Apple iPod Shuffle G3 - Simplicity & style

On March 11, 2009, Apple Inc. released their third generation iPod Shuffle. As is always the case with Apple, they once again pushed back the boundaries and brought to market a smaller, sleeker and more technically advanced product than has ever been seen before.

At first glance it is clear that Apple have continued their tradition by setting their primary design principle to keep it simple. Not only have they reduced the number of buttons and components, they have also further reduced the size of an already tiny device, in the Shuffle G2. The reasons for them choosing to design such a tiny portable music player, that is just 45.2 x 17.5 x 7.8 millimetres in size and 10.7grams in weight (Apple Inc., 2009a), is not only so that they can appeal to exercise enthusiasts who like to listen to music without the inconvenience of a bulky product, but also in order that they can market it as the "The world’s smallest music player" (Apple Inc., 2009b). With this, they can continue to embed their company and product names into the minds of electronics consumers, in order to maintain their world wide domination of the portable music player market.

Hand in hand with simplifying the design and minimising the size, Apple have had to become ever more inventive and innovative, in order to maintain and improve on the iPod's features, whilst maintaining a level of usability and making it as intuitive as possible, something that Apple have prided themselves on in recent years. This attempt to minimise the information content of the design has lead to Apple introducing new inline controls on the headphone cord, a headphone jack-to-USB charging cord (Apple Inc., 2009a) and their new speech-synthesis system, VoiceOver, which eliminates the need for a visual display and aids accessibility for visually impared users (Apple Inc., 2009b).

When considering the effect of these design principles on the quality of the product, I feel that the decision by Apple to focus their design on reducing the size has increased the Shuffle's fitness for purpose. I feel that the changes have not only made the Shuffle more useable and more suitable for runners, cyclists, rowers, etc, due to its small, lightweight design and strong metal clip, but also made the product more aesthetically pleasing and desirable. In addition to this, in Apple's attempt to reduce the size, complexity and number of components, they have also produced a very competitively priced 4GB portal music player (R.R.P. $79 (Apple Inc., 2009c)). In fact, despite the increase in features and quadrupled storage capacity, the new iPod Shuffle is being sold at the same price as the previous generation Shuffle which was released two and a half years previous (Apple Inc., 2006).

This cost is no doubt, partly due to the simplicity of the case and user-interface designs, but also the reduction in components and the resultant increase in power efficiency. The third generation iPod Shuffle's most expensive components are it's processor and flash drive (approx $6 each) and its tiny lithium ion battery (approx $1.20) (Hesseldahl, 2009). If comparing this with Apple's 30GB iPod Video G5; large contributors to its $299 price tag are the large capacity hard disc drive (approx. $73), the digital display (approx. $20) and the multimedia processor chip (approx $8) (Linden, Kraemer & Dedrick, 2007), all of which Apple have managed to eliminate from the design the new Shuffle.

Often with a decrease in size, an increase in technological complexity is required, however, Apple have almost miraculously managed to reduce the size and complexity of the electronics, yet increase the features and maintain the cost. I feel that part of this is owed to advancements in technology but it is also down to Apple's continued dedication to their primary design principles. Not all of their principles, however, have been to the benefit of the quality of the new Shuffle. In keeping the design simple and reducing the size, they have likewise had to downsize from a 220mAh to a 73mAh battery pack (Mohns, 2009). As a result, the battery life has decreased from twelve hours for the G2, to ten hours for the G3, something that may well be frowned upon by consumers (iPhone Spies, 2009). Yet I still feel that Apple's sales figures will do the talking, and the new iPod Shuffle will soon be walking off the Apple Store shelves.

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References

Apple Inc.. (2006). Apple Unveils the New iPod shuffle. Retrieved April 30, 2009, from
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/sep/12shuffle.html

Apple Inc.. (2009a). iPod Shuffle - Technical Specifications. Retrieved April 30, 2009, from
http://www.apple.com/hk/en/ipodshuffle/specs.html

Apple Inc.. (2009b). iPod Shuffle - Features. Retrieved April 30, 2009, from
http://www.apple.com/uk/ipodshuffle/features.html

Apple Inc.. (2009c). Apple Store. Retrieved April 30, 2009, from
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipod/family/ipod_shuffle?mco=MTE2NTU

Hesseldahl, A. (2009). Deconstructing Apple's Tiny iPod Shuffle. Retrieved April 29, 2009, from
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2009/tc20090410_507831.htm

iPhone Spies. (2009). iPod Shuffle 2nd gen vs iPod Shuffle 3rd gen. Retrieved April 29, 2009, from
http://www.iphonespies.com/ipod-review/ipod-shuffle-2nd-gen-vs-ipod-shuffle-3rd-gen/

Linden, G, Kraemer, K, & Dedrick, J. (2007). Who Captures Value in a Global Innovation System?. Retrieved April 25, 2009, from
http://pcic.merage.uci.edu/papers/2007/AppleiPod.pdf

Mohns, R. (2009). iPod Shuffle 3 Review. Retrieved April 30, 2009, from
http://www.macintouch.com/reviews/shuffle3/