iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED now shipping

Go and get it! Right on schedule, the iPod nano (product) RED is now available on the Apple store for $199. That's the same price as the other 4GB iPod nanos only with RED, Apple will donate $10 from each purchase to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa. Besides, that red is hottastic, so what's keepin' ya?

[Thanks, Stephen and Steven]

[blackout @ Oct 13th 2006 5:42AM]

"so what's keepin' ya?"


the fact that it isnt at the UK shop yet

[Chris @ Oct 13th 2006 5:56AM]

$10 or 5%.

that seems kinda crappy don't you think.

[Richard @ Oct 13th 2006 6:19AM]

I guess that means that you donate more than 5% of your pre-tax income to charities?

[Paul S @ Oct 13th 2006 6:05AM]

Can't buy it in the apple.com store yet though, it's not an option.

[blackout @ Oct 13th 2006 6:06AM]

better than what the zune's donating �_�


better than nothing at least.

[Rohit Kapur @ Oct 13th 2006 6:20AM]

The iPod has been around for a long, long time now. It is already the market leader and has made quite a decent profit for Apple. The Zune, on the other hand, HAS NOT EVEN BEEN LAUNCHED YET. It's a pretty big gamble for Microsoft as it is. You'd have to be a fool to think that they'd donate even 5% of their sales to charity right from the start.

[Jarod @ Oct 13th 2006 7:15AM]

"You'd have to be a fool to think that they'd donate even 5% of their sales to charity right from the start."

You'd have to be an even bigger idiot to even consider purchasing that piece of trash aka microshit zune!

[Gav @ Oct 13th 2006 6:21AM]

As a famous supermarket chain in the UK says.

"Every little helps"

[Random @ Oct 13th 2006 6:29AM]

are these U.S only or something?

[patrick @ Oct 13th 2006 7:00AM]

I think I will just stick with my 8gb black one thanks. If I want a different color I can just go here.
http://www.decalgirl.com/browse.cfm/2,226.htm
They have alot of different choices and they come with screen protectors.

[LittleJoe @ Oct 13th 2006 7:01AM]

I wish the other colors were this sexy. Maybe we can get some more Easter colors?

[bbydon @ Oct 13th 2006 7:15AM]

I would guess that apple makes maybe $25 on each nano sold after all is said and done (parts, labour, packaging). So to give $10 of that isn't that bad. I do think it should be more but i dont think its as bad as everyone thinks. If they sell a million of these, and apple will actually sell tons more with christmas and valentines day rolling around, then they just gave 10 million to the cause.

[o rly @ Oct 13th 2006 11:40AM]

bbydon: "I would guess that apple makes maybe $25 on each nano sold after all is said and done (parts, labour, packaging)."

Your guess would be wrong according to http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2005/tc20050921_4557.htm as they have about a 50% margin (September 2005.)


JoJo : "I used to work for Circuit City and I can tell you that retail stores make exactly $10 on each iPod sold, leading me to believe that Apple makes probably less than that."

Unless you were a higher up in Circuit City (unlikely) or were on the purchasing division (obviously you weren't), you don't know how much Circuit City actually makes per iPod and it's definitely more than $10; regarding how much Apple makes, see the link above or http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2052 (September 2006, 40%-60% for the new iPods) as it's been known for years that Apple makes their money from the iPod hardware and not from iTunes.




This is great however, to see Apple taking from one Third World country (China through FoxCONn and cheap labour) and giving a small portion of the proceeds to a Least Developed/Fourth World Country (Africa). It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul; no wonder it's red.

[Rohit Kapur @ Oct 13th 2006 7:32AM]

Now come on. That's not fair. The player isn't even out yet and you're judging. Personally, I have a 3G 15GB iPod and I still love it. But I'm still curious about Zune. If they release a firmware upgrade that'll allow song transfer via PCs (or Macs) to the Zune, then I think it'll one-up the iPod in features. But I still think the iPod looks better. :-)

[Version 1.0 @ Oct 13th 2006 7:33AM]

Just $10? C'mon guys...

[Manan @ Oct 13th 2006 8:04AM]

Red is hot....still ipod 30g video is the best!!
http://technolatest.blogspot.com

[Mrfreezie @ Oct 13th 2006 8:22AM]

Wow, I might buy that because the red is such a good color for the nano.. It really looks good.

...Plus Oprah..so, yeah..

