Real Kato Blog: Apple Watch: New iPods

Apple announced new versions of the popular iPod mini and iPod photo today.

Apple upgraded its iPod mini and the iPod photo devices today, and also cut prices. Many Mac rumor sites had been expecting upgrades to surface today, but rumors about iPod mini color screens and built-in Bluetooth turned out to be false.

iPod mini

The 4GB iPod mini addresses some of the competitive challenges it's been receiving lately, by offering more battery life and a lower price. This model now has an 18-hour battery life (up from 8), and costs $199 (down from $249). There's now also a 6GB model at $249, also with an 18-hour battery. There's a new lineup of four colors (blue, green, pink, and silver), slightly more saturated than those of the original model; the relatively unpopular gold unit has been dropped.

A FireWire cable and AC adapter are no longer included with the unit, but they can be purchased separately. A USB 2.0 cable is still included. This seems like a wise cost-cutting measure, as the vast majority of Windows iPod purchasers had no use for the FireWire cable. Still, I'm not sure what this says about Apple's future commitment to Firewire.

iPod photo

The old 40GB model of the iPod photo, at $499, has been dropped. A new slimmer 30GB model has been introduced at $349. That's a pretty hefty price cut; but again, many of the accessories are no longer included. The 60GB model is still offered, and its price has also dropped by $150; the new price is $449. The real significant announcement here, though, is that Apple will be offering an inexpensive camera-to-iPod connector in March, allowing photographers to use their iPod photos as giant portable photo storage devices. Nifty.

The existing non-photo 20GB iPod remains priced at $299.

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