add on memory...

[lepht]

i am reading all kinds of wishes and hopes for new phones and touches and it seems that most of them (at least for the phone) are a wish for more memory. i like how thin the phone is, but i think apple has become obsessed with being small and with the iphone, i think it affected the hardware that most people desire with ipods (memory)

so why should we have to buy a new phone every time they release something new. sure there may be other hardware upgrades, but if you are happy with your phone and you just want more memory, why not have some sort of a memory stick to plug into the iphone? honestly a 20gig add on could be made into an iphone dock to streamline its look. heck, make it the size of the iphone so you can sandwich it onto the back.

a lot of people say something to the effect of "they want your money". i disagree. they want profit. companies can make profit off of anything. fast food places normally make the most profit on soft drinks!

so if apple were to come out with new hardware, why not an add on memory base for the iphone/touch. charge enough to make reasonable profit but keep it cheap enough for people to gobble up.

[Code Monkey]

Plenty of manufacturers already do this, but Apple won't because you are wrong with your assessment of how Apple rolls. For example, back when a low priced computer system was two grand, Apple soldered the CPUs to the motherboard so you couldn't simply upgrade the CPU. At the very least you'd have to purchase a whole CPU-mobo combo that Apple was the sole vendor for and, conveniently, they set the price at about $750 for such a minor upgrade.

They don't do "reasonable profit", never have, never will.

They don't do user initiated piecemeal upgrades, either.

Their very business model has always been to sell complete replacements whenever they possibly can and to make purchasing a complete replacement the most attractive choice by intentionally scuttling alternatives. It's been like this since the Apple II was cutting edge, don't be expecting things to change.

[paranoidxe]

Originally Posted by lepht

i am reading all kinds of wishes and hopes for new phones and touches and it seems that most of them (at least for the phone) are a wish for more memory. i like how thin the phone is, but i think apple has become obsessed with being small and with the iphone, i think it affected the hardware that most people desire with ipods (memory)

so why should we have to buy a new phone every time they release something new. sure there may be other hardware upgrades, but if you are happy with your phone and you just want more memory, why not have some sort of a memory stick to plug into the iphone? honestly a 20gig add on could be made into an iphone dock to streamline its look. heck, make it the size of the iphone so you can sandwich it onto the back.

a lot of people say something to the effect of "they want your money". i disagree. they want profit. companies can make profit off of anything. fast food places normally make the most profit on soft drinks!

so if apple were to come out with new hardware, why not an add on memory base for the iphone/touch. charge enough to make reasonable profit but keep it cheap enough for people to gobble up.

By adding a expansion slot that kills a big selling point for apple. Capacity. I'd still be on a 2nd generation nano if it had an expansion slot.

But see, we should be buying new iPods for functions, not just capacity

[lepht]

i still think if apple made a product with no memory or a very low amount, but still refreshed the functions and user controlled part and had an expandable memory sold separately, people would go for it.

i want an iphone that can replace all of my devices. i dont own a gps cause i don't really need one anymore, i do have an old 80gig and a new shuffle. if instead of the older devices, i could have an iphone with expandable memory, i could save some pocket space and have an iphone that fits my wants/needs a bit better.

apples big sell point can still be memory, but have it on a separate unit so people can get what they need.

[Jesse Hollington]

I don't think the debate is on whether such a device would sell... I think we all agree that it would. However, as Code Monkey points out, doing this is just not Apple's style and never has been. There are a number of different reasons for this, mostly centered around aesthetics, engineering and revenue generation. The bottom line is that it's not very likely to change.

[jasoncordelle]

I have to agree with all of the above naysayers, here - As Jesse pointed out, it's not a matter of whether add-ons would sell. It's a matter of how Apple like to do things regardless of what the buying public might think.

Look at the sales figures - they sell millions of units every time a new product is launched. To Apple it's all a part of the overall marketing strategy. If they sold add-ons that took away even part of their upgrade sales they would see that as cannibalism of their core marketing strategy.

Plus, a memory unit that was added to the iPhone or Touch would look unsightly...at least to Apple.