After an excruciating week-long wait, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) 
unveiled its revamped line of iPods in a carefully orchestrated event this week.
Living up to the expectations of many Apple devotees, the company refreshed its entire line of iPods, added a new member to the portable media player's family and broke the news on significant new offerings.
The company may have also stepped on a few toes in its massive rollout.
Mass Appeal
Apple has turned out a line of devices that cover the gamut of consumers, Michael Gartenberg, a JupiterResearch analyst told MacNewsWorld. Whether they are a value-driven consumer looking for the lowest price point, more concerned about style, buying on functionality and core features, or just looking for a device that can hold a ton of music and pictures "Apple pretty much has you covered," he commented.
"What Apple has done here is really come up with a very powerful product line going into the holiday season that really covered everything from the very low-end with the (US)$79 introduction Shuffle all the way to the higher-end devices," he explained. "They've really got something here for everyone in the purchase funnel.
"We've come a long way from that device that put 1,000 songs in your pocket," Gartenberg added. "Consumers now have a range of devices to chose from based on price, functionality and color."
Did Apple hit all the right notes Wednesday? With all its new toys and offerings, from the new iPod touch to the new WiFi iTunes Store and a $200 price cut on the iPhone for the holidays, has the computer maker managed to provide something for everyone, or could there be some hard feelings out there?
What a Way to Treat a Carrier
With the announcement that iPod touch and iPhone users will be able to download tunes directly to their device via Apple's new iTunes WiFi Music Store by the end of September, one has to wonder whether AT&T (NYSE: T) , the iPhone's exclusive carrier, needs any help removing the knife from its back.
The mobile service provider has not kept its ambitions for an iTunes-sized mobile music download service a secret. After several tries with various partners, AT&T launched its mobile music store back in October of 2004. The service has faced stiff competition from competitors such as Verizon's VCast.
As though AT&T did not face enough challenges in this market, now Apple CEO Steve Jobs has unveiled a way for users who own what is arguably AT&T's premier music phone to purchase songs with no help whatsoever from the carrier. Rather than operating on the carrier's EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) network 
, the new iTunes store runs via WiFi. During his presentation Wednesday, Jobs noted that WiFi "is not only faster than 2.5G, but it's faster than any 3G network."
Then there's Apple's partnership with Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) . The deal will allow iPhone and iPod touch users to access the iTunes WiFi Music Store, browse, search for, preview, buy and download music at any Starbucks location. The WiFi access comes with no strings or wires attached -- no connection fees or hotspot login required.
The kicker here is that Starbucks' connectivity runs on T-Mobile's HotSpot WiFi network.
"The writing on the wall has been there for quite a while that this was going to happen," Josh Martin, a Yankee Group analyst, told MacNewsWorld. "Everyone has been waiting for it, and it would be silly for AT&T to expect that Apple wouldn't do it.
"[AT&T] has had to make a lot of concessions [to be the exclusive carrier for the iPhone]," he added.
The Burden of Early Adoption
Apple's announcement that it would lop off $200 from the price of the 8 GB model of the iPhone was perhaps one of the day's more surprising revelations. It has been a scant 10 weeks since the iPhone took the stage on June 29, and slashing a third off of the $599 retail price from a device so recently released is almost unheard of.
"I was surprised, as I think most people were that they reduced the price of the iPhone by so much," Martin said.
Twenty-four hours after the announcement, there have been numerous reports on the mixed reactions from iPhone owners. Some, especially those who purchased the handset within the last few days, have expressed frustration with Apple's timing of the announcement. Other early adopters, however, accepted the news with a shrug of their shoulders, as they know that it's a risk one takes when one wants to be the first on the block to own a hot new gadget.
"At the end of the day it is the consumer electronics business," Martin pointed out. "And you know that when you buy something first you pay a premium for it. It was a very drastic price cut and if it had been for 50 bucks, people would be less upset."
A Little Help for Your Friends?
Apple, however, indicated it will attempt to meet its most eager customers halfway. In an open letter posted on the company's Web site Thursday, Jobs promised $100 to everyone who bought an iPhone before the cut.
"We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers," he said. "We apologize for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple."
The rebate, though, will be paid in the form of Apple store credit, meaning it can only be used to purchase more Apple goods, either through the company's retail locations or Web site.
Regardless of whether or not early buyers are slighted, analysts see the price drop as a highly aggressive move that will lead a surge in sales over the holiday season due to a significantly expanded market.
"The price cut will definitely be a good sign for consumers. $200 is a huge difference," Zippy Aima, an analyst at Frost & Sullivan , told MacNewsWorld. "Consumers who didn't buy it initially when they were selling it for $599 -- this will definitely motivate them now that it is only $399."
In the first few days following its launch, Apple sold 170,000 phones, Aima explained. To continue that volume of sales would be difficult when for many consumers, the price made the handset too expensive.
Meeting Expectations
Overall, Gartenberg, Martin and Aima all expressed satisfaction with the range and scope of Apple's Wednesday unveilings.
"Consumers are always going to be interested in something better and cheaper," Gartenberg stated. "Apple is actually pretty bold and aggressive about that. Yesterday the iPhone cost $600, today it is selling for two-thirds that price. That's any extremely aggressive move by Apple to get this product in as many hands as possible."
One thing Martin found disappointing was the relatively small amount of storage available in the iPod touch. With models limited to a maximum of 16 GB, it is just not enough storage, he said.
"That was the only problem I had with the announcement," he explained. "Understandably they are trying to include flash [drives] in that device because of battery life concerns and for form factor considerations. But I would really have liked to have seen them release a hard disk drive version of touch as well with 60 GB or 80 GB of storage."
Although some of the rumors about different products and functionality proved untrue, as in the case of the iPhone nano, such a device could still be in the works, according to Gartenberg.
"The same way that the iPod started off as a single product and quickly evolved into a family of products, we will see the same thing happen over time with the phones," he noted. "We saw some of the first steps toward that today with this OS X platform that the iPhone is built on has now made its way into the iPod."
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