The slowing of the iPod

Apple reported its best quarter ever yesterday, but that didn't hide the news that iPod sales slowed to only 5% growth. Its to be expected. The iPod has had a long boom of 6 years. At some point, it has to level out. Portable video has not taken off - remember that until a few months ago, you couldn't get video on an iPod below $400. And most people just want a good music player as evidenced by the sales of the Gen 1 Nano. I don't think portable video is as much of a killer app, but Apple needs to make it more popular to get iPod growing again. Adding iPhone functionality to the iPod Touch is a good direction too, but again, most people just want a music player. Long term, I think the iPod is an exciting platform for all types of content, but Apple needs to open up and users need to catch up.