Written by: Adam Christianson
Categories: Podcast
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A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. A quick wrap-up of the announcements made by Steve Jobs at Apple’s special “The Beat Goes On” event held today at Moscone Center in San Francisco. I’m joined by Victor Cajiao from The Typical Mac User Podcast, Bill Palmer from iProng.com and we discuss all the announcements. Updates to iTunes and iPhone, the complete new iPod line up, and the controversial dropping of the iPhones price tag. It’s all in there, so join us as we talk all things Apple and music on this special episode.
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Hi Adam,
here are some of my personal thoughts from the european perspective on yesterday’s Apple event: http://www.mikkael.net/?p=131 –
I know you sometimes talk about european concerns on the show, that’s why I posted this here.
I’ve been a long time listener and enjoy the show a lot!
Keep up the good work and many regards from Dusseldorf, Germany
Mikkael
Thank you for the rap-up show.
A few thoughts:
(1) I am an early adopter. I bought an iPhone in the first week and I still love it! Over the last two months I have “sold” a number of iPhones to my friends.
I have already received a call from one of my friends who heard about the price drop. My friend is not happy. I am not happy being the person that told him to buy a $599.00 iPhone.
Two Hundred Dollars in Two Months is TOO MUCH!!!!
I have lost trust in Apple. Without early adopters there is no hype.
No Trust – No Hype – No Apple.
(2) Everything being equal, I would pick an 8gb iPhone ($399.00) over the 16gb iPod Touch ($399.00).
(3) Why is Apple still making the iPod screens out of plastic?
Apple has been slammed for having plastic screens that scratch. On the new iPhone they went to glass and received universal praise. I don’t get it.
(4) I own a 5th generation iPod with a 2.5 inch screen. Movie watching is o.k. at best. The new iPod Nano has a 2 inch screen. I’m not at all convinced.
If I wanted to watch video and was picking between the Nano and the Classic, I think the extra $50.00 for the Classic is money well spent.
On the other hand, if I were a runner I would rather have the all digital Nano.
(5) I have a very large music collection and I will be buying the 160gb iPod Classic. For pure music listening, I do not like the iPhone and/or iPod Touch. The iPod Classic is smaller and much easier to navigate. To use the iPhone/iPod Touch you must take it out and look at the screen. The click wheel on an iPod Classic can be manipulated without sight.
(6) I find the iPod Touch to be the least compelling iPod. It seems to be neither fish nor foul.
As a movie player it has a rather small screen (3.5 inches) and not the greatest battery life “up to” 5 hours of play-back. At a price of $399.00, the Touch has a capacity of “20 hours” of video (The 20 hours of video is Apple’s number. In real life the hours of video I can download to my iPhone is much higher). When fully charged, the Touch can play 2 full-length movies.
The Touch is rather thin soup as a video player.
As an audio player and/or large audio and some video playing, the Touch does not seem to be the best choice. As noted, I would rather buy the Classic for my music and suffer with the 2.5 inch screen to watch an occasional movie. It should also be noted that the Classic can play 3 full-length videos (7 hour battery life).
Thank You,
Paul
I BOUGHT MY IPHONE 17 Days ago! They wont let me ake it back or nothing this is not right! I sold half my gadgets to buy this!
Well, I never thought it was possible, but Apple has finally done it. They’ve thoroughly disappointed me and given me a “slap in the face” as a truly supportive and faithful customer. The price drop on the iPhone is GREAT news, but something needs to be done for the customers who waited in long lines and payed a lot of money to provide Apple with the most hyped and one of the most successful product launches in consumer electronics history! To drop the price on a product like the iPhone by 33% after just 2 months is insulting to the people who support Apple the most. One positive note is that Apple has set a precedent with a previous product’s price drop with Aperture. If you remember, Apple dropped the price on Aperture and offered a rebate to customers who bought it prior to the price drop. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT APPLE NEEDS TO DO NOW! Apple, stop worrying so much about Wall Street and start worrying about loosing your most loyal customers….like me. Show some appreciation for the people who have made the iPhone a successful retail product!
I haven’t listened to this wrap-up yet, but just reading through the comments I’m noticing one common theme – angry early iPhone adopters. If there’s anything I’ve learned from over 5 years in the tech industry it’s that sometimes being on the “bleeding edge” has its consequences and pain. I was very excited about the iPhone when it originally launched, but I knew from experience that giving it at least a 6 month waiting period was wise. I’ve only been in the Mac community for about 1.5 years, but what I’m seeing is that there’s some really obsessed Mac people out there. You’ve got to consider that Apple is a tech company just like any other – albeit they put out superior products – and they should be treated as such. I believe that early iPhone adopters now ranting about the price drop don’t have much to stand on. They took the chance on a new product, and sometimes you have to pay a price for that.
Honestly…I expected a price drop. I admit, I didn’t expect a $200 drop…but I was expecting some drop. I always figured the $599 was an early adopter price tag..something to make some extra money on the fan rush. I didn’t think that would be the long term price ever.
Well, don’t worry about your big bucks, uncle Steve’s giving the half back: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/
:-))
*still waiting for the iphone!
I agree with Dave and I always wait until the bleeding is over. I am sure apple will come across with rebates. But really everyone needs to listen to the industry and this show and the great experience available to avoid this sort of thing in the future. I figure there are those very rich geeks that can afford to purchase; then it will only be a scratch for them on the bleeding edge.
However I am thinking now about what is next. Apple has been very conservative in this offering. Really we are reaching a plateau. itunes, wrist ipods, video, phones, etc. What could equal the advent of the ipod, or itunes, or the imac? I keep gazing at my crytal ball and I do see two things that are moving. It would not be such a stretch to move to a wearable computer from the ipod or iphone. The Japanese have a cute clipon for your glasses that is a one eye screen. Wouldn’t be too hard to integrate that with iphone. I dread to think of the accidents and car problems, but hey, maybe car intelligence and a force field for walking would be part of this.
The other thing that is further down the road is virtual reality and I don’t mean games. Walk into the itunes store, flip through the media and buy from a virtual clerk while discussing the weather. Of course wraparounds would be needed. But then watching someone walking down the street stopping at a fire hydrant to ask it about the weather is a bit much; sort of like watching people talking to themselves with earphones. sort of reminds me of San Francisco and China town.
I just got done listening to this podcast and I have a theory on what is happening with the iPhone. I agree that the 4 gig iphone is being phased out because there will be a 16 gig one announced in January, however, I think that there is more to the 16 gig release – like an iphone with 3g technology and official exchange support. Anyway, that is my $.02
I don’t really understand what the problem with iPhone-pricing is…. Those who bought it back when it cost $499-599 obviously thought that it was worth that money, otherwise they wouldn’t have bought them. So it’s cheaper now. And that’s a problem because… what? were the early adopter robbed of their money? Nope. They willingly paid the asked price. Did they suddenly lose 200 bucks? no they did not.