iPhone drops in price and new iPods arrive!
 

So everyone who guessed what would be announced today from apple was basically correct, though I did not expect that the price on the iPhones would drop nearly as precipitously as it did. The 8 gig version down to $400? That's pretty steep-and now very affordable for a lot more people. I have several friends who bought them in the first round and are a little steamed at having paid so much more for theirs and I can't blame them for that. However, I certainly can't argue with apple for doing so (unlike Sony) and I think it'll pay off for them.

The new iPods are simultaneously awesome and strange in my opinion. The new Nano is totally bizarre-looking. I guess they were trying to keep the same total dimension as the old one but having a better video viewscreen, but I think the end result has ended up being fairly boxy and awkward instead of apple's usual very sleek and elegant look. I'm sure some people will like it, I think an update of the old iPod nano with similar dimensions would've been cooler.

The shuffle and the classic are pretty much the same, though the classic adds the "Cover Flow" feature, which I've always thought was totally useless and a little silly. Apparently someone likes it, though, since they're sticking it all over the place. I guess it's supposed to evoke a jukebox feel? Doesn't do much for me but enjoy it if that's your thing.

And finally we come to the much-awaited iPod touch. It's an iPhone without the phone and edge support. It's definitely cool AND it has built in Wi-Fi support so if you're in range of a hotspot you can surf the web or download from the new Wi-FI iTunes store, which is pretty cool. What's not cool about it is its capacity-8gigs and 16gigs. Compared to the healthy 160gigs of the classic, I personally think such limited capacity is a real let down on the touch. I suppose with the whole touch screen and Wi-Fi they're kind of limited on space, but the iPods have been running 20+gigs for a long time and I think, especially with videos, that's what people have come to expect. It fills in a size gap between the nano and the classic and it certainly has lots of extra bells and whistles, but maybe they added too much of the latter in forgetting why people liked the iPod in the first place-small size, massive capacity. Either way, it's a cool device for $100 less than an iPhone, so I'd think it won't have any troubles finding a niche.

Check out www.apple.com if you want the inside scoop.

I don't see much need one would have for the new ipod touch (iphone minus phone), but I guess it doesn't matter too much. It'll sell, like all of their products.

Dude, I WANT an iPod Touch. I have no need for another phone. But a bad-ass mp3/video player with wifi and web browsing? HELL yes.

I'll get one when they release an 80GB version that can use VLC media player.

For now, my iPod white will do just fine.


BTW, am I the only one that thinks the new nano looks like a little person (PC term for midget)?

I'm surprised they dropped the price of the iPhone this quickly. It's only been out for what, a month?

That means everybody who was killing themselves to get one when it first came out are all SUCKERS.

Steve Jobs is laughing at you.

Thanks, but I've just got a Meizu M6 8G that kicks iPod's butt anyday.

They always do that. He always does that. *tear*

You know, I'm reasonably happy with my iRivier H430. It's a little boxy, but in everything but sheer sexiness, it whips "classic-style" iPods' asses. But that iPod touch....

i've waited 2 years for the ipod touch... i promised myself i'd buy one for myself this year after not ever buying one before. I carry one now because it was a sales gift, ipod mini.

but this will be a promised gift to myself.

I'm disappointed by the new nano. The proportions on it just look weird. Maybe when the ipod touch gets more capacity at a lower price sometime down the road I'll buy one.

Couldn't they just have turned the screen sideways on the nano and kept if long rather than squat?

I suppose the real winners here are all the peripheral suppliers... a whole new shape means all the skins and protectors and clothing with nano-sized pockets have to be re-purchased.

Reviewers who have actually handled them say that in person, those concerns vanish. It's teeny, and slim and sexy, in person.

Yeah... the capacity is an issue. I'd be migrating from a 40gb player. There would have to be some belt-tightening...

I wouldn't expect newer generations of the iPhone or iPod Touch to get very high capacity-wise. They use RAM essentially, not harddrives, so the cost of a 40+gb version would be extremely expensive.

Keep in mind, also, that you can use Telekinesis with both the iPhone and iPod Touch, allowing you to stream audio and video over wifi from your mac at home. This means that instead of simply 8gb or 16gb of space, as long as you are within any sort of wifi (or EDGE for the iPhone) coverage, you have your entire mp3 collection at your fingertips. I can't imagine why they haven't made this an official feature yet.

As for the 33% price drop in two months, yeah, that's pretty fucking lame. If I had known the mark-up was that high I likely would have just waited. Oh well. Hopefully it will invigorate the custom developer community with a lot of new blood and get a bunch of new unofficial and official software out for it.

