Gazotto recently discussed Apple’s new releases (new iPod, iPod nanos, and iPod shuffle). Today I stumbled upon an article written by Dan Nystedt on DigitMag. In it I found pretty interesting numbers that would lead me to believe that Apple has totally ditched the fight to dominate market share but instead has priced the new iPod to capatalize on the profit.

Why would we say that? Well the fact is how they priced the iPods. For example the article sites a report by Gartner analysts Joseph Unsworth and Jon Erensen. Here’s what Apple pays for each iPod and then what they are charging:

First we’ll take the iPod Shuffle. It is currently being priced at $79 (all values US). It costs Apple roughly $30 to make the Shuffle. So instead of pricing it down to something reasonable like $49 and create some demand they’ve decided to keep the price at high level.

They also looked at the iPod nanos. The 2 GB nano costs Apple $70, but it will cost you $149. The 4 GB nano costs Apple $90 to manufacture, but it will cost $199 to buy. And similarly with the 8 GB nano: comes with a $249 price tag but costs Apple $130.

They also hate the fact that Apple didn’t keep the 1 GB nano which they state would make a huge mass market product at about $99. I also commented that I didn’t like that move by Apple in my previous post.

The article also stated that because these new iPods really haven’t changed all that much in terms of features it allows other companies like Microsoft (sporting the new Zune) to eat up some more pieces of that market share pie.

I believe the reason Apple didn’t lower there prices was simple - they didn’t have to. They are still the biggest player in portable digital media (75.6%) and so can afford to keep their pockets lined. Now, I don’t hate Apple, but from a business sense this is probably the right move for them though as a consumer it makes me go nuts.

However, it leads you to wonder if Apple does gets a good competitior (maybe in Zune), will their prices drop?