"The fourth generation iPod has the new click wheel that many of our iPod Mini customers have been so excited about. So it simplifies the way that you get access to your music. We've also improved the battery life. We've added fifty percent to the battery playback time. And now you get up to 12 hours of playback in the iPod which is even slimmer than ever before."
And with a one hundred dollar price cut…that brings a 20 gigabyte iPod down to 299 dollars. So for 50 dollars more than the Mini version…you get five times the capacity. And Apple says it does not anticipate the same supply issues it has had with the iPod Mini. The iPod is so popular, it is even helping the company with its once dominant sales into the education market. New iPods are being given to Duke University's incoming freshmen…
"And they're going to pre-load it with educational content. And they're going to create an internal Web site which allows students to download even more information."
Such as lectures. Apple hopes the new iPods will help it beat back more challengers…including Sony. More on that in future reports. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.