Apple's new iPod mini

OK, so Apple announced newer versions of the iPod mini and iPod photo yesterday, and although the mini's didn't include a color screen or bluetooth abilities like many speculated, they did include a moderate increase in storage space (4GB up to 6GB) and a massive increase in battery life (8 hours up to 18 hours). Other great news on the iPod mini front was that they lowered the price from $249 US to $199 for the 4GB model. But, what I did find curious, is that they also removed some of the bundled accessories, and force you to buy them separately now.

More info after the jump.

iPod mini (1G)


  • 4GB (1,000 songs) for $249.

  • Up to 8 hours of battery life.

  • 5 colors: silver, gold, pink, blue, and green.

  • includes a belt clip. All iPod minis include earbud headphones, an Apple iPod mini power adapter, a 1.2m 30-pin to FireWire® cable, a 1.2m 30-pin to USB 2.0 cable and a CD with iTunes 4.6 for Mac and Windows computers.

  • Optional accessories with the following suggested retail prices include the iPod mini Dock for $39 (US), in-ear headphones for $39 (US) and arm band for $29 (US).

iPod mini (2G)


  • 4GB (1,000 songs) for $199 or 6GB (1,500 songs) for $249.

  • Up to 18 hours of battery life.

  • 4 colors: silver, blue, pink, and green (minus the gold option from the first generation lineup).

  • iPod mini includes earbud headphones, a belt clip case, a USB 2.0 cable, and a CD with iTunes 4.7.1 for Mac and Windows computers.

  • An optional USB power adapter is available for $29 (US) which easily charges iPod mini when traveling. Other accessories include the iPod Dock for $39 (US) for desktop syncing and charging, in-ear headphones for $39 (US), an arm band for $29 (US), a lanyard for $19 (US) and FireWire® cable for $19 (US).

So, the migration from 1G to 2G iPod mini, you benefit from a significant increase in battery life (8 hours versus 18 hours, a 225% increase!) as well as the obvious jump from 4GB to 6GB (150% increase) for the same price point. But, what really interested me, apart from the price drops was the fact that they did so at the expense of the accessories. The first generation iPod mini included a belt clip, earbud headphones, power adapter, FireWire cable and USB 2.0 cable, and iTunes 4.6. The second generation iPod only includes the belt clip, earbud headphones, USB 2.0 cable, and iTunes 4.7.1 (a mere 1.02% increase in iTune version numbers). If you want the missing power adapter or FireWire cable that came bundled with the first generation iPod mini, you got to pony up $29 US and $19 US respectively. So, although they reduced the price of the 4GB iPod mini from $249 to $199, they seemingly removed about $48 worth of accessories, which isn’t a horrible deal as you can choose which accessories you’d really use and only pay if you needed them. The only other mysterious change between first and second generation iPods is the mysterious disappearance of the color "gold", which no longer seems to be an option.

The new iPod mini seems like a fantastic improvement. Although you get less bang for your buck, unbundling the accessories allowed Apple to introduce the iPod mini at a lower price point.

Posted by peter on February 25, 2005 at 09:21 AM
Comments

Another interesting thing about the current iPod lineup is that they seem to have an iPod at every $50 pricepoint between $100 and $450 (except that elusive $400 pricepoint).

Currently they have the following iPods:
512 MB iPod shuffle ($100)
1 GB iPod shuffle ($150)
4 GB iPod mini ($200)
6 GB iPod mini ($250)
20 GB iPod ($300)
20 GB iPod - U2 Edition ($350)
30 GB iPod photo ($350)
60 GB iPod photo ($450)

So there you go, something for everybody. A car in every garage, and an iPod on every desk. I'm not sure why anybody would go for the U2 edition of the iPod (apart from it being black and red), when you can have an extra 10 GB and a color screen by choosing the 30 GB iPod photo with the same price tag.

Another interesting thing about the iPods is that seemingly they put a few models out to pasture without much ado. For example, the gold iPod mini is seemingly not available any more. They also seemingly replaced the 40 GB iPod photo with the 30 GB model, which isn't bad considering how much they dropped the price on the iPod photo lineup. Previously the 40 GB iPod photo cost $500, whereas now the 30 GB model can be had for $350 and the 60 GB model dropped from around $600 down to $450. Also, it would appear that the plain vanilla 40 GB model is gone (was $400). So now if you want anything over 20 GB, you currently have to go with the iPod photo, whether you want color or not.

http://www.apple.com/r/ipodstore/comparision/

Posted by: peter at February 25, 2005 04:45 PM