[Cameron @ Oct 13th 2006 8:52AM]

How is it possible that every post about Apple (no matter what) turns into a chance to either:
a) bash Apple
b) bash Microsoft

To the people who think this isn't enough: it's better than nothing and it's better than what you or I have given lately.
To the people who are using this post as a chance to attack Microsoft (Microshit? what are you 7?). Heard of the Gates Foundation? Headed by, you know, Bill and Melinda Gates. Who is Bill Gates again? OH! YES! The owner/CEO whathaveyou of umm.. what was that company again? Umm... OH! Microsoft!

(here's how bad this kind of shit has gotten, that I have to write the following disclaimer: This comment was written on an Intel iMac, with a brand new Macbook sitting beside me, a dead first gen Ti Book beside it, a B & W G3 sitting on the floor and with my heart pineing for my souped up G4 tower - may it's PSU rest in peace)

Oh, and to the doofus that said something about "oh this colour sucks, I can just get a decal cover to get a nicer one. Do you read the posts before you comment?

[Zac Grose @ Oct 13th 2006 9:05AM]

What's great is that people are now bashing Apple for (of all things) not donating enough money to charity! How many DAP manufacturers are committing to this sort of relationship?

5% is a huge cut from each item sold. Far more likely would have been 1% or so - still a lot of money. And yet people manage to criticise.

And then turn the conversation towards the Zune. How the hell did that happen?

[bud newp @ Oct 13th 2006 9:25AM]

What?! No pink one? It is Breast Cancer Awareness Month! The RED is very sexy though.

[Chase M. @ Oct 13th 2006 3:53PM]

is there not already.. a pink one?

[Andrew @ Oct 13th 2006 9:26AM]

Is it really named product? Pretty ugly name, makes you feel like a real consumer.

Also I never really liked ipods for their functionality but their styling of course was always good. These nanos are a huge step backwards. Sure the old ones scratched like nothing else but at least they didnt look like cheap minis.

[Galley @ Oct 13th 2006 9:41AM]

I dunno; I kinda like the Target Special Edition better. ;-)

http://www.galleytech.com/Galley/images/iPod-Target-Special-Edition.jpg

[Jasen @ Oct 13th 2006 9:50AM]

How 'bout a yellow one for a "Support the Troops" charity.

And a green one for the Sierra Club or Nature Conservency or National Parks.

And a blue one to save the whales.

And a white one for... uh, never mind.

I think it's a nice marketing gimmick and would like to see other companies do the same sort of thing. Maybe they could do something like they do with license plates - get enough people to pre-order a certain color and do a special run.

- Jasen.

[Jake Fischground @ Oct 13th 2006 9:54AM]

This is the best color so far, I think!

[stuey @ Oct 13th 2006 9:59AM]

Rather cynical, but i must agree -

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/spend-to-save-africa-its-a-red-herring/2006/10/06/1159641528387.html

[Ben @ Oct 13th 2006 10:28AM]

Oprah/apple said in stores today too!

[Martha Stewart @ Oct 13th 2006 10:29AM]

By mass producing these ipods, like my delicious apple crumb cake, they probably cost the company $20 or less per unit. Apple is EASILY making more than $25 profit for each one sold. Think about the cheap labor they use to manufacture these. The only thing better would be if Apple opened a factory in Africa cause then they could probably lower their labor costs even more.

-Martha

[JeanBeigne @ Oct 13th 2006 10:36AM]

What's with the strange name??? What does the "(PRODUCT)" stand for??? Why is it in parenthesis'??? Hello??? The emperor is naked here!

[Jeremy @ Oct 13th 2006 10:39AM]

For everyone saying "Only $10???...":

Apple has sold more than 38 million iPods in the past year...so assuming iPod sales remain consistent, and even if these certain (Product)Red ones were to make up just 5% of that, that turns out to be about 1.9 million Red iPods

1.9 million Red iPods at $10 donation each = $19,000,000

19 million is quite a hefty sum.

[Oprah @ Oct 13th 2006 10:42AM]

I normally let Steadman do all my posts but I have to say...

it's...

the...

new...

red...

NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

(Crowd goes buck wild, crying ensues)

I ate 3 this morning and they are crunchy and delicious!!!!

-Oprah

[tigeruppercut @ Oct 13th 2006 12:15PM]

lol. (slaps knee) EL OH EL!

[Timus @ Oct 13th 2006 11:13AM]

Gotta remember $10 goes a long way in Africa. If every family in the US could donate $10 that would prob generate half a billion. Half a billion in Africa would be enormous. Here in the states though it would buy a pack of Now and Laters... :)

[drfish @ Oct 13th 2006 11:16AM]

If you take into account the costs of doing a special production run of a new color, and distribution hassles of putting a new color into the channel, and the fact that they're not tacking on more to the price in order to make the contribution (the consumer doesn't have do pay more, they just have to be willing to buy red), and the fact that they're letting this cause piggyback onto a VERY high profile item...

