iPod Touch (a Touch OS X device)

[zim]

My prediction is that the iPod Touch will go the way of the iPod Photo—merger into a single device—as soon as the iPhone is no longer tied to ATT.

Having the abilities for dictations would have been nice... iPod can do that with add-ons.

My biggest question is if the new iPods and iPod touch are capable of being used as hard drives just as the current iPods.

 

[macintel4me]

My prediction is that the iPod Touch will go the way of the iPod Photo—merger into a single device—as soon as the iPhone is no longer tied to ATT.

When the 5 (or so) year exclusive deal with AT&T is completed, there is a good chance that WiMAX will be in a lot of major cities. I could see iPod being the VoIP phone of choice. Right now WiFi = "Probably Not Connected" and AT&T = "Always Connected". In the future, WiMAX = "Probably Connected" and AT&T will cut their rates in half to compete.

 

[s57]

No mail = no order

What a joke, how could it not have Mail? Very lame Apple, very lame!

I was about ready to order one when I realized it doesn't have mail.app. I can do without Google maps and certainly without the stock widget, but no mail? This reminds me very much of the digital camera market, where companies disable features on their camera so they can sell more expensive, virtually identical versions that have the features enabled.

Not everybody wants to be slaved to AT&T @ $50/month, and the iPodTouch would be the ideal PDA had they enabled mail. If they were to sell it with mail.app (and throw in Google maps for good measure) at $100 more, I'd run out and buy one tomorrow.

I can only guess that AT&T is pressuring Apple not to include any communication features in the iPod Touch. How could Apple have manouvered themselves into this corner, though?

 

[madmaxmedia]

Mail and the other Apple apps left out of the Touch should be trivial to hack/copy over to the Touch.

I'm gonna wait until people try it before ordering just to be safe, but I'm pretty sure it will be done quickly. Installing Mail is gonna be one of the first hacks people try.

Not everybody wants to be slaved to AT&T @ $50/month, and the iPodTouch would be the ideal PDA had they enabled mail. If they were to sell it with mail.app (and throw in Google maps for good measure) at $100 more, I'd run out and buy one tomorrow.

I can only guess that AT&T is pressuring Apple not to include any communication features in the iPod Touch. How could Apple have manouvered themselves into this corner, though?

 

[jackc]

Mail and the other Apple apps left out of the Touch should be trivial to hack/copy over to the Touch.

I'm gonna wait until people try it before ordering just to be safe, but I'm pretty sure it will be done quickly. Installing Mail is gonna be one of the first hacks people try.

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens after they start shipping.

 

[aafuss1]

No camera connector or notes support, I noticed.

 

[Rocketman]

I refer you to history.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/269748/

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[gadgetgirl85]

Mail and the other Apple apps left out of the Touch should be trivial to hack/copy over to the Touch.

I'm gonna wait until people try it before ordering just to be safe, but I'm pretty sure it will be done quickly. Installing Mail is gonna be one of the first hacks people try.

This might be a stupid question but could a mail app be a future upgrade from Apple?

 

[AppleMatt389]

just found something from an old rumour thread about a possible wifi enabled ipod in second half of 2007. someone posted this image of an intel device

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS8166710404.html

if u look at the first icon on the bottom it looks like safari (or am i going crazy) and the second icon looks exactly the same as the music icon on the iPod touch.

something fishy?

 

[winterspan]

Yes, Obviously mail is a point of differentiation

I was about ready to order one when I realized it doesn't have mail.app. I can do without Google maps and certainly without the stock widget, but no mail? This reminds me very much of the digital camera market, where companies disable features on their camera so they can sell more expensive, virtually identical versions that have the features enabled.

Not everybody wants to be slaved to AT&T @ $50/month, and the iPodTouch would be the ideal PDA had they enabled mail. If they were to sell it with mail.app (and throw in Google maps for good measure) at $100 more, I'd run out and buy one tomorrow.

I can only guess that AT&T is pressuring Apple not to include any communication features in the iPod Touch. How could Apple have manouvered themselves into this corner, though?

