This was a huge morale booster. The public may look at it like $79, but we view it as much much more. I would be surprised If many would simply just ebay it!

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Anyone notice how weird this guy's indexfinger is positioned in the picture?

Nice gesture from Apple though...

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Quoting Laurie A. Duncan, " One can't help but wonder what kind of morale boost one expects to get with a mere $79 incentive" How jaded! I think the morale boost is probably huge.

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Apple did the same thing when the first gen shuffles came out. It's not just an attempt at boosting morale. Apple is internally famous for it's generosity towards it's employees.

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ugh. do you have to be such a pessimist? i'm sorry, i guess i'll just resurrect the cube and hand them out for free to my employees.

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So much pessimism Laurie... Can't it just be left as a nice gesture? Ebay? Maybe. Morale booster? Maybe. Regardless, it IS a nice gesture.

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considering that the "company" store is open to the public, those "thefts" could be attritubted to anyone. have some respect for the employees.

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That's a pretty big moral boost I'd say. I think most employees realize that while it may be $79 to buy one, imagine how much it costs to just give one away to EVERY SINGLE EMPLOYEE! We're talking a lot of freakin' money.

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Actually I work for Apple: I'm pretty sure this item would fall under the standard "no resale in 12 months" deal that we're covered under for things like employee-discounted purchases.

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"One can't help but wonder what kind of morale boost one expects to get with a mere $79 incentive, but it's the thought that counts, right?"

Hmm, considering many companies give their employees NOTHING but work on a holiday...>_>

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regarding the 2G shuffle.. I noticed the earphone cable is about 20cm shorter than the one on the 1G .. what's up with that? The 2G will be further from the head in many cases (see photo)..

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I love this kind of stuff. The last company I worked for gave everyone 10GB 2nd gen iPods with our names engraved on the back one year, and iPod Nanos a couple of years later.

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I don't think that a $79 "bonus" is much of a bonus, whether it is in the form of cash or a 2G Shuffle. I think it is a nice gesture from Apple, I have no problem with that. However, I am wondering - didn't just about every Apple employee already own an iPod already? As for the index finger in that picture, I'd say the person photographed in the picture might want to consult his physician...

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Re: Comment 11 (earphone cable length)

Just the other day I was thinking how nice it would be if Apple shortened the length of the cable for the new shuffle. Why? Because I often find myself pulling the iPod out of my pocket when working out or off the elliptical when doing cardio. For me, at least, the current generation headphones are too long for their most typical use (during exercise). Others obviously don't feel the same way, but I'm very glad to hear that Apple shortened the headphone cables. And if it's too short, you can always clip it higher up on your clothing (granted, if you're not working out, perhaps there are situations where you don't want your iPod shuffle to be very visible).

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Re: Comment 11 (earphone cable length)

Just the other day I was thinking how nice it would be if Apple shortened the length of the cable for the new shuffle. Why? Because I often find myself pulling the iPod out of my pocket when working out or off the elliptical when doing cardio. For me, at least, the current generation headphones are too long for their most typical use (during exercise). Others obviously don't feel the same way, but I'm very glad to hear that Apple shortened the headphone cables. And if it's too short, you can always clip it higher up on your clothing (granted, if you're not working out, perhaps there are situations where you don't want your iPod shuffle to be very visible).

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It's nice when any company gives its employees a gift, smaller companies can give nicer gifts. On to something else now...why didn't Apple just make the shuffle attach directly to the head so we wouldn't have to worry about cables? Clips over the ears to attach, earbuds, small shuffle attached to one side...hmmm...maybe next time.

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Morale boost? that isn't the correct term. It's simply a "thanks" for helping apple grow that's all. Apple employees don't need any "morale boost"... it's just a token and early xmas present for themselves or others. It probably costs Apple less than $30 to make these, so times - 15,500, that's $465,000 - chump change.

I remember when steve gave us the first iPod at $200 off, that was not a "morale booster" either, it was just a "thanks".

thanks steve.

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It's a nice gesture, but don't forget it's good marketing too. The employees (at least in the retail division) who are given these will probably be required to wear them while on the sales floor so that they can show them off to people. Apple did something similar last year when they gave out free copies of iLife '06 and iWork '06, or when they give employees .Mac. Neat bonus for the employees, and then they get to know the product so they can sell more of it. Smart move if you ask me. Unless of course you already have an ipod (I wonder what percentage of Apple employees fit that category...), in which case it's just another accessory.

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that index finger is looking really strange!

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"I would imagine that most people that work for apple and get their discount already all have the iPods of their dreams... right?"

Nope. Even though I get a *really* steep discount on iPods (for the sake of my continued employment I'll neglect to mention HOW steep), I never got into the iPod thing until I got one for free... There were simply better things to do with my money (like buying $3K MacBook Pros for *way* cheap... :D)

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