Apple seeds new iPods, offers surprises – and disappointments

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 10 September 2008 01:49

Opinion and Analysis

Well, the new iPod Touch is what the iPod Touch should have been in the first place.

It’s “even thinner”, has a curved back, comes with built-in speakers for “casual listening”, something Jobs noted was tough to include in such a thin device, has dedicated volume control buttons, a slightly improved UI (thanks to OS 2.1) and has the Nike+ received and software built in.

All you need to do to activate Nike+ is to buy the transmitter for your shoes, and off you go!

iPod Touch users who have already paid to upgrade to 2.0.x will get 2.1 free, but 1.x users will need to pay US $9.99 or AUD $12.99.

There is no 64GB version as some thought might appear, which is a shame, but I guess Jobs is saving that one for Macworld 2009.

So the sizes are 8/16/32 GB, and the prices are US $229/$299/$399 or AUD $329/$419/$549, with battery life at 36 hours for audio and 6 hours for video.

Jobs then focused on the App Store, saying that after 60 days of the App Store being available, there are over 3000 programs and over 100 million downloads of software.

Yes, not all of those downloads have made Apple money, and quite a few of the programs are copies of others, or are just fun toys, but there are plenty of great apps there too, and Apple’s Phil Schiller proceeded to demonstrate some upcoming games.

There’s a soccer game, Real Soccer 2009, there’s Need for Speed, there’s the Spore Creature Creator and plenty more.

Apple’s ad for the iPod Touch claims it’s the best handheld gaming platform, and because it does so very many things, Jobs and the ad both claim that “it’s the funniest funnest iPod ever”.

Now that’s not because it comes pre-loaded with comedy routines, but because it’s an iPod that does more than ever before, with “funny” meaning “strange” in this case – and in a good way, of course.

I did think that "funniest" was a strange way to describe the new iPod. Turns out Jobs described it as the "funnest" iPod ever, which makes a lot more sense.

Apple’s ad around gaming clearly shows it wants to absolutely take Nintendo and Sony on in the handheld gaming space, and from what we already know and saw in the Let’s Rock event, Apple is taking gaming very, very seriously.

I wonder if a dedicated Apple gaming console could be far behind!

So, what about the iPhone and OS 2.1?! Please read on to page 4.