Apple doubles iPhone, iPod Touch capacity

Updated at 6:30 a.m. PST with additional details and at 7:30 a.m. with comments from Apple.

Apple doubled the capacity of the iPhone and the iPod Touch on Tuesday for an additional $100.

The iPhone once again comes in two capacities: 8GB for $399 and now 16GB for $499. Apple sold 8GB and 4GB varieties on iPhone Day, but it discontinued the 4GB model after it cut the price of the 8GB model to $399. Something like 90 percent of all early iPhone buyers opted for the 8GB version.

The iPhone and the iPod Touch now come with more storage for $100 more.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Apple thinks that there's still room for an 8GB iPhone in the mix, said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of worldwide iPod and iPhone product marketing. The first time around, people signaled pretty clearly that they wanted more than 4GB of storage, but he thinks that there's still a "sweet spot" at 8GB of storage.

And the iPod Touch can also store more music and videos now, with 32GB of capacity for $499. That device is now available in three versions, with Apple also selling a 16GB model for $399 and an 8GB model for $299.

The new iPhone and iPod Touch appear to be unchanged from their previous incarnations, though they ship with the new software unveiled at Macworld, which provides the ability to edit the home screen and triangulate your position using Maps.

The release of that software really changed the iPod Touch into a new type of device, Joswiak said, and Apple is now playing up the iPod Touch as a "Wi-Fi mobile device," as opposed to a high-end iPod. "It becomes even more promising, once we enter the world of the SDK," he said, referring to the expected release of the software developer's kit for the iPhone and iPod Touch in late February.

Both are available immediately. This move should give something of a boost to iPhone and iPod Touch sales. Apple shipped fewer iPods than expected during the fourth quarter but still grew iPod revenue at a strong pace, suggesting that the higher-priced iPod Touch is gaining ground against the iPod Nano and Shuffle as a percentage of Apple's iPod mix.

The iPhone story is a little more complicated. The rampant unlocking of the smartphone makes it both harder and easier to understand iPhone demand: On one hand, people want the iPhone so badly, they are willing to take risks to use it on their network or in their country. On the other hand, it's almost impossible to get a true number of how many phones have been unlocked.

This time around, there's no price cut on existing models, which some prognosticators felt was necessary in order to spike iPhone demand during the leaner first and second quarters of the year.

Given the price cut debacle the first time around, I wouldn't expect to see the price of the iPhone change too dramatically any time soon, at least until the 3G model is unveiled.

Still, I'd imagine that most people who intended to spend $399 on an iPhone would be willing to cough up another hundred bucks to get twice as much storage. As might be expected, Joswiak concurred, saying the higher prices for twice as much storage reflects that the "value proposition remains." We'll see if the public agrees.

[john55440]

Boost Sales?

"This move should give something of a boost to iPhone and iPod Touch sales."

I don't know - with no new features and a +$100 price tag, in this economy, it doesn't sound like a very compelling offering.

[celticbrewer]

No Thanks

I wish I took advantage of the 80GB zunes when they were about $120. But even at $250, they're still a much better value than ipods.

My mother recently got an ipod touch and it's just alright. It can be a serious pain in the rear to use. And the iTunes software bites the big one.

But hey, if you want a 32GB MP3 player for $500, I'm not going to stop you. I'm sure there's plenty of brainwashed apple fans willing to hand over their money. Those people should look into scientology as a religion- it's a perfect fit!

[Penguinisto]

Nice...

I may have to grab one yet, though I'm still holding out for a Skype-like client that I can latch onto WiFi with.

/P

[k2dave]

This is so obviouse a money grab by Apple

I'm not saying Apple is wrong for getting as much as they are for their products, just that they are really playing their customers on it, to IMHO a insulting level.

[john55440]

Govt. Jobs Report - Worst In 4+ Years

"The nation?s employers eliminated 17,000 jobs in January, the government reported Friday, the first decline in the work force in more than four years,..."

The media just repeats Government statistics, such as the one shown above. The "shoot the messenger" crowd just don't want to hear the truth.

[FuManShoes]

$100 more and still no 3G?

I agree with the guy who calls this a money grab. There is no way some feel-good UI changes and another 8Gb of flash are worth a $100 price hike. Prospective iPhone owners want 3G. That's what we're waiting for. Is it that tough to add a ******* chip that phones half this size have had for 2 years?

[goldstategirl]

Allow T-Mobile service in US and I'll get one

Otherwise, I hate AT+T/Cingular service just a little more than I love Apple products...and THAT IS A LOT.

