PriceSCAN Blog: Retailers Drop iPods Ahead of Apple's "Surprise" Announcement

« The Long, Slow Death of Digital Rights Management | Main | iPhreaks »

Retailers Drop iPods Ahead of Apple's "Surprise" Announcement

Electronics | Sep 5, 07

Here at PriceSCAN.com we've noted that several major retailers have stopped selling key iPod models during the two weeks before Apple's "mystery" announcement, which is to be made later today.

Jobs & Co. have been tight-lipped about exactly what the new hotness is, but a huge clue is to be found in PriceSCAN's data on the decline in the number of merchants selling some of the most popular iPods. This withdrawal has been particularly acute in the case of the 80 GB Video iPod and the 30 GB iPod, but we're also seeing a significant drop-off in the number of sellers offering Nanos, particularly the 2 GB and 4 GB models. This may reflect some awareness in the retail community of the imminent release of new iPods, especially in the video-enabled, large hard drive category. If more advanced models are coming, retailers may prefer not to be caught with a lot of older inventory they might have to mark down after the new releases, and thus may not have replenished their supply of current models in the wake of summer and back-to-school sales. And of course Apple itself could have chosen to throttle down production of the outgoing models to make way for the next generation, thus preventing retailers from restocking and possibly sending them a signal that new models are forthcoming.
In any case, it appears the lack of current model availability has resulted in something of a price squeeze in some cases. For example, as the PriceTrend graph below demonstrates, the lowest price offered by vendors on this site for an 80 GB black Video iPod has risen from around $325 to just shy of $350 in recent weeks.

Time Period: 9/18/2006 through 8/27/2007
Each tick mark represents one week
Red = High Price, Blue = Average Price, Green = Low Price

Perhaps we'll see a new Video iPod incorporating the iPhone's touchscreen technology; something like what I dubbed the "iPhod" back in July (see "iGroans and Vist-ful Thinking"). And in light of the exit of some large sellers from the Nano market, there may well be a new version of this model as well.
In the minutes before a tsunami hits the shore, the tide tends to recede in an ominous retreat. I suspect Cupertino is treating us to a similar phenomenon, and around 10:00 am west coast time that big wave of Jobs-driven hype should crash down on us all and may well confirm at least some of this hypothesis.