Apple chases profit, not market share, with new iPods

Some analysts are saying that the pricing of the new iPods could provide an opening for the competition.

Research firm Gartner says that the new products are priced to capture profit instead of market share. The new Shuffle, for example, could have reasonably been priced at $49 given the price of materials, but it is at $79. The new Nanos were all priced quite conservatively given the cost of manufacturing as well. Since Apple is positioned so well at the top of the market, Gartner suggests that they have focused on improving their margins. They could always lower the price later if they needed to.