macnn/electronista
05/23/2008, 12:00pm, EDT
Friday, May 23rdSony Walkman E020 headed to US, priced
Sony has already confirmed a US launch and set pricing for the E020 series Walkman lineup, says the Asian branch of Crave. In announcing an Asian launch, Sony says the flash-based music player will sell for $69 in a 1GB edition and $79 for 2GB of storage. The E020's signature swappable faceplates will make the overseas trip and should sell separately for $12. beyond those that come with a given device.
In the transition to the US, the new Walkmen are reportedly dropping the need for Sony's Windows-only SonicStage software in favor of a drag-and-drop solution that lets anyone load unprotected AAC, ATRAC, MP3, or WMA tracks through their operating system. Sony also ships the E020 lineup with a built-in three-line color LCD with album art support and premium earbuds.
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$10 diff for a GIG?
This is just dumb marketing. Why even bother with the 1 GB model? $10 to double the memory is a no-brainer. The only people that would buy the 1GB are those that don't know and will feel like they got ripped off later.
Sony is a sucka
Wow, it took only 10 years for them to figure out that all folks want to do is drag and drop what they have onto the device and just have it work for fcuk's sake??!
LOLSONY
It's all about upsell
Sony is likely making a bigger margin on the 2GB model, so it probably lifted the base price close enough that it would seem "obvious" that the $79 model is the sweet spot. Apple does that in reverse with the iPod touch; going from 8GB to 16GB with the iPod touch doesn't actually cost $100 more, so Apple is making a larger profit on the more expensive model.
Re: upsell
I'm not sure what you mean by saying "Apple does that in reverse". It seems the same to me. The 8GB model is priced higher than what it should be so people will more likely go after it.
IIRC, game consoles sell the same way.
Ah,
Marvellous. And obviously for the obscene prices they throw at the end-user these days Adobe will be shipping 64-bit Mac suites by October... oh, wait a minute.