[Pride Of Lions]

I think that the exponential growth curve of the iPod has reached it's saturation point. We have to remember that,

1) Most people who want a hard-drive music player, want an iPod.
2) Most people who want an iPod have one by now.
3) The digital divide is very real and there's a striking disparity between the geeky (who get geekier) and the normal people (who are further removed as technology advances.)
4) Apple has hit such a home run with the a la carte music downloading service. People have really responded to being able to choose which songs they buy instead of having unlikable songs hoisted upon them.

I think that the only way for Apple to jumpstart this stagnation would be to appeal to the iPod owner who wants more innovation from their player (more storage space (80GB for me!), video player, phone (or something),...) and I'm not sure that Apple has anything like that up their sleeve.

I am a "Mac guy", but I'm not a super-fanboy. I like how Apple has created the demand for the player, created a wide spectrum of players for each price-point and want/need, given the masses an easy way to buy music online, and an entry to their computer division (should the people need a computer to hook up to their iPod or buy music online), and grudgingly admitted and rectified the battery issues.

Most of Apple's decisions have rippled the entire computer market and now several companies are playing catch-up and struggling to offer more desirable features at a lower price.

Apple's not the only company to offer DRM, but I do agree with you rlauzon, that the masses are unaccustomed to DRM and what it means or how to avoid/overcome it. I'm bothered by Sony's Connect music store and their player's ATRAC3 format (even though they've allowed MP3's lately) and especially bothered by Napster's misrepresentation of what their store offers (renting vs. buying music) and it's advantages over Apple's iTunes Music Store, but those are just examples of these companies fighting for a share of Apple's massive market share.

The geeky getting geekier, DRM doesn't affect them like it does the normal person. Everytime there's a digital obstacle, there are geeks worldwide fighting to overcome it. Whether it's burning a CD to remove the DRM, or recording the streaming music from the sound card or whatever, geeks are well equipped to handle any challenge.

I think that Apple will contemplate the market and make a decision on how to proceed, but the next untapped market is the non-computer user and getting computers on their desks and allowing them to join this emerging technology.
POL9A