RAM is cheap and getting cheaper. Apple has now passed along some of their savings to those looking for an iPod shuffle [1] by dropping the price of the 1 GB model from $79 down to $49. Simultaneously, Apple announced the release of a 2 GB iPod shuffle, to be priced at $69 when it ships later this month. With prices dropping at this rate, a 1 GB iPod shuffle will appear in cereal boxes within a few years.
With news like this and Apple's announcement of a pink iPod nano (see "Apple Ships Pink iPod nano, Apologizes to Tonya [2]," 2008-01-22), it's hard to do more than state the facts, so let's once again peer closely at Apple VP Greg Joswiak's quote in Apple's press release [3]. He said, "At just $49, the iPod shuffle is the most affordable iPod ever. The new 2 GB model lets music lovers bring even more songs everywhere they go in the impossibly small iPod shuffle."
What's this? The iPod shuffle is "impossibly small?" Come now. "Impossibly small" means that you worry about accidentally inhaling it, that Apple has to use magnification in product shots, and that it's impossible to imagine Apple releasing another iPod that's even smaller. Is it painfully obvious that I'm really stretching here? I thought so.
Seriously, thanks for the price drop and the 2 GB model, Greg. But I'm still betting that Apple releases an even smaller iPod within a few years.
[1]: http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/
[2]: http://db.tidbits.com/article/9416
[3]: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/02/19shuffle.html