The iPod Conundrum: Do-All Devices or One-Hit Wonder?

I was admittedly a late adopter to the iPod. It took years for me to ditch my one-album-at-a-time Walkman CD player, and even then I tried out several iPod competitors before jumping on the Apple bandwagon.

The reason I bring this up is an article I saw recently about the iPod possibly being on the chopping block as sales of the devices have steadily declined over the years.

More importantly, this brings up an interesting debate about the roles we want our devices to play in our lives. At its heart, this is the question of "do I want my device to do everything pretty well, or one thing great?"

The biggest reason for the iPod decline is obviously that the iPhone can play movies and music in addition to app support and call capabilities. It's not a big leap to assume many people decided against the iPod because the iPhone can perform all of those functions.

And it's hesitations like those that have led a lot of skeptics to believe that Apple will start discontinuing some of their iPod models, especially the iPod Classic. But as someone who happens to own an iPod Classic, I think this would be a bad move.


Granted, my 160GB ipod doesn't have apps or calling capabilities, and is pretty bulky by iPod standards. However, what my iPod does have is 10 times the storage space of my iPhone and is a heck of a lot cheaper once you factor in data plans and whatnot.

For me, the iPod is the dedicated media-playing device with a long battery life that has gotten me through plenty of trips and vacations. If anything, I think the iPod Nano is in much more danger of extinction than the Classic.

Regardless, despite the demand for apps and mobile, there's a case to be made for the dedicated device. This is why I think the iPod, and all mp3 players for that matter, have a fighting chance to stay alive in the ever-crowded tech jungle.

Video Post: The big brand question with Google

The incredible amount of hype around Google+ is making companies eager to join the site. Google is forcing all but a few businesses to wait on their company profiles, however. They are planning for separate business pages in the future, but are not ready quite yet.

Worldless Wednesday: SEO Ranking Factors

Google+ Off to an Amazing Start

When Google launched its new social network, Google+, in late June many people did not have much faith in its success. Google's social network history is not strong: both Google Buzz and Google Wave were complete flops. This time, however, it seems as though Google has finally got it right.

Paul Allen, of Ancestry.com, has come up with a method for calculating the number of users on the site. His grand total? Just over 9.5 million! This number is sure to reach the 10 million mark soon; according to his math, 2.2 million users have joined in the last 32-34 hours alone. Google has yet to comment on the number of users, so these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. They do, however, give us antsy PR people a good estimate.

Last week we joined the network and explored the features. In our opinion, it will give Facebook a good run for its money. What really sets the site apart from other social networks is the group video chat capability and the personalized social circles. Group video chats make the site more inclusive than other sites, while individual social circles make it more exclusive. When you post content you can choose which circles will have access to the post.

It will be fun to see what other ideas Google has up its sleeves to keep the network successful and growing. The company has been a leader in many other areas, and seems to be headed in the same direction in the social network world.

Apple Users Increasing Their App-etite

Good news for iOS app developers: Apple users are not only buying more apps, but they are paying more for them too.

Apple dropped this announcement just days after last week's statement that more than 15 billion apps had been downloaded from its App Store.

However, this newest announcement has much more impact on the state of the mobile industry and deserves a closer look.

Apple's release noted that users are downloading 61% more apps than they were a year ago. Not only that, but the average selling price per app has increased 14% ($1.44/app) since 2010. That's great news for developers, who saw app prices fall 18% from 2009-2010. Obviously, the prevalence of iPads and their more expensive tablet-optimized apps have a lot to do with this.

This is all good news for app developers, but this doesn't necessarily mean those looking to get in on the app market should slap a $1.99 price tag on their app.

That's because 82% of iOS apps are still free. From a marketing standpoint, this means you have to take the time to weigh your pricing options. On one hand, you need to turn a profit to make the app development financially viable. However, if people can get something similar for free your app downloads will suffer.

Either way, it's clear that the app market is still going strong and worth consideration.