Just found this. I wonder whether simply inserting the Calendar app on the iPhone into the Touch would change this.
Why the iPod Touch is Different
from JupiterResearch Analyst Weblogs by IanFogg
What's interesting about the iPod Touch is less what features Apple has included as which Apple choose to leave out. The iPod Touch appears to be built on the same hardware and software platform as the iPhone. Most of the Touch's features appear identical in usage.
But the Touch is, of course, different. (Apple still thinks that way - sorry!). From my tests with the Touch, the main omissions are:
1. Email software (although webmail should work in the Safari browser).
2. Contacts editing. Yes, the iPod has a very iPhone-like contacts application, but users can't edit entries. But both Contacts and Calendar items do still sync down from iTunes...
3. Maps.
So why isn't the iPod Touch the same as the iPhone, just sans phone?
This is classic portfolio management. Apple is positioning the iPod Touch initially as an entertainment device. Apple wants to minimise the potential for the Touch to conflict with the iPhone. By omitting these productivity functions Apple will succeed in the short term, but Apple still leaves the way open to add features back in to the first generation iPod Touch through software/firmware updates.
Apple's iTunes delivers one of the slickest firmware update processes for a device that I have seen: such updates gives Apple tremendous tactical feature capability, either to respond to competitve threats, or to switch on new revenue opportunities in their existing device user base.
Expect to see greater use made of Safari and WiFi in the future. Both outside the home, and inside. Also, note how Apple is slowly introducing content delivery on a direct-to-device basis, rather than via a PC/Mac. First Apple launched Youtube access on Apple TV, and now the WiFi iTunes store offers music purchasing from the Touch itself (and iPhone). Expect more features along similar lines in the months ahead.
And, as a closing thought, the iPod Touch would make a great remote control for the digital home, wouldn't it?
Why the iPod Touch is Different
from JupiterResearch Analyst Weblogs by IanFogg
What's interesting about the iPod Touch is less what features Apple has included as which Apple choose to leave out. The iPod Touch appears to be built on the same hardware and software platform as the iPhone. Most of the Touch's features appear identical in usage.
But the Touch is, of course, different. (Apple still thinks that way - sorry!). From my tests with the Touch, the main omissions are:
1. Email software (although webmail should work in the Safari browser).
2. Contacts editing. Yes, the iPod has a very iPhone-like contacts application, but users can't edit entries. But both Contacts and Calendar items do still sync down from iTunes...
3. Maps.
So why isn't the iPod Touch the same as the iPhone, just sans phone?
This is classic portfolio management. Apple is positioning the iPod Touch initially as an entertainment device. Apple wants to minimise the potential for the Touch to conflict with the iPhone. By omitting these productivity functions Apple will succeed in the short term, but Apple still leaves the way open to add features back in to the first generation iPod Touch through software/firmware updates.
Apple's iTunes delivers one of the slickest firmware update processes for a device that I have seen: such updates gives Apple tremendous tactical feature capability, either to respond to competitve threats, or to switch on new revenue opportunities in their existing device user base.
Expect to see greater use made of Safari and WiFi in the future. Both outside the home, and inside. Also, note how Apple is slowly introducing content delivery on a direct-to-device basis, rather than via a PC/Mac. First Apple launched Youtube access on Apple TV, and now the WiFi iTunes store offers music purchasing from the Touch itself (and iPhone). Expect more features along similar lines in the months ahead.
And, as a closing thought, the iPod Touch would make a great remote control for the digital home, wouldn't it?
