Apple Introduces $499 Mac, $99 iPod

[mamabot]

Here is a story about a couple of new products from Apple. Steve Jobs is a genius.

[UvaGirl]

Tell me about it. The more I think about it, the more I want a Mac.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by UvaGirl

Tell me about it.

Look here

[BarTopDancer]

Feh. No keyboard or moniter so be sure to add a couple hundred dollars to the price of that $499 Mac. Don't forget to add in the cost of the flash memory to enhance that 512k hard drive on the $99 or the 1mb hard drive on the $149 iPods.

By the time you're done buying the stuff you need to make those things worth while you coulda bought 1) an iMac or 2) a super nice PC.

[mamabot]

A lot of times people upgrade their computers when their current technology is outdated. Most times, the only part of a computer that needs to be replaced is the hard drive.

I see the move to have just a hard drive available as a smart move. This helps the environment by not having keyboards,monitors and mouses (mice) sitting around in landfills when they still had many years of life left in them.

And, if you read the article, the new iPod is being launched in an attempt to nab a share of the flash market:

Originally Posted by CNN Article

The new iPod falls into a category of music players that use "flash memory," like that found in digital cameras and some portable disk drives, rather than hard drives like the other iPod models.


"We'd like to go after the remaining mainstream flash market," Jobs said, noting that the flash memory-based digital player market is currently highly fragmented. "The products are all pretty much the same."


He also claimed the iPod holds a 65 percent share of the entire market for portable digital music players, up from only 31 percent a year earlier.

The article also discusses automobile manufactures wanting to have iPod capable systems in their cars. My boss has this option for her BMW. It sure beats an FM receiver for an iPod.

I think this is a good move by Apple.

[SusieP.]

Originally Posted by mamabot

The article also discusses automobile manufactures wanting to have iPod capable systems in their cars. My boss has this option for her BMW. It sure beats an FM receiver for an iPod.

My new car has a built-in port for an MP3 player, but I don't know how it works yet. It came standard. Maybe I should buy an i-Pod so I can check it out. Perhaps that would bring a touch of swank to my Honda Element!

[NirvanaMan]

Originally Posted by SusieP.

My new car has a built-in port for an MP3 player, but I don't know how it works yet. It came standard. Maybe I should buy an i-Pod so I can check it out. Perhaps that would bring a touch of swank to my Honda Element!

Prolly a simple 1/8" stereo jack. Get a jobby like one of these http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...t%5Fid=42-2387

and you should be good to go. You can jack in an mp3 player, or portable CD player or anything else with a headphone jack.

[SusieP.]

Originally Posted by NirvanaMan

Prolly a simple 1/8" stereo jack. Get a jobby like one of these http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...t%5Fid=42-2387

and you should be good to go. You can jack in an mp3 player, or portable CD player or anything else with a headphone jack.

Thanks for that, but it's some kind of USB-type port. I'll have to actually get the book out and look it up at some point. I'm sure the folks at the Apple store will be happy to help me, esp since I'm thinking about an i-Book, too.

[NirvanaMan]

It's a good move, but genuis? To offer a computer without a monitor or keyboard? Uhhh...like everyone else has been doing that for like...uhh forever. Same with the flash music players. They have been around for years. Good move, but hardly genius. Rather late to the party actually.

The integration with cars is cool. BMW offers it, but it is expensive and the integration is very poor. Mercedes just announced a much better integration unit. In all, a simple phono jack is sufficient for most and that can be easily wired into any car stereo. Much better sound than you get from the FM modulators. I would consider this move far more "genius" than the other two. It actually is somewhat pioneering, partnering in an industry where they have not had a presense and ensuring that they will be the dominating force in portable MP3 players. Once again, Jobs is the man. Though, I'm not sure he is actually still running the show up north anymore. Does anyone know? Either way...I want his money.

[mamabot]

My statement about Jobs being a genius was an all around statement. He has a unique vision that is fun to watch to see what more he can come up with.