The new nano has been stripped of its camera, squashed down into a square, and given a touchscreen. Not only that, but the $149 Nano reportedly only costs Apple a meager $45.10 to manufacture. I’ve heard of mark-up, but this is getting a little ridiculous.
Of course, Apple tells us that it’s all about the touchscreen, and I’ll admit, I do like having my iPod Touch. But you have to ask yourself, is it really necessary to put a touchscreen on a device that small? The last generation nano functioned perfectly fine without a touchscreen, and sold quite well as I recall.
By skipping the camera and using cheaper forms of memory, Apple managed to save on both component pricing and manufacturing. Given that the kind of memory used in the nano has consistently dropped in price on a yearly basis, it’s not surprising that Apple chose to use NAND flash memory over other more expensive kinds.
[via TGDaily]