Obviously they want to keep things like mail strictly to the iPhone for differentiation and to get you to upgrade. And Im sure AT&T had at least a indirect influence on this. But it really amazes me how 40%+ of the people on MacRumors are moaning about having the mail app. Its an IPOD for god's sakes. I think we are all EXTREMELY LUCKY to even get a fully functional Safari, Calendar, and Contacts WITH A FULLY FUNCTIONING KEYBOARD!

Im absolutely overjoyed they finally decided to release an OSX multi-touch
iPod.. and for only $299.99!
Just weeks ago, people were praying they could even get a bare bones iPhone -like iPod, and now they are complaining about the smallest details.

My god, just use ajax WEBMAIL or wait 3 days after it comes out when hackers will put mail.app on it anyways.....

sw

 

[kenaustus]

When looking that the iPod touch (and the iPhone) my thinking is that Apple is holding things tight in the early days. They know a SDK for the Touch will be one for the iPhone as well. In a way I can't blame them, especially since the 4 Gb iPhone would blow its memory rather fast.

More will come, but I think the main effort is now on Leopard. there may well be some new Touch/iPhone apps released when Leopard is released - a nice motivator to buy Leopard.

I also think that Apple will take the same accounting approach they took with the iPhone - spreading some of the revenues over 2 years - on all OS X based devices. This allows for continual enhancements without charging the customer.

As for an SDK coming after Leopard, or early January, I have my doubts. I believe that Apple wants to feel very comfortable with how these new products are going before opening it into the wild. I also wouldn't be too upset if Apple controlled downloads via iTunes if it would give me additional confidence that there are not malware problems in the apps developed. The benefit of that approach is that new versions of the OS or other updates wouldn't screw up apps you install on the side. Like Widgets on the Mac basically.

As for reaching for my credit card, I'm waiting for a bump in the storage of the iPhone to 16 gigs at $399 - plus educational discount. That will be next year, which is fine with me as I have a mountain of medical bills to pay off first.

Overall I'm impressed with the Touch and believe that Apple will add some nice apps in the near future. Look for the first update shortly after the first deliveries.

 

[kalam623]

you're kidding right?

Apple is not the company it used to be obviously.

The cell market will not tolerate the ass reaming Apple gives with it's high prices on old technology (Apple Tax).

The fact is the iPhone was NOT selling very well at the prior price once the initial fans had all bought it. If Apple were satisfied with the sales pace do you really think they would have lowered the prices? No way in hell. Face it, Apple had to lower the price to continue sales momentum.

I saw the unit for the first time earlier this week. My first thought, neat phone but to me it was not $600 of phone.

(sarcasm) oh yea for sure....thats why they've only sold ALMOST A MILLION....instead idk 5 MILLION in the first few months....it is all so clear to me now....it was clearly not selling well...thank you for the enlightenment....WHAT ARE YOU ON CRACK?!?!

 

[dobbs383]

How many places could you actually use Safari and a mail app on the new Ipod? You would have to make a point of being in a hot spot, Star Bucks, airport, or pulling in a signal from your home network. I still see this device as an Ipod, a device primarily for listening to music.

I'm a freshman at a big university (40,000 students, 900+ acre campus) and I have free wireless everywhere I go on campus. So if your a student or work on a college campus the new ipod could be used just about everywhere. Anyone else know if you can listen to music via shared networks on the iphone/ipod touch?

 

[winterspan]

In relation to market average phone intro, iPhone sales are phenomenal!

(sarcasm) oh yea for sure....thats why they've only sold ALMOST A MILLION....instead idk 5 MILLION in the first few months....it is all so clear to me now....it was clearly not selling well...thank you for the enlightenment....WHAT ARE YOU ON CRACK?!?!

@kalam623 Yea.. whats funny about what that guy wrote that you were responding to and all the other people on here saying that the iPhone wasn't selling well should remember

1) Its well known why a no-contract mp3 player will sell more than
a $600, 2-year contract, exclusive-carrier-cell phone, yet Microsoft's Zune
only hit its millionth sale about a month ago (9 months since intro)

2) The motorola RAZR, One of the best selling phones in HISTORY having sold over 50 million, took nearly four months of sales to reach the 750,000 unit mark back in 2004.

