Shanzhai Shuffle: 4% of the price, 8 times the storage

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Comments Posted on Sep 03, 2009 Posted by Yellow Tiger

Only in Shenzhen could you find a deal like this. The shanzhai guys have just released a range of 2nd gen iPod Shuffle clones that come in 6 colors and with up to 8GB of storage. You might have to buy a thousand of them to get the USD1.90 price tag, but given that the Shanzhai boys don’t try to tie you into iTunes (or whatever their equivalent is…zhaiTunes?), it’s probably worth it.

Obviously, any interested importer would be able to negotiate a smaller deal for a slightly greater price, but the point is that we have here what many people would consider a superior product for just a fraction of the USD49 cost of the Apple version on their online store.

Western Opportunity Analysis:

With the same styling and ultra-compact sizing as the Apple iPod Shuffle, along with support for MP3 and WMA file formats, USB compatibility through an integrated connector, and built-in lithium-ion battery, this device has enormous potential in the West.

Conclusions:

Looks identical, has MP3 and WMA bit rates of up to 320Kbps (same as the Apple product), I can load files directly from my PC, it has 8 times the storage capacity, and even if the guy importing them gave the retailer, his grandma, and his grandma’s cat a hefty margin I could still buy it in a store for less than half the price of the iPod Shuffle. Not really a hard decision when you look at it that way.

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