New Redesigned Karma and Nitrus???

According to ign, there is supposed to be a new karma and nitrus in the spring????

http://gear.ign.com/articles/461/461850p1.html

Rob, can you provide us anymore details?? I'm dying to hear about the new features!!!

Interesting. If true, this stops me from buying a Karma now until a new one is out. But does it make any sense for a company to release an updated version so soon after its initial launch? That will only hack people off who have already got one, and slow sales - or so I'd think. Many people may return their recently purchased Karma because of this.

So I'd be very surprised at a Spring annoucement.

By the way Rob... I'm available to beta test any equipment!!

Edit: Maybe the new small Karma is related to this thread?

if this is true, im seriously considering taking mine back

Greetings!

Interesting article.

As for waiting for something that is not yet for sale, I would only comment that it is similar to getting a new computer. I need some advice - I ordered the TNN500A case. Do I go with the top of the line processor and motherboard now, build the machine, use it and enjoy it; or do I wait with just the case, knowing that there will be an even more top of the line processor and motherboard at some time in the future?

I'd say its slightly different in that its generally accepted that a PC will be obsolete within a few weeks/months. But I would not expect this from an item such as the Karma. It just seems a bad PR move to me, and will annoy those who just bought one.

<rant mode>
Bad move? That's a load... How may revisions of the iPod have we gone through in the last couple years?

Nevermind...forget the iPod. Basically, we're suggesting they develop a product that gives them a market edge, and then set it on the shelf for a few months merely to satisfy a few customers who aren't ready for them to debut it yet so they can continue to have the "top of the line" player. Ridiculous the logic around here sometimes.

Releasing a new Karma will not obscelete the old Karma. If someone wanted to continue to have the latest technology, they are perfecty free to ebay the old one and pay the difference for a new one. That's the inherent danger of buying high on the technology/price curve.
</rant>

Fair enough, but Apple never announced a new iPod within weeks of the first one even shipping, and the new ones didn't offer huge enhancements. Remember that the Karma hasn't even been released in UK and Europe yet! And I don't know about other countries.

I'm all for product enhancement and progress, but my point is that it that it may well prevent people from purchasing the Karma if they know an even better one is due soon. Its stopped me from buying one. It can't be good for the company in UK and Europe.

I'm very excited at the prospect of a newer, smaller, colour Karma, but it does mean that I won't get the Karma thats out now, and I bet I'm not the only person to think this. Its not riduculous logic if you think about it.

True that. I guess that's what NDA's are for. They're not meant to be broken.

Its the price we pay for being gadget lovers. I'm surprised I own anything!

Agreed. He says he is under NDA, and then goes on to write about things he says he cannot write about. That is what I find interesting.

I wonder if Rob will have the page removed. It does seem to be breaking any agreement the author has.

Hmmm... For whatever it is worth, I am sure that Rio / DNNA will have to respond to that article in some manner.

Mmm.. DNNA should sue that reporter's as- off !

Not only that, but permanently ban him from all future press events. He's forfeited his integrity.

His article sub-heading is even...

"Rio shows us the goods and then tells us not to share the wealth"

Then he goes on to do all but show us a photograph! I smell a lawsuit!

I'm bring two posts together here, so hence the long quote from PhilipOHare:

In reply to:

---

from PhilipOHare:

Fair enough, but Apple never announced a new iPod within weeks of the first one even shipping, and the new ones didn't offer huge enhancements. Remember that the Karma hasn't even been released in UK and Europe yet! And I don't know about other countries.

I'm all for product enhancement and progress, but my point is that it that it may well prevent people from purchasing the Karma if they know an even better one is due soon. Its stopped me from buying one. It can't be good for the company in UK and Europe.

I'm very excited at the prospect of a newer, smaller, colour Karma, but it does mean that I won't get the Karma thats out now, and I bet I'm not the only person to think this. Its not riduculous logic if you think about it.

---

But consider this:
Apple is the worldwilde leader in mindshare amoung buyers of portable "hard disk based" music players. No-one should dispute this - its a fact as much as DNNA or anyone else may argue to point, its the current state of play [for now].

To see some comments in the media you'd think that Apple were the first and ONLY hard disk based "mp3" player in existence. [something we all know to be totally incorrect but thats the ignorance of the masses for you].

So, what to do about this situation?
Wearing your DNNA marketing department hat for a bit, here the plan you come up with:

Apple have just announced a "new" [so-so] mini-iPod - What better way to spike [affect] sales of this or any Apple portable music player product than to "leak" inside information about a newer and even better competitors product coming out "in the spring" [a really, really, vague term, that means all things to all people from end of this month or anytime up until the end of Q2 04 - i.e. late June].