As a Canadian (with no access to the iphone) and considering I'm happy with my cellphone, this iPod touch has me quite excited. MMmm wifi goodness, and a flash based drive instead of my chronic fears of jarring the HD. Expectations for the first revision? I'm not so much concerned about a price drop, but the removal of bugs in the first version..

I wouldn't worry too much about. Any bugs can be fixed with a software update. And hardware wise, it's mostly an iPhone.

Yes, Apple isn't really known for having hardware problems, and software updates usually tend to fix bugs, even in beta versions (like Safari).

Open Letter to iPhone Owners from Steve Jobs

Looks like they've heard the feedback regarding the price drop. People who bought the 8gb iPhone at the old price will receive a $100 apple store credit. It's not a refund, but IMO that's pretty darn nice of Apple.

wow, that's a way to keep hearts and minds on the prize.

He's only giving half the money back in Apple store or iTunes Music Store credit? There's nothing in the Apple store that sells for less than $100 other than some BS iPod hard cases.

Jobs is still laughing at you, but now he's tossing crumbs.

How about a brand new Apple bluetooth keyboard? How about an Airport Extreme Base Station? How about .Mac? How about iLife or iWork or Parallels?
Comon, dude, not everything in the Apple Store is thousands of dollars.
Most companies would have just laughed at you.

Don't forget that Leopard is coming up and this will cover most of that cost.

... which is why this sly cat plans on waiting until October to buy his new 24" 2.8 GHz iMac...
Muuhahahahha!

Which is all great if you're a Mac iPhone user. It's not so great if you're not. Definitely better than nothing, but still crumbs.

If you're an iPhone user, you're a Mac user.

I meant a Mac computer user, obviously.

Well, if we're shooting for obvious, anyone with $100 Apple credit can wonder into iTunes and find him or herself a shitload of music to download. 100% free, and 100% legal.

I was drooling with anticipation over the Touch, but I'm not going to try to reduce my collection to fit (and most of my listening is when I'm plugged into my car stereo, so WiFi streaming is out). I need at least 40GB to consider the Touch.

It would have been so nice to replace my Palm TX with this as well (btw, why the hell did they remove Notes when creating the Touch from the iPhone).

The Classic is a sweet price point and the interface (aside from Coverflow) looks way cool, but my 4th gen will just have to suffice for a while longer.

I ordered a new ipod nano 4gb from apple.com last wednesday for my girlfriend since she has wanted one for a while... Then I decided on Thursday to pick one up for myself... They both arrived at 8am on Monday and I'm in love :)

They surprisingly play video well. Now I don't have to lug around a portable dvd player or my laptop to places I know I'll have a long wait...

Turns out that they are limiting other things that should be there; for instance, the ability to enter a new event onto a calendar. At least at this point, the iPod Touch is NOT a PDA.

I imagine that it will not take long for people to release software hacks to enable the calendar function, notes, and other things...

If you hated the last price drop, you're going to shit a brick: 3G iPhone starting at $199. Muhahahaha.....
http://www.apple.com/iphone/gallery/ads/hallway/

*trips over the bricks*

jeez you guys!

Since this thread started, I've GOTTEN my iPod Touch, the 32gb version, and freaking love it. I'll probably pony up for the 2.0 firmware, although it will wipe out the jailbreaking I've done on my unit. 2.0 has already been broken by some intrepid developers (the dev pre-release version anyway).

I dislike the change to more plastic on the iPhone, since I think the chrome/black feel is pretty nice, but I guess if it saves me a few hundred bucks, they had to cut corners somewhere. Guess i'll be getting an iPhone sooner than I thought.

Sold!

Sure, it is $200 less, but the data plan will cost you an extra $10 a month.
I'm probably getting the next hardware release of the Touch, as a Palm T|X replacement. I'll have to see what the new applications and store look like. I wonder if a jailbroken iPod will be able to use the apps store...

It'll probably be a while before there's a hardware update to the Touch. The current models are less than a year old, and I'd think if they were going to update it to match the new iPhone hardware, they'd have done that yesterday.

Probably September; that's when the new iPods have been released for the last 3 years. I can wait until then.

If that is true, I'd like to see a link referencing it--I doubt it, as AT&T already offers 3G wireless. Either way, it doesn't matter to me, my company picks up my monthly bill.

Edit: Looks like that is being reported that way. Interesting. Oh well, it's still the same price as my Blackberry per month. :thumbsup:

Yes, it's $10 more a month, and yes you're getting three times the speed of the old iPhone. Will this be the new "but i can't remove the battery!! wah!!"?