[PookJP]

Something occurred to me. In the world of Macintosh products, the development time on the iPod Mini was probably tiny compared to that of other pieces of hardware. It was probably conceived, designed, and approved all within a relatively short period of time because of the seemingly sudden ubiquity of iPods. Apple realized they had something good, so they decided to capitalize on it as quickly as possible.

Because of this, they may have had difficulty making the massive quantities they would prefer to have when launching a new consumer device. Making up numbers, if they wanted to have 50,000 in stock at time of announcement, they may have only been able to coax their manufacturers into making 10,000.

In comes the $250 price tag, which is universally accepted to be too high. By essentially quelling immediate demand but still creating significant buzz about the product, Apple will be able to sell their initial manufactured run, all the while getting themselves into the position when they can sell it at the price point everyone knows it should be.

Once they have (making up numbers again) 100,000 waiting to go, they will drop the price to around $170, which will open the floodgates to all the people who said, "I would buy one if it were cheaper." The buzz on the drop combined with the initial clamor about overpricing will send a new wave of interest through the market. The sales rate will jump to reflect the overall coolness of the product, and all will be well in iPod Land.

[Wiskedjak]

Possible, but I doubt they'd drop the price as low as $170

[dwood]

Granted you would get a discount buying in bulk.... the ipodmini HD is quite expensive

http://search.shopping.yahoo.com/sea...drive&did=

so you got a couple options

$199= Multiple Companies offering 256mb Flash players

$249= Apple and Rio using the above 4gb HD to make a music player.

$299= 15gb iPod, more storage, more bulk, although how small does it really have to be.

[twopiece]

$249.00 is too much for the IPOD mini. For $50.00 more I'd rather buy the 15 GB model which is more storage in a larger footprint. Apple should reconsider a price point from $149.00 to $199.00 which is what I'd consider. Of course diehard gadget fanatics will purchase it but who doesn't have an IPOD at this point?

[Eug]

$250 price tag, which is universally accepted to be too high.

Universally accepted? Far from it. I think it's reasonable.

[PookJP]

Originally posted by Eug:
Universally accepted? Far from it. I think it's reasonable.

Then you are not a reasonable man.



Distort my words as you like, but the point is that there is quite a harmonious choir singing the overpriced song in both the Mac forums and the popular media. There has barely been an article yet that does not criticize its pricing.

[Nebrie]

Originally posted by PookJP:
Then you are not a reasonable man.



Distort my words as you like, but the point is that there is quite a harmonious choir singing the overpriced song in both the Mac forums and the popular media. There has barely been an article yet that does not criticize its pricing.

The exact same thing happened after the original release of the ipod as well if you don't recall. In fact the exact same thing seems to occur after every single solitary keynote. Everything's always $50 too high to you people. Even if Apple introduced it at $99 there would still be a ton of whining kiddies.

[PookJP]

Originally posted by Nebrie:
The exact same thing happened after the original release of the ipod as well if you don't recall. In fact the exact same thing seems to occur after every single solitary keynote. Everything's always $50 too high to you people. Even if Apple introduced it at $99 there would still be a ton of whining kiddies.

So you honestly believe $50 is reasonable for less than 1" in height advantage, less than .5" in width, at the cost of 11GB of storage? You honestly think that pricing makes any sense at all?

[SomeToast]

Originally posted by PookJP:
Distort my words as you like, but the point is that there is quite a harmonious choir singing the overpriced song in both the Mac forums and the popular media.

You'd think that choir would be hoarse by now, having been singing the same song since 1984.

A small slice of sanity.

[PookJP]

Originally posted by SomeToast:
You'd think that choir would be hoarse by now, having been singing the same song since 1984.

A small slice of sanity.

Bah. I want you to really defend the MiniPod's pricing in comparison to the 15 GB iPod's.

I'm the biggest Apple proponent around, but even I can see when they are overpricing their hardware.

[CatOne]

Originally posted by PookJP:
Then you are not a reasonable man.



Distort my words as you like, but the point is that there is quite a harmonious choir singing the overpriced song in both the Mac forums and the popular media. There has barely been an article yet that does not criticize its pricing.

Apple will find the public's opinion on the price after a few months of selling the things. THAT is the only way to know... a bunch of whiners on a BB forum does not universal opinion make

[Zim]

As a stockholder, 20 year Apple computer owner (II+), 30G 3g iPod owner, and as a consumer, I am very disappointed with the mini price.

Mu concern is not that *I* want to spend $50 less, my concern is that they will miss the market by pricing it too high. At $150, possibly even $200, I think they would have a market dominating device. At $250, they have something that will not reach that level IMO).

Mike

[BZ]

Marketing & Business:

Innovators - First 5% - 10% that adopt the product
Early Adopters - Next 10% - 15%
Early Majority - Next 30%
Late Majority - Next 30%
Laggards - Remaining 20%

Innovators and Early Adopters will pay a PRICE PREMIUM for a product. After the Early Adopters you drop the price to get the early and late majority and only after they have all bought in do you get (if ever) the laggards.

In technology, you can never raise the price (remember the LCD problems), but you can always lower it. With a new product, you set the price high, let the innovators and early adopters buy. It is marketing. Apple has been doing this for years and years and years and it works.