This new Rio karma comes with Colour display and SD slot and probably "other features" not yet implemented in software by Rob and the team.

This "pre-announcement" won't affect sales outside North America as the existing products have not been released there yet [and now you may understand why], except for Japan, which is a much different market from elsewhere.

Inside North America [the main focus of DNNA], the critical "pre-Holiday Season" period for sales of new tech gadgets has passed, so any leak is not going to affect sales of the Karma or other products that much. If Karma wasn't a success by now, then this announcement won't affect things much. If Karma sold well up to now, then sales won't drop of the planet and there is still a few months worth of sales before the new product is out there in volumes.

If anything this will only ehance Rio's "mind share" as the average person may finally realise that Apple isn't the only game in town, and the other guys [i.e. Rio's] products may in fact be cooler than Apple and whats more the Rio products work well with Windows Pc's - the most common Pc platform in the world.

And [to steal a Gates-ism] Rios "play well with others", which is more than can be said for most of Apples products - iPods/iTunes included.

In reply to:

---

From Meatballman:

True that. I guess that's what NDA's are for. They're not meant to be broken.

---

Yeah, not unless they've been given the ok to do so. IGN is not stupid, they know not to bite [too hard] the hand that feeds them.
There may also be a "mock execution" to keep the story more believable.

But I don't think this is a serious problem - and certainly no more so than the "leak" last year of the Karma info and side-by-side with iPod photos was.

By the way Rob... I'm available to beta test any equipment!!

ROFL. Me too! Hey! I can test overseas! I'm going to Vietnam for two weeks!

I dunno tho, regarding someone's comment about the original not being released in the UK yet.. *IF* they are planning for a Spring announcement, I'm placing money that you won't see the 'original' Karma in the UK.

I'm rather.. impressed that they will add a SD slot. That just about sums up the downside for the Karma to me - Now I just hope they use standard filesystemming, and not custom crap like the old, *FIRST*, ORIGINAL PMP300. (Still have mine! Still use it occasionally! Just with the card was standard formatting. Make it much easier for me to swish music around!)

Me.

[Edit: Color LCD, SD slot.. Those will cost, however. Personally, if I had to choose, I would choose an all-flash memory (like those Flash IDE drives pointed out somewhere on the board here..) than those two features combined. I mean, I want to listen to portable music while I'm running, hiking, hunting, etc. I'm not going to look at the display that often..]

Perhaps they'll be two versions - one with colour LCD and SD slot, one without. Both same smaller size using the same drives, just a deluxe model or something that would cost a bit more.

But it does seem to be out in the UK. I didn't think it was until somebody else pointed out that it's on Amazon.

Yes, it was me that had pointed it out. It kept reading 'January 12th' though so I didn't think that it would out until then. 1-2 weeks for shipping still - do they actually have it?

I called Amazon Customer Service the other day to ask about it and the guy on the other end had no clue about when it was shipping. All he could tell me was exactly what the website said. He did tell me to call back or check the website again later. Not too useful really...

I phoned too and was told they had it, but when I asked about the 12th January part on the site, and the 2 weeks delivery, he changed his mind!

Not a good sign! I'll give them a call tomorrow or Tuesday and see if they'll have any more information on it.
I'm probably going to just get the UK spec one at some point as I want the full year warranty. Buying one in Canada or the US would be cheaper but it'll be difficult to get it repaired.

Rob, can you provide us anymore details??

I can't comment..

in the spring

..not least because I'm still choking from reading that!

Of course there will always be new players under development at Rio but if I didn't already have a Karma I would go buy one now anyway, without worrying about the above.

Rob

but Apple never announced a new iPod within weeks of the first one even shipping

Rio have not announced anything. Did you read the article? Could it be any more vague and unofficial?

Rob

I know, I know. Anything new and shiny excites me though!

Rio have not announced anything. Did you read the article? Could it be any more vague and unofficial?

Technically speaking, it could have been.. I mean, he could have called it 'Company X'.

Just tryin' to help,
Me.

Bah. Just called up and I think I've got somebody even more clueless than before. He said it should be shipping in 2 weeks and that was it. I asked if he could check to make sure order were being accepted and he said yeah... it says so on the website...

I'm confused by what the author wrote. "The other product I can't talk about is a new Nitrus." This is after he talks about the 4 GB version and refers to the pictures of the new color scheme. So is there a new Nitrus *besides* the 4 GB one? Is the color scheme shown the one for the 4GB version or the other mystery one that he can't talk about it (if it even exists)?

I seriously wouldn't take much notice of any of the rumours going around.

Rob

Rob, do you know if the Nitrus 4GB is still on schedule to come out in January (as stated in the news release)?

I've got some money burning a hole in my pocket here!