• Anybody else put off by the new iPod Nano price?

    Anybody else put off by the new iPod Nano price?

    Rohan Naravane, Sep 08, 2010 2008 hrs IST

    Apple may have shaved it to half the size of its predecessor, but what about the cost?

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Now that the dust from the storm of Apple's genius marketing for its new iPod lineup has settled, I will take the hanky off my face and begin looking at the real picture. The iPod Touch has gotten much deserved upgrades - bless its soul. Even the new Shuffle is better thought out than the last time, where they'd felt it unnecessary to have buttons on the device itself.

Even with the nano, I'd agree that the new change was much-needed. Let's face it, the 5th generation Nano had a mediocre camera and a screen that wasn't as good for videos when compared to the Touch. Plus, the word 'nano' had lost its meaning somewhere as its 91mm length measured as long as many of today's cell-phones. So, it made sense for Apple to let go of the camera and the video playback capability altogether with the new nano. In return, we got this Shuffle-sized player with a screen. But what about the price? It is pitted to sell in India upon arrival for Rs. 10,700.

Now wait a sec, I remember back in 2007 when I reviewed the squarish-design 3rd generation Nano, it was selling back then at Rs. 6,500. We even appreciated the competitive pricing Apple had set for this device. Then the 4th generation price was bumped to Rs. 9,000 (to which I complained in its review's conclusion). The 5th generation was sold for the same hiked price, but we felt that we're getting a good bargain out of it, since it came with added bells and whistles like the camera, FM Radio, Voice recorder and a slightly larger screen.


 


Slide back to now, where the nano loses the camera and video playback, but actually sells for almost Rs. 2,000 more?! Without the above-mentioned add-ons, isn't the nano comparable to the many MP3 players that do most of what it does, for a lot less? I'm talking about players like the Sony Walkman NWZ-B143F, Samsung YP-U5 or even the Philips GoGear ViBE that are priced at a third of the nano's. Forget comparisons, paying Rs. 10,000 for a shiny MP3 player doesn't really make sense to me in this day and age, where a couple thousand more can fetch you a smart-phone.

Although I feel the new nano is a great little buddy for people who exercise, what Apple really needs to shed is its ridiculous price down to saner levels (say, the old Rs. 6,500 tag would do just fine). Anybody with me?

