A bridge to the future of the iPodAt your serviceSomething is going to have to fit in between the commoditized MP3 players you might find one day in Walgreens or 7-Eleven and the iPod touch. As Apple waits for the advances in chip technology needed to bring larger screens, more capacity, and wireless capabilities into power-constrained devices, it can start offering services to increase the attractiveness of lower-priced iPods, Rubin said. Just a combined 13 percent of our survey respondents said they are considering an iPod shuffle or an iPod nano for their next iPod purchase. It's great for Apple that so many people want the iPod touch, but that's leaving an awful lot of people on the sidelines who want a music player but can't justify spending US$299. One thing the company could do is finally drop its long-standing opposition to a subscription model and start selling iPods in conjunction with such a service, Rubin said. Apple has long maintained that people want to buy music, rather than rent it. However, that might not always be the case, as people are starting to get used to the idea of "cloud computing," where much of your data is stored by a third party. And as more and more people buy iPods for video as well as music, such a subscription service makes more sense. Apple is now offering TV and movie rentals through iTunes, and could extend some sort of similar packaging to music if the demand was there. I think most of us have made enough hasty music purchases, only to grow sick of that song or album after a week, to consider a try-before-you-buy type of service from Apple. Apple has a bit of a luxury in this area that it doesn't have in the Mac or iPhone market, in that it enjoys a dominant position from which to make its next move. The company seems to be in a similar position to when it introduced the iPod nano, killing off its most popular product in the process. It had a killer design with the nano, but had to make the tough decision to abandon its best-selling product. Now, with the iPod touch and the iPhone, Apple has a set of very compelling products that threaten its best-selling category. When recently asked if the iPod touch would cannibalize iPhone sales, Apple COO Tim Cook said he'd rather Apple cannibalize Apple than someone else. More capable mobile phones might take the less-profitable low-end, but Apple needs to make sure it keeps the meaty part to itself. Service-oriented iPods mixed with handheld computers might be the best way the keep the iPod gravy train going. This post was orginally posted on "One More Thing" blog at CNET News.com
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