“‘I think $249 is smart. You can always drop the price. It’s much harder to raise it,’ said Michael Gartenberg, a personal technology analyst with Jupiter Research. ‘I think we could see a $199 iPod in the next 12 months.’
Gartenberg said the iPod mini should help Apple win some of the lower-end sales now going to Sony, Creative Labs and Rio Audio, manufacturers who’ve built a market for sub-$300 digital music players.”