| Sunday, July 18, 2004 |
01:35 - No slowing down
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5457434/site/newsweek/
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Via Chris M, the Newsweek cover story on the new iPod is now online, as well as a secondary (but longer) "iPod Nation" article. If there were ever to be a "critical mass" moment for the iPod, it looks like this is it. Also it seems they've finally zeroed in on the ideal product design, or at least the most ideal one yet:
The click wheel. The iPod keeps getting slimmer and more streamlined. While the initial version had a relatively boxy feel, subsequent versions have been curvier and smaller. This one is about a millimeter thinner and, more significantly, eliminates the control buttons that sat under the display screen. Instead, it uses a "click wheel," where the controls are placed on the compass points of the circular touchpad that lets you scroll through menus. This is an innovation carried over from the diminutive iPod Mini. "It was developed out of necessity for the Mini, because there wasn't enough room [for the buttons]," says Steve Jobs. "But the minute we experienced it we just thought, 'My God, why didn't we think of this sooner?' "
Exactly. This is what the second generation should have been; the fact that the new button layout debuted on the iPod mini, and that the 2nd-gen iPod had the identical, feedback-less, touch-sensitive buttons that reacted as you fumbled for the right one to press instead of the original's spatially organized and physically clicking buttons, is rather a glaring oversight by the design team. All is now well again.
Also, as Chris adds:
PS unintentionally funny bit in the second piece, "iPod Nation":
"I love it!" says songwriter Denise Rich. "I have my whole catalog on it and I take it everywhere."
a) what an astoundingly pedestrian quote--we needed to have a songwriter tell us this?
b) and yes, Denise Rich is the songwriter who contributed $1 million to the the DNC, $450,000 to Clinton's Presidential Library Foundation, and whose indicted ex, Marc Rich, was pardoned by President Clinton.
www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/02/09/pardon.probe/
Funny that when Newsweek thinks of a songwriter, this is the person they go to....
True, though not really surprising. And somehow I don't imagine Steve would be too disappointed by this coverage either...
UPDATE: Naturally, Apple's site is updated too. (I guess this is what they meant by a "non-standard press event".) Looks like the battery life is back up to 12 hours, too—woo-hoo!
Only two models, though: 20-gig and 40-gig, at $299 and $399 respectively. I was wondering how they could have introduced such a price drop without cannibalizing iPod mini ($249) sales, unless they dropped the bottom-end unit; and it looks like that's exactly what they've done.
Of course, then... 60-gig at $499 within a month, yesno?
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Brian Tiemann