There are many other examples, but anyway you cut it, selling a million high-priced cellphones with a REQUIRED 2-year no-subsidization contract
only available on ONE carrier (one of the least liked too, btw) is a big accomplishment, whether Apple or anybody else.

With the new price cut in place I can ONLY IMAGINE how many they will sell. And if you count the "iTouch" - it should be more still... (I count it, cause its basically the same device)

 

[winterspan]

great idea

I'm a freshman at a big university (40,000 students, 900+ acre campus) and I have free wireless everywhere I go on campus. So if your a student or work on a college campus the new ipod could be used just about everywhere. Anyone else know if you can listen to music via shared networks on the iphone/ipod touch?

Sorry, I don't actually have an answer to your question, I just wanted to say how cool that would be! You mean being able to connect to someones Itunes library over the LAN right? well "good news/bad news"

Good News:
Well the DAAP protocol that iTunes uses to share music, had been reverse engineered, and there were some linux apps that could stream iTunes songs, so I imagine with the code open sourced, someone could hack the a code library onto the iPhone/Touch with some effort. but.....

Bad News:
With the release of iTunes 7.0, Apple blocked all 3rd-party DAAP clients (the ba$tards!) so it no longer works. So until someone hacks the new version, we are all out of luck. (unless you find someone on campus with iTunes 6 or earlier.)

Wait.. though... now that I think about it, Im sure iTunes 7.0 probably passes a verification key with the DAAP handshake to another iTunes client, so you could probably figure out how to spoof it.. well it would take alot of work anyways... (hackers out there --> take this as a hint)

Im really excited to see what people are able to accomplish with the iPhone/Touch over the coming months...

 

[AppleiMac]

Man people are complainers! The iPod Touch has Safari and WiFi! The general concensus before the launch was "That would be nice, but it's not going to happen". But it did! Apple really delivered something for everyone in this launch, I wouldn't have done anything different. Apple really has my attention now with it's new products. Pretty soon I'll have an iPhone and an iMac.

 

[elgruga]

Enough complaining!

Time to CONGRATULATE Apple on a brilliant period of work - the iPhone, followed by the new iPods and the of course, the iPod touch.

The idea of wifi in the touch is to allow downloading of music, and casual web browsing, etc. Email through Gmail is fine.

If you need the other stuff buy the iPhone - ITS THE SAME FRIGGING PRICE! (and you get a phone)

Can you imagine ANY other company doing what Apple has done?
No, didnt think so.
If it wasnt for Steve Jobs, we'd be stuck with some Gates/M$ s***-brown zune brick-phone on wheels with a giant power adapter and a long cord hanging off it....

And well done Apple for giving $100 to those early iPhone buyers. IMHO, they dont really deserve it, but what a classy move.

What a fine company - just dont forget they are a PROFIT-making machine guys, not your special buddy.

 

[elgruga]

And for the record, Microsoft has NOT sold a million zunes.
They have SHIPPED a million - thats not nearly the same thing.

Now they drop the price to $200 - why, because they sold a million?

I think not.

 

[Evangelion]

It was obvious that the Touch uses the same OS as iPhone does. What I want to know is this: is the screen glass (like in iPhone) or plastic?

 

[winterspan]

Well said!

Time to CONGRATULATE Apple on a brilliant period of work - the iPhone, followed by the new iPods and the of course, the iPod touch.

The idea of wifi in the touch is to allow downloading of music, and casual web browsing, etc. Email through Gmail is fine.

If you need the other stuff buy the iPhone - ITS THE SAME FRIGGING PRICE! (and you get a phone)

Can you imagine ANY other company doing what Apple has done?
No, didnt think so.
If it wasnt for Steve Jobs, we'd be stuck with some Gates/M$ s***-brown zune brick-phone on wheels with a giant power adapter and a long cord hanging off it....

