Tech giant Apple has come under fire for repeatedly releasing new models, raising consumer fears about 'planned obsolescence', writes Jim Colgan in New York.

On a Saturday night last November, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs was introducing a new iPod portable music player on live television. It wasn't the mini, or its successor, the nano - it was the iPod "micro". It was smaller than the palm of a hand, it held 50,000 songs and it could play films.

A few minutes later, Jobs announced an even newer iPod - the piquena - which was even smaller and could hold 80,000 songs. But before he was finished, he interrupted himself again, held up his thumb and forefinger and declared yet another version that held a million songs that he was calling the iPod invisa.

Unfortunately for anyone interested, these "new" devices never actually made it to the market. In fact, the man announcing them was not really Steve Jobs, but an impersonator on the US TV show, Saturday Night Live. Although the news was fake, the joke reflected a sentiment that rings true for owners of the 41 million iPods sold worldwide. In the five years of the player's history, there have been 11 different versions.

And just four months after the first video iPod was released late last year, speculation was mounting about yet another iPod overhaul.

As the gap narrows between the release of gadgets like Apple's music player and the rate at which current versions are taken off the market while they are still in high demand, some industry observers are wondering whether this takes a toll on consumers who shell out hundreds on the devices.

"I think you could reach a point where products are coming out so quickly that it paralyses people," says Peter Rojas, editor-in-chief of Engadget, a popular weblog devoted to consumer electronics. And it has some consumers contemplating what cynics call "planned obsolescence". The concept of planned obsolescence has been around since the early days of consumer electronics. It involves the strategy where manufacturers pressurise people to buy newer product models by making the ones they old seem passé or in some cases, no longer functional.

A common example is the PC buyer who feels that he or she can't get the latest version of a computer without it getting eclipsed by something much better soon afterwards.

While the idea may not be that new, some market watchers say the product cycle - the time span it takes for updated versions to come out - is now accelerating at a much faster pace.

While the trend is visible across a broad spectrum of gadgets, analysts say it is particularly pronounced with Apple's iPod.

Last September, the company pulled one of its most popular products off the market to replace it with a brand new design well before sales were exhausted, by most estimates. Much to the surprise of consumers and analysts, Apple discontinued the iPod mini and replaced it with an even smaller and sleeker version called the nano.

"It was probably one of the most successful iPods, and it was at the height of its popularity," says Mike McGuire, an analyst with Gartner Research. "It struck us as being unprecedented or at least a shift in practices for a consumer electronics company."

Two months after the nano came on the market, Apple released the video iPod in an event executives dubbed "one more thing". But in February, just before another company affair called "fun new products", speculation mounted about an overhaul of a different kind of video device that came with a full screen. Despite images of the new product emerging on websites like Engadget, the new video iPod never materialised, but the expectations about the announcement were so high that analysts attribute a dip in Apple's share price to the eventual disappointment. That device is expected to come out in the next financial quarter, although no one outside the company is sure.

The reason why the product cycle of gadgets like this is shortening, according to industry observers, is due mainly to market pressure.

"It's a highly competitive market," says Rojas.

"Any advantage you can get over your competition getting products out more quickly, you're going to take."

And since Apple is the dominant player among manufacturers of portable music players, it is often competing with itself.

Rojas also points to the emergence of new technology as another factor, but with some electronic devices, this can reach a peak. For instance, digital camera makers are no longer emphasising higher pixel resolution as much since few consumers needs more than the seven or eight megapixels available now.

Analysts are divided as to whether this increase in the rate of products released is good for consumers or not. Susan Kevorkian, a program manager with the research firm IDC says the pressure can have a dual impact.

"It certainly means more choices for consumers, but it can also be a source of confusion too," she says. And for the consumer who feels angry that the equipment they just bought has been replaced by something newer and cheaper, others say there is a chance of resentment with the buyer.

"There are always going to be people who buy something, and the next day there's something new and they feel frustrated," says Rojas. "The best you can hope for is that it won't be obsolete in six months."

Despite the marketing pressures from these manufacturers, there is an important point to consider says Steven Levy, author of a forthcoming book about the iPod. Nobody is forced to buy the new products.

"They're trying to use the carrot and not the stick to get people to think about buying a new one," he says.

And if this is the main issue of concern for consumer electronics owners, he adds, it's better than complaining about devices that don't work properly.

Some people claim a more malicious, albeit humorous, aspect to this strategy.

While analysts dispute the claim, a columnist for the New York Times recently alleged a tendency for iPods to stop functioning a few weeks after the warranty expires. But, he wrote, with so many new versions on the market, it's easier just to buy the latest one. In the meantime, companies like Apple are happy to sell the new products.