Rarely will you hear me complain about the price of anything. I feel that companies and individuals have the right to charge whatever they want and we as consumers have the right to buy it or not. Ultimately if no one buys a product then the company will either fail or adjust accordingly. I saw this product recently and I thought "COOL!" That was until I reached the price point. My eyes opened wide for a bit, but then I remembered my rule. Don't complain. You don't know what it cost to develop the product?You don't know what it cost to manufacturer the product? You don't know what ti cost to distribute the product, etc.
How much would you pay for the world's only Flash Drive for iOS Devices?
A nifty product for sure. On one end it has a standard USB plug like any other flash/thumb drive and on the the other end it has a 30pin dock connector. Plug it into your computer, copy files to it and then plug it into your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch and copy files from it using their App. Sounds great! I could actually see using one of these from time to time especially when getting files from others. However, for me I can't quite justify the price (starting at $99.95 for 8GB). I can get an 8GB flash drive for $8 all day long. I can even get a 32GB flash drive for $27. Wait, that's not a fair comparison. These low priced thumb drives can't plug into your iDevices. Right! OK, I can sign up for a free Dropbox.com account and transfer up to 2GB's of files back and forth all day long for Free between my computer and iDevices. Wait, that's not really fair either. You need an internet connection to make that work and if you're wanting files from someone else then you got to do some setup work on their end to get the files into your Dropbox. True! Well can't you just download an App that lets you transfer files between computer and iDevices wirelessly? Yep, there are tons of them and here's a cool one called Air Sharing. Alas, it's not as simple as a physical flash drive either and these apps either require an internet connection, WiFi connection or Bluetooth connection. Yes, it would appear that this is a unique product offering a unique advantage and perhaps it can command a uniquely high price too. This product will be especially attractive to those who are now carrying their iPad most of the time instead of a laptop. The market will ultimately decide!
You can get an iFlashDrive starting at $99.95 for 8GB here.
Reminds me of SD & Compact flash cards – dirt cheap now but not so much when they first came out.
When flash memory first came out, it was expensive, sure, but it was also new ground. Tiny memory chips are commonplace now. There’s no way this should cost this much, except that it comes from Apple, and thus branded, will likely be bought by all the people that blindly pay for overpriced Apple gadgets… The fact that Apple likely has some patent on the device so it can’t be copied and manufactured in a competitive market should allow them to keep the price there too… Sick.
It’s not by Apple.
Can’t you use the usb connection kit and a standard thumb drive, though? Well, at least for an iPad.
Not really (unless you jailbreak it). Even if you managed to get the hardware to work there isn’t anything natively on the iPad that will access the files (aside from pics).
Let’s just hope the price reflects better working conditions for those who manufacture their products. Doubtful, but we can hope…
Absolutely right in first part of post, I will take in account that statement for my further comments about pricing.
Terry, the magic word here is “the only”. They are the only ones (so far) so they charge as much as they can/want.
The underlying problem is the fact that iDevices don’t come with a USB connection, just this “exclusive” Apple plug (part of the highly controlling Apple policies – don’t get me wrong, I like their devices, specially the stability) … but
1) you have the option of buying or not Apple iDevice (not really, since the Light It magazine only exists for iPad 🙂 )
2) you can always jailbreak it and use it freely!
I agree with you and this product is a little overpriced. I’m sure you know already but for $200 you can get the Seagate GoFlex Satellite drive which is 500GB. The drawback is you can only use it through wifi and I believe only through the App they provide. While I don’t have one yet this might be easier to use to transport more pictures, music, and videos.
Love your site!
Their software is free. I wonder if it would work with an SD card and Apple’s card reader?
Hi Terry,
First time commenter, Long time reader 🙂
You might want to check out: CloudFTP http://bit.ly/zbjKBI
It looks pretty neat.
Although a convoluted way I will try to copy data onto an SD card or Compact Flash via USB card reader, then plug the card into my Photojojo CF/SD ipad 2 card reader and transfer. If that works then BOOM !! It’s a workaround 😉
Just bought a 1tb portable hard drive from a well-known pricey company for $139. So paying $99 for merely 8GB does sound pathetic. I’m sure competition would rise up soon, simply because there’s a ginormous market for it today. Honestly, I would buy one of these for as high as $60; even though that too is ridiculously high. I take literally hundreds of pictures using my iPhone 4 for my photoblog everyday and would love a simpler process than iPhoto to have them transferred to my Mac. Let’s face it, iPhoto went downhill, at least speed-wise, with iLife ’11. Basically, I see myself using one of these in a very near future. And, to the least, I thank these people for starting a new lineup of product. Thanks for your thorough review, Terry.
But really for the price its not a necessarily necessary product lol Me myself I run back and forth on computers and macs and etc dropbox and box account with a skydrive account and a NAS server by apple I am able to run things seamlesly the fact that you need internet really is an anomoly because I have never seen anyone with a smartphone and no data plan. Its a cool tech but thats all it is #cool# people want usefull hastlefree to take the pain out of your ordinary routines, rather make your ordinary easier. Without rambling
What about AirStash? This is a wireless SD card reader solution. I use one and really like it. You can copy files onto the device using its built-in USB plug and then view or transfer them wirelessly to your iDevice. It supports WebDav, so I use it with an app called iFiles, although their own AirStash+ app has improved greatly.
http://www.airstash.com/#home
PS I have no connection to this company. just use and like the product.
Nice product, but it even cost more than the one above.