And well done Apple for giving $100 to those early iPhone buyers. IMHO, they dont really deserve it, but what a classy move.

What a fine company - just dont forget they are a PROFIT-making machine guys, not your special buddy.

Well Said elgruga, WELL SAID!

 

[winterspan]

Glass most likely

It was obvious that the Touch uses the same OS as iPhone does. What I want to know is this: is the screen glass (like in iPhone) or plastic?

Due to Apples big focus on environmentally-friendly build materials lately (to keep greenpeace a step back or two) coupled with the idea they would save money with economies of scale even if the glass is more expensive, I would assume it would be exactly the same glass as the iPhone. Not sure though....

 

[emotion]

Time to CONGRATULATE Apple on a brilliant period of work - the iPhone, followed by the new iPods and the of course, the iPod touch.

The idea of wifi in the touch is to allow downloading of music, and casual web browsing, etc. Email through Gmail is fine.

If you need the other stuff buy the iPhone - ITS THE SAME FRIGGING PRICE! (and you get a phone)

I agree that Apple has done well here. The new products look very good indeed.

However the Touch and the iPhone are not really the same price. Effectively Apple are probably subsidizing that new price from the 10% of contract revenues they get from ATT. The contract is worth, what, $1500+?

 

[Chimaera]

Annoyingly Apple release another highly desirable bit of kit that doesn't *quite* cover the bases I need covered to justify the purchase

With the iPhone its lack of 3G and lack of modem capabilities (Yes I know in the US you have quite a lot of free wireless thus negating some of the limitation of Edge data speeds, here in the UK that's not the case). Also I use my laptop a LOT when I travel and being able to connect to the internet to IM my girlfriend and family helps keep me sane when I'm stuck at the wrong end of the country - with the iPhone I wouldn't be able to do that without a seperate contract and modem - sod that.

Of course we still haven't got the iPhone over here anyway

With the iPod touch I'd really like bluetooth capability (so I could at least hook it into my mobile for data) and also some of the other apps on the iPhone - particularly Notes. My PDA requirements are pretty modest and that would about cover it.

Still, the Touch is *awfully* tempting - I'll be watching the hackers with a great deal of interest.

 

[Evangelion]

Here is an interesting perspective.

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/hughes/18066

His "perspective" makes no sense.

No Phone: The new iPod Touch may have more storage, but it doesn't have a phone. This means you still have to carry two devices: a phone and the iPod Touch.

I already carry two devices: My company-issued cell-phone and iPod Mini. I couldn't drop the phone even if I had an iPhone.

No Camera: The 2-megapixel camera is gone.

Yeah, and my camera has no mp3-player in it. For shame!

No Bluetooth or EDGE: This means no bluetooth headphones, headset, or access to the Internet when you can't find a hotspot. Bummer.

BT would be nice, but it's absence does not change the fact that Touch is HUGE step forward from my Mini. None of the other iPods have BT either.

Wi-Fi: Woohoo, it has Wi-Fi — but what's the use of having Wi-Fi if you can't always access a hotspot outside the house? Once you walk out the door, the only place you have free access to the Internet is at Starbucks to buy music.

Huh? Starbucks is the only place that offers free WiFi? Um, there are LOTS of places that offer free WiFi. Hell, I can get free WiFi by walking down the street!

Storage: Why, oh why on earth would you pay $299 for an 8GB iPod or $399 for 16GB? OK, so it's flash-based, has a multi-touch interface, a beautiful 3.5-inch display, and Wi-Fi capabilities, but the price just seems outrageous when the 160GB metal iPod Classic is only $349. Makes me wanna weep.

Because Touch does things that Classic does not? There are more to these devices than mere storage.

No New Features: The iPod Touch is just an iPhone without a phone.

It has loads of new features when compared to other existing iPods.

 

[iShak]

And for the record, Microsoft has NOT sold a million zunes.
They have SHIPPED a million - thats not nearly the same thing.

Now they drop the price to $200 - why, because they sold a million?

I think not.

Apple dropped iPhone's price 'by' $200 because they sold a million ...


*stares in silence*