Apple’s special event: Everything’s new, cheaper and better!
I’m sorry that you won’t even be spared with Apple news over here. Maybe we just have to surrender to Steve Jobs very good hand with marketing?
Wow! Today’s Apple event wasn’t hyped up as some others, but to me the announcements were far better than the ones on some of the other recent events. So not to let you wait, a short summary of everything that happened:
- Customizable ringtones, 99 cents in addition to the song
- iPod shuffle in all kinds of colors
- New iPod nano (most notably a very different “fat” form factor)
- “Normal” iPod now called iPod classic (80GB and 160GB)
- iPod touch (basically the iPhone without phone capabilities)
- iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store
- Starbucks partnership
- iPhone 8GB now only $399! (the 4GB will be dropped)
For me the two most exciting things by far were the price cut for the iPhone and the announcement of the new iPod touch that everyone was waiting for since the iPhone launch earlier this year.
The iPod touch is simply an iPhone with ripped out phone capabilities. As you can see the form factor is absolutely the same. The home button is there too, only the speaker hole is missing. Sadly, because is has WiFi like the iPhone, on the back there is the very un-Apple like black field again, that serves the good reception.
Now the announcement that the iPhone 8GB will be sold for $399 and the 4GB will be dropped and sold for $299 as long as supplies last is in my opinion, a real game changer. The iPhone has serious mass market acclaim, but with a $599 price point it was simply too expensive for anyone but the gadget lover and the business person. $399 is in a whole new price segment and will give a big boost to the iPhone sales, but it will also make many customers angry, because in their eyes it will look like they just threw $200 out of the window. This is for once, not the PR finesse we are used to by the company from Cupertino. It would have not been too bad for them in terms of market share to wait a little longer before dropping the price, but now their most loyal customers, the early adopter crowd, will not be too happy. At least those that bought their iPhones not more than 2 weeks ago, will be able to get a refund, as CrunchGear reports. (And AT&T has a 30 day return policy.)
Besides that, there is not much more to say. I personally think, that the new iPod nano (or “fatty”) is not as appealing as the previous version. They made a step backwards in terms of design, but obviously they pushed the technological boundaries a little bit further again, which is nice to see. The WiFi store is a very cool new feature too and is one step into the future. I think it won’t be long until we will also see videos appearing in the mobile store, but the bandwidth and ubiquity of WiFi will have to make a little jump before that.
Steve Jobs was as always in his speeches simply great and sympathetic. He couldn’t resist to pick on NBC again; while playing “Give Peace a Chance” from the Beatles he said: “That’s when NBC calls.”. He gave us some of his famous “boom”s and brought everything through without a glitch.
I still think Steve Jobs keynote to announce the iPhone was the most brilliant one he ever held. He surprised everyone with the way he announced it and showed everyone off. If you haven’t seen it, you can after the jump along with some more pictures of the new products and a guided tour of the new Apple iPod touch.
Guided tour of the iPod touch
Real time coverage at TechCrunch (CrunchGear)
