Can the iPod Touch affect the high-end handset sales?
By Dusan Belic on Thursday, September 6th, 2007 at 12:32 PM PST In Apple, Devices, iPhone
I’m sure most of you are aware that yesterday Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) launched the new iPhone Touch — basically a bit smaller and lighter iPhone without a phone radio, Bluetooth and a camera. I’m wondering will it affect the sales of the high end multimedia phones…
In a word – YES! While I do like the idea of having everything in a single device, no other device on the market can match the iPod Touch’s or iPhone’s music and video playback capability. Although there are many other phones on the market that promise to do the same thing, the quality of the user interface and the overall easiness of use remains on the side of the Apple’s products. In addition, the large 3.5″ screen makes both video playback and Web browsing more convenient. Not to mention the multi-touch functionality…
Finally, let’s not forget the price — for three (8GB) or four hundred (16GB) bucks you can get the best iPod ever and still save money to get a phone with a decent camera and even a GPS. A single device should be cheaper than two solid devices, but that apparently is not the case.
Are users going to switch back to carry two devices? Very, very possibly. I can easily envision using the iPod Touch for music, video and browsing the Web; and a handset for phone calls and taking quick photos — hack, I’m already using my Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N800 for most of the web browsing. It’s also worth mentioning that many users are already relying solely on iTunes for their song purchases, and with two devices they wouldn’t have to change their habits.
Not many devices on the market can do everything. There’s the Nokia E90 Communicator and the N95, as well as the HTC Advantage/Athena. Each of these three cost a fortune and for about the same amount users could get the new BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Curve 8310 or Nokia 6110 Navigator and still have a GPS capability if that’s what they want.
In the meantime, I’m still waiting to try out the Walkman 3.0 media player as well as the media player of the recently announced Nokia N81 and N95 8GB, though I doubt they can match the iPhone/iPod Touch’s usability level.
Hopefully, the major handset brands will also figure out that users can buy two powerful devices for the price of one, and reduce the price of that single device which should do all the work for us. Not to mention they’ll keep improving their UIs. What do you think?
Im going to get Nokia N95 8GB and Nokia N81 8GB to my wife, thats all we need in our pockets
If the iPod touch had Bluetooth to pair my cellphone … I would buy one.
I often carry 2 phones. (I am not as bad as John Chambers who said on CNBC this morning that he uses 4.) It costs me $10 extra on the Sprint Family Plan. I use a small Samsung feature phone for everyday voice and a Blackberry for email (no one has that number). I don’t want to carry a heavy smartphone when I walk the dog.
I would love a WiFi/WiMax version of the Touch next year for email, web and media. I could care less if it can do voice. Only Europeans without the hope of decent WiFi or WiMax connectivity would want to turn the Touch into a Bluetooth attached Foleo!
My answer is “not really”. Noone would carry such a big, almost monstrous device in the pocket. I prefer to add to my phone an iPod Shuffle, may be Nano, but not this device.
iPod touch would definitely be my choice instead of nokia N95