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Discussion Board
(20) Comments
bang bang
,kolkata, on Sep 28, 2010 10:50 AM
ipod service centre in kolkata . bangbang electronics 9831246232. 1shakespeare sarani. ac market .any ipod will be repaired within 48hours
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Vishal
,ahmedabad, on Sep 10, 2010 01:24 AM
NAno has a multi touch screen thats a huge upgrade! plus 8 gb its price is justified especially for gym freaks..though i would prefer ipod touch which gives me video playback ,hd recording n the crystal clear retina display which no other phone or portable media player has.to top that its slimmer and nd if 3 hours more battery life isnt much then ull see the A4 processor bringing multi tasking to the device obv the price for ipod touch is more justified..
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Nishant
,Hyderabad, on Sep 09, 2010 04:38 PM
I would suggest buying the Zune HD 16 GB at the price. Its as good as the Ipod touch if not better, and is priced at the Nano's price point. Its a pity Microsoft underestimated the potential of its mp3 player and didn't launch it outside the US.
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Anonymous
,mumbai, on Sep 09, 2010 02:14 PM
the pricing is ludicrous,and for the ppl who are actually going to buy this are plain crazy
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disappointed ap
,delhi, on Sep 09, 2010 01:42 PM
dude.. u r absiolutely spot on.. i was waiting for the new nano, but thanks to the hefty price tag will be shopping for alternatives
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nagarjuna
,hyd, on Sep 09, 2010 11:31 AM
Hey rohit, again a very nice observation, was waiting from the time of launch.. about this kind of article esp for nano. I 100% accept with your thing and only a price of 100$ is acceptable for low size nano.. totally ridiculous pricing
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Arpit G
,Mumbai, on Sep 09, 2010 09:58 AM
Well, the day i saw new nano, i felt in love with the device... but now with this price tag, will not be buying one.... Apple is trying to play smart with11 its new line up.. next year they'll come and say - "Wow, our great engineers have put a camera inside such a small device!! ... nano has a camera now"... useless!! I am looking for other options now.. Even I don't see any justifications for people to buy nano in US too... 142$ for nano.. 200$ for iPhone, which one u'd prefer .. huh ? Plus - 15K+ for iPod Touch! what the crap ...! and you are trying to compete with PSP's with that price tag...! BEST Option; Get a philips or sony... want good sound ? -> get a bose too .. bam!
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bhagat
,Punjab, on Sep 09, 2010 09:49 AM
Yes man....totally agree...earlier the 8gb Ipod touch was around Rs. 10000/- & now apple has taken the price of new ipod nano to Rs.10000...ridiculous.... You see in US the new Ipod Touch 8gb is costing $229 means in INR it should be around Rs. 11000/- but the prices for india which are disclosed yesterday are Rs. 15000/- waht is dis yaar !!!!
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venkatesh
,Bangalore, on Sep 09, 2010 09:37 AM
I totally agree with you,as the features are less, It doesn't make sense to sell it at such a whooping price. If they want to gain market share, definitely they have to re look at the prices.As more smart phones are flooding into market@cheaper prices which has all the features as the ipod,it doesn't make sense to buy it.
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Vishwa
,hubli, on Sep 09, 2010 08:20 AM
the design is absolutely amazing, but the only thing is that the old nano was value for money apart from being a gr8 product, now this nano seems like a ferrari among mp3 players hope it has the quality or else it is a dud
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pankaj
,delhi, on Sep 08, 2010 10:53 PM
apple had allways charged ridiculously high price for its more to eye gadgets.
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Pranay
,Del/Hyd, on Sep 08, 2010 09:21 PM
One humble suggestion about the way of writing Rohan, I don't think it's fair and professional to use singular nouns ('I' reviewed this... 'I' concluded...) in the write-up, which is brought up under the onus of TechTree and not 'Rohan Naravane'. Had this been posted on a personal blog or sumtng.. perfect, but not at a congregated enterprise - where one would expect plurals ('We' reviewd this...) As far as the new Nano is concerned... with the new form factor and feature set, this is an ideal iteration for the Shuffle and not Nano.. and the price is definitely insane!
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Rohan
,TechTree, on Sep 08, 2010 09:42 PM
I agree, but i've been judiciously using singular nouns because this write-up is posted under TechTree notes, which is simply another name for a TechTree blog. :)
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Pranay
,Del/Hyd, on Sep 08, 2010 09:58 PM
OK. But it's not really apparent to the user, who assumes every article to be written under the banner of TechTree, by the TechTree 'team'. I guess the credit also goes to the confusing UI and structure of TechTree these days
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Dave
,Fairfax, USA, on Sep 08, 2010 09:19 PM
That's why I only buy Apple stock, not their products. They have the highest profit margin of any tech company out there, but they are great at making things that people with more money than brains want!
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Mark
,New York, on Sep 08, 2010 09:17 PM
Only old farts from the 60's use apple. I have a throwaway mp3 player from chinatown that runs circles around apple!
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John
,Mumbai, on Sep 08, 2010 09:14 PM
Apple kept the price of the old nano down just to drive the competition out of the market. Once Creative Labs and other vendors closed shop on similar offerings Apple felt they could boost the price, since nobody else is going to venture into the market again with a similar product.
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Bob
,Jerome, AZ, on Sep 08, 2010 09:07 PM
The price is TERRIBLE - it will not sell well at ALL at this price. The design in great. .... and WHY only 2gb? It seems they are funneling you toward the iPod Touch which is s terrific device except for the still camera.
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Punk
,Delhi, on Sep 08, 2010 08:56 PM
i wont be suprised if soon the apple nano costs as much as the tata nano! ;)
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"A"late
,Mysore, on Sep 08, 2010 08:47 PM
Yes, the new nano is little bit costlier as it is an " Apple" product. But looking into current market scenario, price of nano should have been kept competitive...
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