I work on a glorious Mac Book Pro and have been te proud owner of mostly Macs, have Nano and a larger iPod 3G that still kicks ass. An IPhone would sooo compliment my business and personal workflow but NO.

I really do not want to go back to AT+T/Cingular...I don't trust those people even with dumping the Cingular name.

Anyone care to talk me over the ledge on this and promise me AT+T's got a net waiting below?

[NewsBiscuit]

Joswiak, is that a pseudonym

Greg Joswiak? Is that a real guy, or have Jobs and Wozniak recombined their DNA into hyrbid clones designed to take over the world, one well designed UI at a time?

[davenyc1]

Steve's Outta Touch

Jobs is outta touch. But then again he has always been a hit or miss kinda guy.

He keeps rolling out one high priced item after another. Even the elitist, gotta-have-an-Apple-at-any-price crowd, is wearing thin. His new customers are "Average" Joe & Jane. With Americans losing homes at 7000 per day Steve needs to lower prices and/or offer bundled packages that include free trial movies & songs. Apple has over $15 billion in the bank and can easily afford exciting promotions without denigrating it's pricey, elitist, out-of-the-box-thinking, sex appeal.

He owes it to shareholders to drive sales up. Instead most are scratching their heads in total disbelief. Many are wondering if he's lost his game once again. Or worse, he's tanking the stock intentionally to buy AAPL at a huge discount. The stock keeps sinking from these pathetic over-priced roll-outs.

LOL...Kinda reminds me of Mel Brooks "The Producers" or Pete Rose gambling on his own games. Not so LOL for shareholders.

[rpkelso]

Double the storage capacity for $100?

So the iPhone gets 2x the capacity... that's 8GB more for $100. The Touch gets 2x the capacity... that's 16GB more for $100. Am I missing something?

[ev61]

outta touch?

All I have to say, is even at 32GB it will not hold a substantial music and video library. I got my 16GB touch and can hold about a quarter of my music library, a movie and a tv show or two. I am glad I have that extra $100 in my pocket, because even at that number I can't do what I want.

At $500, I would get one of those "one laptop per child" computers and feel good about myself.

[MadLyb]

Still not there

OK, we got the capacity to a usuable level, but where is Bluetooth Audio and a usable price?

I really like the design of it, but it is waaayyy overpriced. Maybe if they got the price down to $300 and added Bluetooth Audio.

[Starfires]

Flashy Prices

Wow, you're paying a lot for that flash storage. I know there are problems with hard drives, especially their bulk, but is all this really neccessary? Still, it's good to see the storage increasing, doubling each time. With video playback, 64 Gig and up would be a good amount.

[bboyswoosh87]

If they added GPS

I would only buy the iphone if it upgraded more memory like a 30 gb. I would also like to see faster response time, it is way too slow. Lastly, I would like GPS instead of that crappy Google maps. I think that would be a worthy adversary in phone market place. Well theres more, but it would satisfy me if i saw a phone like this.

[iBuzz]

The new iPhone's here!!! The new iPhone's here!!!

Now I can be someone! This is the kind of phone that makes
people! Things are going to start happening to me now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt7eLe8RBJQ

[jr20079]

Too expensive

$500? Get a laptop! But then again it is very portable

[Kingofthe440]

flash support

I don't know why the addition of 3G would be so big when there
is still no flash support! There are so many sites that rely on flash
for their core use, why can't they add this? In my opinion this is
what would propell the iPhone and iPod touch into the next
generation.

[BigGuns149]

Not the most expensive ipod in real or nominal dollars.

While the $499 ipod touch is pretty pricey it isn't the most expensive ipod ever in nominal dollars and definitely not real dollars. The ipod photo 60GB originally retailed for $599! In real dollars portable digital audio players in general have become much cheaper while offering more storage and features.


Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipod_photo

I think the news in my opinion is that we are starting to see 32GB solid state based players that are profitably being sold for ~$500. In a year the price could easily be half that. For the sake of audio 32GB is essentially infinite for a lot of people. You could store over a day worth of lossless audio on such a player and well over a week to two weeks of lossy audio depending upon the bitrate. Unless you are going to buy $100+ headphones or you are going to hook it up to a high end stereo system lossless doesn't make much sense. People who want a portable device for audio only have virtually no need for a hard disk player with that amount of storage. The only question is how much longer hard disk player will be popular for video?

[lrd123]

iPhone Capacity

I just wanted to say I luv my iphone. Would I like a 16G model yes, but the 8 GB has served me well. Imagine a phone you can actually learn from?

[krosavcheg]

then you need to see it

u have to see www.white.in to check this amazing thing that I came across.