This is called "price skimming" in which you set the price high and "skim" off the first set of customers will to pay for it.

http://www.tutor2u.net/business/mark...y_skimming.asp
http://www.determan.net/Michele/mtarget.htm

BZ

[OperaMan]

I'm looking past the iPod mini itself and seeing it as a way to get people to buy iPods. Say I was interested in one of those 256 mb players for $200. If I saw the iPod mini and it's price, I would say wow, thats great. Then I would see the iPod and think that's even better. Now I've totally abandoned the idea of getting the 256 mb player, and Apple will get the money anyway. I don't really see a problem there.
I do agree that the pricing is horrible. If I was in charge (I wish), I would have gone for a 2GB version for under $200. Even at $200 those things would sell like crazy. Heres for hoping.

[hab]

I was in the camp of way too expensive at $250 - what were they thinking but I just got back from MacWorld where I got a chance to play with the mini and found that it was real cool in a tight package and the new controls are an improvement. Maybe the consumer will go for the form factor and spring for the extra bucks. For me, I want storage - I have a 3g 20gb and wish I had gotten the 40 ...

[moodymonster]

to those who say us europeans moan to much (apart from scotland )

you want to see a price difference? check this out:

http://www.spymac.com/forums/showthr...threadid=56715

hmmm...

[nickgold2012]

I just ordered my gold iPod mini. I made my bonus this month, so what the heck.

And I mean it comes in GOLD, I had to get one. :-)

I think the price is just fine. They will sell as many as they can make for now -- trust me.

The thing holds well over 50 albums worth of music. That is enough for me to take with me anywhere, for any amount of time. I go on vacation for a week, I spend a few minutes putting together a vacation mix on my iBook, sync that puppy, and I am all good.

Huge capacity iPods may appeal to some people, but I am willing to bet that 50 albums is enough for plenty of people. I mean, 1 or 2 albums is enough for folks who get 128MB MP3 players.

Personal music players have for a long time now been about style. My first brush with this was the ultra-tiny cassette walkmen the kids from Asia at my prep school had -- they were barely bigger than a cassette and SO COOL! It's been the same ever since -- ultra-tiny CD players, ultra-tiny MD players, ultra-tiny MP3 players...

Now there's an ultra-tiny hard-drive-based digital music player that can hold a good chunk of most people's music libraries, and it's clearly the king of the roost. It's going to dominate. I dare say it will go on to be even more popular than the original.

Just you watch!

[Wiskedjak]

Originally posted by nickgold2012:
Huge capacity iPods may appeal to some people, but I am willing to bet that 50 albums is enough for plenty of people. I mean, 1 or 2 albums is enough for folks who get 128MB MP3 players.

All I really want is a 2 or 4GB music player, but not if I can get a 15GB for only $50 more.

[nickgold2012]

Originally posted by Wiskedjak:
All I really want is a 2 or 4GB music player, but not if I can get a 15GB for only $50 more.

It was a very tough choice between the mini and the new 15GB.

But for me, a huge reason I was so enthralled with the 3G iPods was the LUST factor.

I KNOW the minis will be even MORE lustful when they are in your hand, and that's why I chose it. NOT because of value, you've got that right! :-)

IT COMES IN GOLD! (My last name!) It had to be mine.

[theredevil13]

I never was a fan of the iPod (big) for factor....especially after I got my G5. I always thought the iPod has a iMac looks (I've never been a fan of white plastic or chrome). I wanted something that looked as pro as my G5, and along came the Silver Mini iPod. It's exactly the same colour as a G5 (same AL). also 15gigs is far beyond what I need or will use. I don't like having a ridiculous amount of music on my hands. My iTunes library is only 2.85 GB so the mini was what i wanted, room to expand but not too much.

Although I still am confused why the mini has the Pro look and the iPod has the consumer. Either way I don't care if 15 gigs is only 50 more, I just want my mini.

[biscool]

I don't like having a ridiculous amount of music on my hands.

There's a big selling point. Thank god I don't have that problem, I don't know what I'd do.

[Silky Voice of The Gorn]

miniPods will sell by the truckload, despite complaints of the $50 gap with the 15GB. Why? Because consumers (not online geeks) think like this:

"Wow, I can get a teeny iPod for $250, and it's only $50 more than that lousy flash player I was looking at...oh but for ANOTHER $50 I can get the white kind? WTF would I spend MORE for a BIGGER iPod? F that."

[Rev-O]

Originally posted by theredevil13:
I wanted something that looked as pro as my G5, and along came the Silver Mini iPod. It's exactly the same colour as a G5 (same AL). also 15gigs is far beyond what I need or will use. I don't like having a ridiculous amount of music on my hands.

Agreed.

Don't have an iPod, but am debating a mini. I've got an assload of music on my macs, but I don't need an assload on my portable player... I just want the stuff that I listen to. If I fill up 4 gigs worth, I can always cull the weak out of my musical herd. 50 bucks for 11 gigs seems like a steal... but how many people really need the extra 11 gigs of music? That's 50 spent elsewhere, like iLife, 50 songs from the iTunes music store, or some nice single malt scotch.

As an aside, I've come to suspect that if Apple made an 80 gig iPod, people would buy it, just so they can carry around 80 gigs worth of music they never listen to. Maybe Apple could put a big 80 on the side, make it light up like the apple on an iBook, so everyone would know exactly how much coolness was being carried around. People could ask about the light up 80, and the owner could reply "Yep, I've got half a year of continuous music. Do you think I'm cool now?" Comes the proverbial point of diminshing returns.

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