September 5, 2008
With the success of its new iPhone, Apple is seeing something of a backlash in terms of sales of its iPod – although these once accounted for nearly 50% of its yearly revenue, early this year sales plummeted sharply.
Apple upcoming press conference on September 9th has give rise to a frenzy of speculation among the media and Apple aficionados alike – most believe that Jobs will attempt to reignite interest in the iPod by releasing a new version of the nano and a modified iPod touch.
Comments | 8 Total
September 5, 2008 at 10:34am by Rip Empson
There is no doubt that iPod sales have slowed since the iPhone hit the streets, and don't think that Steve Jobs and the other wizards over at Manzana, Inc. didn't see this coming. It's a gamble they were willing to take. Having already sold tens of millions of iPods, the risk of selling a few hundreds less each month in order to conquer the smartphone market proved crafty. And was no doubt the right decision. Apple wants to compete with Microsoft and the combination of the iPhone and MobileMe software, etc. makes that possible. The iPhone holds so much more potential, so Apple will no doubt let iPod sales peter out as the real weight is put behind the iPhone Gang.
September 5, 2008 at 11:57am by Bailey King
In terms of "size matters", the iPod may still have a voice in this market, however, the iPhone's "get more for your money" (the iPhone can be yours for less than the $ of an iPod touch) speaks more persuasively to the everyday, everyminute techno-needs of the better-than-average consumer.
September 5, 2008 at 12:17pm by Vance Dubberly
Not even close. I put my iPod in my car and listen to it for a week without the battery draining. If I listen to my iPhone for an hour it's dead. Also use the iPod's 160 GB drive to transport files.
September 5, 2008 at 12:34pm by Sammy Sturkie
I am tied to my blackberry because of my job. So I will always buy iPods every other year for as long as they are available and stay away from the iPhone. I know there are many others in this position.
How can Apple best approach these consumers? If they can answer that question, then they "save" the iPod. Though I do not believe it needs saving at this point.
September 5, 2008 at 8:33pm by Brett Galvin
Its a great question, and cannibalization has to be taken into account but really they have different utility, different price points and different install base sizes. Another good question maybe, is the iPod now at saturation point? arguably the answer is yes.
September 6, 2008 at 9:33pm by Mike Hickinbotham
I don't think the iPhone is a serious consideration for music lovers as it lacks the memory to hold an entire music collection.
The other variable is the development of mobile networks. When LTE (Long Term Evolution) enters the market, the data guzzling iPhone could really take off with access to a bigger pipe and potentially cheaper data rates.
September 6, 2008 at 11:30pm by Daniel Turner
I agree that serious iPod fans who use the iPod's much larger memory capacity for music will always lean towards the iPod for their music and video until the iPhone enters the same memory territory. Perhaps Apple will make sure that the iPhone will always lag significantly behind the iPod line in that respect.
I don't think that the iPod will ever reach saturation point because people will always want to upgrade, and younger generations will continue to buy as long as it holds its strength in the market as the dominant and coolest player.
September 7, 2008 at 9:59am by Ralph Riccardi
I believe that the iPod is still the most compact and effective way to present video to clients informally. And it looks really cool. I can show my reel to anyone, anywhere. And still have a ton of music and podcasts for traveling. Now if the iPhone had more storage and a battery long lasing battery, maybe...