January 2 2005

The Story of the iPod Flash Story

Almost a month ago, themacmind, a website I used to write for asked me to do a mock up of a flash based iPod based on information they had acquired from a source at Apple. I was asked what I knew about the iPod flash, and my response was "It's a load of bullshit." (which funnily enough I nearly said on air when interviewed on G4techTV's 'The ScreenSavers' ). I was told by my editor that we had a person who had seen the flash based iPod and had shared the details with one of themacmind's staff.

I did the mock-up and I combed through the article and made some changes. I didn't write the original article, however I did post it 24 hours later. The following morning, we were chatting about how it hadn't been picked up on any other sites. Conveniently enough, as soon as that was said, we noticed an addition 500 readers on the site. Slashdot came 30 minutes later and knocked out site offline. At about 11:30 I called Kevin Rose, and asked him if he'd seen the concept yet. Apparently they'd been discussing it at a tss meeting, and a copy of the image was promptly e-mailed for inclusion in the show. I was called up later and asked if I'd be interested in being interviewed on The ScreenSavers. I agreed, and having been up for 36 hours, did the interview.

An argument for the flash memory based iPod

The MP3 player market is roughly divided into thirds; harddrive players, high-end flash, and low-end flash. At the end of 2003, Apple already dominated the hard drive player market. In 2004, they dominated the high-end flash market. And as the numbers show, Apple has a ~63% market share in all MP3 players. So in the logical progression of things, they would seem to go after the low-end flash market next. Not introducing the iPod flash last year doesn't overwhelm people with products and is not only clever marketing, it also sells more higher priced iPods.

If we go back to late 2003 rumors emerged of the iPod mini. Most people thought that Apple would never introduce the iPod mini. When it came out they said it won't sell. It's happened again, and I'm surprised in retrospect how almost obvious this is. As was noted in a recent article, Steve Jobs often dismisses a product entirely then later introduces an Apple product to that market. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if video capabilities are added to the iPod Photo as an extra feature.

I looked at my playlists in iTunes, and I realised that my biggest playlist is 483.5 Mb. Take one playlist with you - that would be the concept. Having thought about it, it's rare when I actually look at the screen. When I do, it's usually to hit the next button. If you have one playlist, there is no need for a screen. There's no need for a 'spoken interface' either.

What we know. I've been told that my mock up doesn't look like the iPod flash. The image was made off the description, however I suspect it will have more of a resemblance to the iPod mini than it does to the Apple Pro Mouse. What we know are, the rough dimensions (these, I found out later are estimates), it's shaped like a Milano cookie, it's memory ranges from 128 mb to 512 mb, and that it's priced starting at $99.

Macworld's Low-Priced Bombshell

There have been rumors proliforating of a $499 iMac based on the G4 with - SHOCK HORROR - no screen going around the internet lately. It seems that low-end products are high on the agenda for Apple, and I think this may solidify the arguement for the low-end iPod. It would seem like the perfect match. Apple is beginning to think different, and this year's MacWorld will be interesting. Stay tuned over the next couple of days for sites to keep an eye on during the conference session.

January 2 2005

The Story of the iPod Flash Story

An argument for the flash memory based iPod

Macworld's Low-Priced Bombshell

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