1.8-inch HDD sales may point to iPod classic's death
updated 11:55 am EDT, Wed July 15, 2009
iPod classic phasing out?
The iPod classic may soon become extinct, at least in its traditional form, recent hard drive sales are thought to indicate. The Classic is the only iPod that continues to use a hard drive, specifically a 1.8-inch 120GB model. A new 250GB Samsung drive has failed to find significant sales, despite being deliberately marketed at builders of media players and netbooks.
The drive would not be as important if a 240GB Toshiba unit, released 10 months ago, was not also in a similar situation. Samsung and Toshiba are the only remaining makers of 1.8-inch hard drives, and if neither company is able to find establish a client base, it may imply by extension that Classics will no longer see any hard drive upgrades. Apple had the option of building a 240GB player at the time the 120GB Classic debuted.
Speculation has held for some time that the Classic could disappear, due to the encroachment of flash-based iPods on many of its features. Greater storage capacity is the Classic's only highlight, and the Touch may begin to compete with a 64GB model anticipated for the fall. A 128GB Touch would likely be necessary before the complete elimination of the Classic.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2008
A 240GB Touch would
be an awesome device except for the fact there would be few people that would buy it. My main music collection could fit within 20 GBs but I could really stuff a lot of videos such as complete TV seasons in a 240 GB device. In theory it would be sweet, but Apple doesn't build devices for low percentage users. They only build devices for average users and that's why their devices sell so well. It's a shame there aren't companies that could do such a retrofit such as adding a hard drive and battery to an iPod Touch.