I'd say it's really generous. It's not like anybody who wouldn't normally buy an ipod is going to get one just because of this. More likely, people who are in the process of purchasing will see the snazzy red, realize that it doesn't cost them anything to make a charitable contribution, and do so. And each time they do, it raises awareness and _costs_apple_money. In lost profit, in production changes, in distrubution network.

What do they gain? Publicity and some goodwill. Relatively fair tradeoff, given their existing relationship with U2 and Bono.

[Brian @ Oct 13th 2006 11:31AM]

I don't know much about the medication they use, but I found a price chart for different types of medication for AIDS, the cheapest is about $265 US per month. The iPOD costs $200, with $10 going to the medication.

318 iPOD's to save 1 person for 1 year.

This may be different depending on the cost of the medication in different parts of the world.
I already donate $40 per month to a charity pool through a local church, and I think this "(Product)Red" is a good way for the average material freak to get some donations in, even if the participating company makes a killing in sales off of it, it's still a donation.

[mjf @ Oct 13th 2006 11:37AM]

being a poor college student

[chip @ Oct 24th 2006 11:20PM]

Well I worked for RadioShack for a little over a year, and I was in charge of purchasing, and I can testify to the fact that we made on average $10 per ipod. Maybe $17-20 on the 60gb, and as little as $4 on the shuffle. But average, (and on the 2-4gb nanos) $10.

I think that article that is estimating 50% markup on the ipods is wrong. I'm sure apple is making something before sending them out to other retailers, but I seriously doubt it's 40%.

[Michael VanDyk @ Oct 13th 2006 12:15PM]

The fact that some of the profit is going to fight aids in a country that can help themselves. Why the hell would anyone want to fight aids in ANOTHER country. Isn't there enough cases of it here? We should help our own first. I can understand helping with starvation and the like, but aids? Just send them an STD video or something.....

[Javaflash @ Oct 13th 2006 12:29PM]

Brilliant, just brilliant. I can't think of a better Christmas gift than iPod Nano RED. This is going to top this year's bestseller list. Good causes, awareness, negligible price, hip & elegant, even Oprah endorsement (most gift buyers are in her audience or in the echoes of her audience).

[Benny @ Oct 13th 2006 12:56PM]

Not happy.

1) It would have been nice to think my indulging would help out those in poverty.
2) It's much hotter than my Blue Nano.

[Kyrra @ Oct 13th 2006 1:06PM]

I feel the Moto Red here...
http://direct.motorola.com/hellomoto/red/

[tekdroid @ Oct 13th 2006 1:31PM]

i say we start a fund for the workers in the Foxconn factory in China (manufacturing these ipods) to promote fair working conditions..

[Big Ed @ Oct 13th 2006 8:03PM]

Fair enough, and while were at it, let's start a foundation for the poor Asian and Hispanic workers that make your shoes, clothes, computers as well. I hope you don't honestly think Apple is the only one exploiting poor desperate people do you?

[macona @ Oct 13th 2006 1:39PM]

I like the red! But I couldnt care less about AIDS in africa.

[marvin @ Oct 13th 2006 1:45PM]

chicks will dig that

[Ben @ Oct 13th 2006 2:48PM]

I just went to apple in Chicago. I touched the same iPod the Oprah and Bono did. Then I bought one! It looks way better in person BUT, the icons on the click wheel are gray :( boo, hiss!

other than that, it looks like the normal iPod nano box.

[Liraco @ Oct 13th 2006 6:25PM]

That's a nice color, it'd be nice if Apple coughed up a tad more from these sales, but whatever, it's apple. It's not like we can expect something nice from them. I'm sure it was quite hard just to get 5% :P

[DC MIke @ Oct 13th 2006 6:52PM]

Why do the rich always expect the mass market-working class to donate to charity?

Are they not rich; because of the mass market-working class in the first place?

Rat - Bastards! Oprah & Boner

[Count Chocula @ Oct 13th 2006 6:58PM]

Check this out...

I bought a black 2 gb ipod nano refurb + a iskin silicon cover pak one red and one blue and only spent:

refurb 2gb nano $99.99
iskin cover pak red/blue $9.99

I still have left over $90.01 to give to charity.

[Count Chocula @ Oct 13th 2006 7:00PM]

Apple should start having Africa make the ipods.
Then it's a win/win situation for all.
cheap ipods and cheap labor.