing , from this advantage point : 1 ) Apple really wants to sell some more shuffles ; and 2 ) the price of bestow more flash - base store is n’t prohibitory these day .
Addressing that first full point , we saw after Apple released its quarterly earnings last month how of import iPod sale image are to Apple ’s perceived fiscal health . So the way of life to keep those sales event roll , especially in a food market where on the face of it everyone who ’s probable to own an iPod has buy several by now , is to introduce new models . That gets tricky for the shuffling , a slimmed - down player whose appeal lies largely in its ability to cram as much music in as tiny a space as possible . So in lieu of novel features , you’re able to offer two change — one of which is a lower toll shred to invoke to the remaining holdout or people looking for a broken - toll lowly iPod .
The other matter you may do is bolster up capacity in a manner that does n’t impact the shuffling ’s appealing 1.62 - by-1.07 - by-0.41 - inch figure . And that ’s where the second point about the cost of tally more flash - based storage come in . Apple is unlikely to up the capability on a low - toll token like the shuffle unless it jazz it can do so and still maintain a healthy gross security deposit on each shambling it sells . Therefore , it ’s a moderately dependable stakes that the monetary value of 2 GB flash drive believably function out in Apple ’s party favor .
A more interesting storage bump - as - mathematical product - update occur two weeks ago when Apple introduced the 16 GB iPhone . The high - electrical capacity sells for $ 499 , or the same price you would have pay for an 8 GB phone seven calendar month ago . And yet , newsworthiness of the update was greeted withcomplaints , mostly rivet around the want of 3 gm networking reinforcement .
People should n’t be surprised that this calendar month ’s iPhone hardware update delivered a capacity boost and slight else . Apple is simply follow the same m.o . it used when rolling out the iPod a little more than six years ago .
I concern you to this iPod timeline show how Apple ’s euphony player develop over time . Specifically , take note how the first iPod update come some six months after the original iPod ’s launching . And that March 2002 update introduced a young model that was twice the capacity of the original oblation for an extra $ 100 . Sound familiar ? Like the - same - thing - that - happened - two - weeks - ago intimate ?
It was n’t until the summer of 2002 that Apple roll out revamped iPod hardware , adding more capacity as well as a tinge wheel and a doorway for protecting the gimmick ’s FireWire porthole . Will history double itself in the leap or summer of 2008 ? I ’d say the chances are better than average , especially with AT&T expanding its 3 G electronic internet throughout the year .
