Apple Goes Smaller, Cheaper With iPod Shuffle Music Players
SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple introduced $99 and $149 “iPod shuffle” portable digital music players -- smaller than many gum packs and weighing 0.78 ounce -- in a bid to extend its dominance of the category. The sleek white products began shipping this week, CEO Steve Jobs said Tues. in his MacWorld Conference keynote here, but he added, “I heard a little rumor there might be some at the Apple Store” a few blocks from the convention center.
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Apple sold more than 4.5 million iPods in the holiday quarter, Jobs announced, compared to 733,000 a year earlier. “I can’t begin to tell you how great that makes us feel.” To date, 10 million have sold, including 8.2 million in 2004. Two iPod models and an Apple iTunes online music service gift card made Amazon.com’s top 5 CE products in Dec., he noted. IPod’s share of the portable player market shot to 65% at year-end from 31% a year earlier, Jobs said.
Sony Pres. Kunitake Ando made a cameo appearance during the keynote. He said Sony and Apple had maintained “a close relationship for many years” and expressed great admiration for Apple products. “We can really revolutionize… video at home together,” Ando said. He called “great quality software… the glue that holds together all the pieces and [creates] the value of the hardware.” Referring to software, he jokingly told Jobs to “just do that,” implying the gear business should be left to Sony. Jobs had set up Ando’s appearance by calling Sony “the best video company in the world” and its HDV camcorder the “most stunning” product of its kind. “We compete with Sony [but] we do a lot of stuff with Sony,” he said.
Joining BMW in offering installed iPod auto adapters are Mercedes Benz, Nissan, Volvo, Scion, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari, Jobs announced. On the expo floor were a Mercedes SLK roadster and the new CLS models, to show how the iPod can be controlled from the steering wheel. And Motorola in spring will roll out cellphones with iTunes software installed, Jobs said.
The less-expensive “shuffle” model holds 120 songs with 512 MB of memory, and the more expensive holds 240 songs with one GB. Each device has a headphone and a USB 2.0 connection and simple controls -- pause and play, volume and previous and next song. Jobs contrasted that with “a zillion little flash players” available for $99- $169 with “tortured user interfaces,” very small displays, no click wheel and non-rechargeable AAA battery power that costs users about $100 a year for replacements. The Apple players can plug into PCs and Macintoshes and load up with downloaded songs using an “autofill” function. Music can be played at random -- in the “shuffle” mode Jobs said had caught on strongly with iPod users last year -- by album or in other orders.
The company will roll out 4 accessories at $29 each the next 4 weeks, Jobs said -- an armband, a dock, a sports case and an extended-life rechargeable battery. He predicted the market would generate “probably 100 accessories” within a month, to go with the 400 available for the previous iPod models. A shuffle lanyard attaches to the player so it can be worn as a fashion accessory. A TV commercial, to start running in about a week, shows dancers silhouetted against colorful backgrounds, as in the well-known iPod advertising, with animated arrows based on an iPod shuffle technology logo. The tagline: “Life is random.” In line with an emphasis on small, inexpensive products with minimalist styling, Jobs also introduced a tiny computer that fits in packaging resembling a child’s lunch box.
The new Mac mini -- 2 in. tall, 6.5 in. square and 2.9 lbs. -- will sell for $499 for a version with a 1.25 GHz G4 processor, 256 MB of RAM and 40 GB hard drive. A $599 version has a 1.42 GHz processor and 80 GB hard drive. They have slot-load combination optical drives, DVI and VGA video output, and Firewire, USB 2, Ethernet and modem connectivity. Mac OS X Panther and iLife ‘05 are included. The computers are “byo dkm,” Jobs said: Bring your own display, keyboard and mouse. They're priced “so that people who are thinking of switching have no excuse,” and Mac owners can add 2nd and 3rd Apple machines, he said. The cheapest previous Mac is $799 but that’s a full system.
The company draws more than a million people a week to the 101 Apple Stores internationally, Jobs said. The newest, opened around Thanksgiving, is in a prime London spot on Regent St., next to Oxford Circus. The oversized store is already the 2nd-highest grossing in the chain, he said. Apple will open more stores in England this year, Jobs said.