There has been much discussion (and unjust raging) across the Mac web concerning the price-point of the recently announced iPod mini after it's much-hyped introduction at Macworld on Tuesday. Many cite the valid point that for only $50 USD more one can obtain a 15GB regular iPod with a larger form factor. This is a very good point, but it misses the point of the iPod mini. The problem is that it is not feasible for Apple to produce both a cheap iPod one with good features.
The idea of a cheap iPod was a product of the rumor sites getting out of control and ruining the actual Apple product announcement and expo in the minds of many. This has of course happened before. I remember the introduction of the flat panel iMacs was also plagued by disappointment after many outrageous concepts started floating around (somewhat fueled by the hype slogans on Apple's homepage). People were also disappointed with the introduction of the original iPod, claiming that it was far to expensive and nobody would buy it. Now, however, everyone is raving about it, it is by far the most popular MP3 player and has essentially spawned the online music industry with the introduction of the iTunes Music Store. Could Apple have the same foresight on the iPod mini?
It is not possible for Apple to make an iPod that is both smaller and cheaper while maintaining the quality and feature completeness that is characteristic of almost all their products (Appleworks and a few others are the exception). As Steve Jobs noted, they are going after the high-end flash market which has devices priced at around $200 and holds about the same amount of the market pie as the iPod. The argument that for $50 more you can get 4 gigs instead of 256 megs is quite logical and makes good market sense. These flash-based players are also smaller than the iPod, thus to compete and stand out as a superior product they needed both a small form factor and a larger capacity (not to mention a good interface). All these things cost money and cannot be found and produced for $100 or likely not even for $200 as many of the rumor sites' sources were claiming. There is clearly a different group of people who want a smaller player than the iPod, and this is what Apple is going after.
Personally, I really like the iPod mini, and if I didn't have as much music as I do and didn't already own an iPod, I think I would highly consider getting it. The small form factor is really important and cool. People like small in tech-gadgets and Apple knows this. It is the size of a business card! Many argue that it isn't that much smaller than an iPod, but when you get to that kind of small size, a little bit of a size difference means quite a lot. The new aluminum enclosure is also a welcome improvement for scratch-resistance. Lastly, the new click wheel is a very good design concept for the minis. Incorporating the unique touch-wheel was a must, and they did it and actually improved on it. I think that putting a click-wheel on the 'big' iPods should also be considered after this. The current touch-sensitive buttons are far too easy to press by accident, in my opinion, and the click wheel stops this while compressing the interface at the same time.
We should really wait to see how the iPod mini does before passing judgment of it as a bad idea and immediate failure. Comparisons to the G4 Cube are premature - this is a totally different kind of product with a much broader audience. I, for one, look forward to seeing one in person and being drawn by the spell of another cool Apple product.