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!!"?

I read that 3G wireless is already $10 more than 2G wireless for existing AT&T customers. So this should have been a no-brainer.

Edit: Nevermind. However, their regular data is $35, so this doesn't seem unreasonable.

Apple have some serious targets to meet this year, I am sure these price drops will give people that extra added incentive to at least check out the technology now. Smart business as always.

I'm really excited about the iPhone being sold to our friendly neighbors to the North. America's hat deserves better. And you're getting 3G on the same day as your somewhat friendly neighbors to the South.

One interesting thing I read yesterday...
So does this mean there won't be anymore unlocked iphones on ebay? Also, does this mean they aren't going to sell them through the online Apple store?

Doesn't really matter to me because I already have AT&T, but I thought that was an interesting change in policy.

It isn't new for me. With the amount I use my cell (practically not at all), I can't justify ~$100 a month for a phone and data cell phone plan.

And, it isn't really a "wah", it's more of a "less $ now, but more in the future" kind of warning. No free lunch on this.

The battery thing was the "wah". This is $10 a month.

I suspect that if people could afford the iPhone w/ data before, they can afford this without any difficulty. For people who can't afford it, there's the iPod Touch and maybe a free regular phone.

The other thing to consider is why they might charge more for the 3g. I read somewhere that iPhone users were already pulling down massively higher amounts of data than other users. If you can get all that with less hassle (web browsing, email checking, gmaps usage), think about how much more data you'll be pulling in. I think that a $10 increase is entirely reasonable in those terms.

Yes and no. Yes, you will no longer be able to buy (or activate) them online...they must be bought and activated at an Apple or AT&T store.

I imagine, however, there will be a large influx of the old design on ebay, locked, unlocked, or otherwise, as early adopters ditch theirs :thumbsup:

Judging by the current fees and penalties, there isn't much financial incentive to deter phone unlockers from abandoning their business model. I think much will depend on what AT&T and Apple decide on these new penalties, which I can only assume will be much more harsh.

Well there's also the issue of the phone being sold "native" in so many countries. That will undermine a good part of the unlocker market more than any financial disincentives.

hey, I'm moving to Toronto and I'm wondering if I can get my hands on an iPhone. Any tips?

iPhone comes out July 11 in Canada. www.Apple.ca

It's aboot damn time.

Note that it's going to be carried by Rogers, who are the main GSM carrier in Canada. Fido is also GSM I think, so if you can somehow get your hands on an unlocked phone you should be able to use it with them too.

In Canada, is it 11 July 2008 in Canada or July 11 2008?

Here's a tip: Prepare yourself for a long-term contract.

Globe and Mail

CBCnews.ca

* * * *

It depends on the house style.

How is $80 "considerably more" than 72.39?:confused:

How is $5.00 per gallon of gasoline 'considerably more' than $4.50?

I would call a more than 10% hike in the fee considerable.

I left out the word 'average'.

If 'Average' gas prices were $4.50, but fluctuated from, say, $3 to $7, I wouldn't call $5 'considerably more than average.'

That's $80 minimum and $72.39 average. That 10% is the minimum difference. I would consider that "considerably more."

3 year contract, $6.61 a month more, 36 months.

Over your contract that works out to be $237.96. That actually ends up being a decent bit more for a product.

Check your math. $80 is $7.61 more than $72.39, so the final total is actually $273.96.

And, again, this is a minimum. And don't forget about GST, which would add an extra $13.70, bringing to total minimum difference to $287.66.... But I do suppose you could get a GST rebate.

Still GSM only?

Don't give a shit.

I don't think Rogers nor Fido even offer CDMA. One would have to go with Bell Mobility, apparently. (Yech! :grumpy:)

So what does everyone think of the rumor that, not only are they raising the data plan rates by $10, the plans will NOT include any text messages?

Personally, I think it's sickening how much of a rip-off text messages are anyway, but this is pretty ridiculous. I currently have a Samsung BlackJack with an unlimited data plan that includes 200 SMS/MMS messages for $20/month. I don't know if I want to pay $35/month ($30 iphone data plan + $5 text message plan) for the same service.

The $10 "increase" isn't REALLY an increase--it's what AT&T has always charged for unlimited 3G data service. It costs more than the EV-DO data plan you got with the old iPhone, and in that way it's more expensive, but it's not the opportunistic gouging that some people are accusing them of.

I heard that (and I probably have the details of this wrong) per character, the bandwidth between NASA and the Hubble Telescope costs about half what SMSes go for. But I guess it's what the market will bear, ridiculous though it is.

Telus and Virgin also operate on CDMA.

Each network only uses one or the other -- CDMA and GSM are protocols, so they're not compatible and it wouldn't be cost effective for one network to develop and support the necessary infrastructure to do both.

Close: at a minimum, SMS costs 4.4 times the NASA cost.
Source: SMS Texting Costs Are Out Of This World

This is primarily why I don't send text messages. I'm not interested in paying the brutally and arbitrarily high cost for the privilege of typing with my thumbs.

I actually can now, because my voicemail and call display services recently got switched into a bundle that also includes text messages, which means they essentially gave me text messaging for free. It's not unlimited, but it's far more than I'd ever send in a month -- I think it's 100 or so. I haven't sent that many text messages since I got my phone a year and a half ago.

I really don't understand it. I know most of my friends are using text messages for practically everything now. I find it odd that actually expecting to speak to someone on my phone is being old-fashioned.

I knew the librarian would come to the rescue! :thumbsup:

I guess I forgot to specify that my current data plan includes 3G access... but it's still only $20/month including texts. Maybe that's why it seems like such a rip-off to me personally.

I am glad the iphone is finally coming to Canada, more interested in the data plans that will be included with the iphone.

I've had an iphone since about 2 weeks after they came out in the states. Got if off ebay and it is a good conversation piece. I am going to miss being unique!

The $15 a month extra is a lot. That comes up to $30 for my wife and I. Right now we pay under $100 a month for our cell phone plan. If we were to switch to Iphone 3Gs we would be looking at $170 without taxes figured in. Put in taxes and it could easily reach $200 twice what we pay now..... If you figure that cost over 2 years were looking at a $2400 price increase...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...nEmotion01.gif

but... but... butt... its iphone.. its 3G... apple... steve jobs...

kudos to you to seeing the "hidden" costs or total cost of ownership...