Is Apple perturbed by the rather feisty (and noisy) challenge being mounted by the Creative Zen Micro?

You be the judge. I mean, just because they recently launched a new, improved iPod mini that just so happens to have a gigabyte more memory and 8 hours more battery life than the Zen Micro doesn’t really mean that they’re getting all fidgety now, does it?

As far as “new, improved” is concerned, though, that’s about it for the latest mini. No color screen, no serious firmware updates. Which brings up the question, Why bother releasing a ‘new, improved’ iPod mini in the first place?

Unless, horror of horrors, it IS because they are actually worried about the Creative Zen Micro!

But seriously folks, this looks more like a preventive measure on Apple’s part. After all, in the end it’s all about value. And, as Jayvee notes in his upcoming review, the Creative Zen Micro simply does offer more value for money versus the current iPod mini.

So with the new iPod mini, perhaps Apple has indeed successfully managed to blunt Creative’s value proposition by a bit. In fact, the current crop of 4MB iPod minis have even been price-slashed by US$ 50.00.

The fight goes on…