iPod: In Color!

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
Utter drivel.

Apple can't keep up with demand - if the others are lamer than Apple at getting products to ship, they must really suck. The others have had years to do something and can't seem to get it right.

This is nonsense -- there are TONS of iPods sitting around in TONS of stores. I was just at FutureShop today and they've got many boxes of iPods (no iPod Photos or U2 ones, mind you). They don't even stock the Zen Touches right now, because they can't get ahold of them. In fact, no Future Shop in Canada has been able to obtain any yet.

And the fact that others have had years doesn't change a thing. If they don't have access to the manufacturing capability for consumer products, they can't do anything until it expands. It takes time to expand.

Apple is lucky because their computer sales are pathetic and have dropped for years, and has already had huge consumer product manufacturing capability compared to Creative.

Further, Apple simply has a LOT more money laying around to invest in manufacturing ahead of the curve, Creative doesn't have that luxury.

I'd buy the 60gig photopod if I had the money. Purely for the size. I imagine it might fit about half my CD collection on it. Probably not though...

Buy a Zen and put a 100gig HD in it. It's really easy.

I reckon they will in time. Supply is an issue though. Wait six months and these will be $100 less. Once the regular 20G ipod hits about $220 in price the hordes will start buying them.

So which is it -- if Apple can't keep up with demand, why would they reduce the price? Hell, why did they recently reduce the price if they can't keep up with demand? You've just inadvertantly shown yourself to be full of ****.

Apple is not known for charging sensible amounts. Mark my words: Apple will discontinue the 20G iPod before lowering its price anymore, and replace it with a 20G Mini for about $350-$400, and a 40GB iPod for $300.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Asher
They don't even stock the Zen Touches right now, because they can't get ahold of them. In fact, no Future Shop in Canada has been able to obtain any yet.

Do you know that for a fact? It's possible that Future Shop doesn't stock the Zen Touch because there is limited demand for it.

The high demand for iPods creates an incentive for stores to order in large numbers of them. They may have a lot on stock, but they may also be selling a lot.

I know there is a shortage of mini iPods in Hong Kong. The price has gone up by about Cdn$60.

[Nikolai]

Apple seems to go down the old road of theirs, releasing a highly innovative and superior design, only to waste it away and ultimately loosing the grip of the market... Sad really...

[Agathon]

So which is it -- if Apple can't keep up with demand, why would they reduce the price? Hell, why did they recently reduce the price if they can't keep up with demand? You've just inadvertantly shown yourself to be full of ****.

Such a bitter little boy. Your life really does go worse if Apple sells mp3 players.

They will reduce the price come next year for the simple reason that increasing the hard drive space is unlikely to bring more people to the platform.

Stores don't stock other players because nobody wants them. Even Dell isn't selling many players over the net and I doubt that they have supply problems - the real problem is that the Dell DJ is an ugly, useless piece of crap.

I know there is a shortage of mini iPods in Hong Kong.

There's a shortage everywhere. And this is the player that whiners like Asher assured the world would "never sell".

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
Such a bitter little boy. Your life really does go worse if Apple sells mp3 players.

They will reduce the price come next year for the simple reason that increasing the hard drive space is unlikely to bring more people to the platform.

Stores don't stock other players because nobody wants them.

Do you have the slightest clue how retail works?

Futureshop does stock other HD MP3 players. The Sony ones, the RCA ones, the Rio ones, etc. Creative is the #2 HD MP3 maker behind Apple.

If there isn't a huge demand for them (there still clearly is demand for them), they'd just stock LESS of them, not none of them.

They also stock the Zen Xtra still. Your argument that they don't sell Zen Touches because there's "no demand for any of the other players" just further cements you in the "hopeless fanboy" category.

There's a shortage everywhere.

Nonsense. I've been into 2 Future Shops in the GTA, and one Best Buy in the last few weeks, and all of them had an abundance of iPod and iPod Mini boxes laying around.

Ditto for the Future Shop in Waterloo.

On the other hand, I've never found anyone who has a Zen Touch in stock...and when I asked the Future Shop mobile audio manager, he said they haven't been able to secure any shipments nationwide.

Which one smells more of a shortage to you?

[Asher]

For what it's worth, Creative just today announced that sales are up 32% since last quarter.

[Tingkai]

And Creative's profits were down 84%.

[Asher]

That's what they get for having high quality players for low prices. Still a profitable company, sales are up. It's all good.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Agathon
What if you don't have a cell phone, or what if you hate cell phones?

But you have a $500 iPod?

Moreover, if you don't have a cell phone, why would you need a portable contact list?

[Zopperoni]

To dial people via a public phone

[Asher]

Do public phones still exist?

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Asher
That's what they get for having high quality players for low prices. Still a profitable company, sales are up. It's all good.

Ah, no.

Not from an investor's perspective.

A company that increases revenue by 30%, but has a 84% drop in sales is defintely a company with problems.

Creative has always has a lot of potential, but it is plagued by its management. Look at the Zen Touch. You think it is much better than iPod, and I'll grant you that it is competitive, yet Creative has failed to supply enough of the product to stock stores. That's a fatal error.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker

Originally posted by Agathon
What if you don't have a cell phone, or what if you hate cell phones?

But you have a $500 iPod?

Moreover, if you don't have a cell phone, why would you need a portable contact list?

A lot of time I'll call someone and ask "do you have so-and-so's number". They'll say yes, but it's on my mobile phone., They then have to hang up, look up the number, write it down and then call me back.

Having a contact list on another devide, be it iPod or a PDA, is handy.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Tingkai
Ah, no.

Not from an investor's perspective.

This thread isn't about an investor's perspective, it's about a consumer's perspective.

Creative's sales are up, and they would likely be a lot more if they could meet the demand for their products. Unfortunately, they cannot right now. That's my point...

Agathon's position of gloating about Apple's marketshare of HD-based portable audio players versus Creative is ridiculous, given that Creative's demand far outstrips what they can supply already.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Tingkai
A lot of time I'll call someone and ask "do you have so-and-so's number". They'll say yes, but it's on my mobile phone., They then have to hang up, look up the number, write it down and then call me back.

That's a pretty ****ty phone if you need to hang up to access the phonebook.

I'm betting this is user error more than anything else...every phone I've had in the past five years has permitted phonebook access while on a call.