

IPod touch with two cameras, Retina Display said to arrive soon - evo_9
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/08/10/ipod_touch_with_two_cameras_retina_display_said_to_arrive_soon.html

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marze
The iPod Touch is a very strategic product for Apple. Apple is in the process
of converting their vast base of 200M legacy iPod users into iPhone and iPad
users.

The $199 iPod Touch probably has the tightest margin of any Apple product,
creating a stepping stone at the right price point to facilitate the
migration. The tight margins may explain why no other company has matched it
in the three years it has been on the market.

If Apple ever sells the iPod Touch with the Retinal display for $199 I would
seriously consider it a sign of the apocalypse.

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baddox
If Apple ever sells the iPod Touch with the Retina display for $199 I would
seriously consider buying it, which now that I think of it is pretty close to
what you said.

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stashdot
I think a $299 point is more likely - which is what the current 3GS iPod Touch
is priced at.

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bruceboughton
"3GS iPod Touch"?

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pilif
iPod Touch based on iPhone 3GS hardware (faster CPU, more RAM than the iPhone
3G)

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chubs
Has anyone noticed that with facetime, and now especially if facetime goes on
the itouch, apple is posing themselves as a total replacement for the telco
hegemony? I mean, if you and all your friends have itouches and wifi, or
something that implements the "open standard" of facetime, isn't that pretty
much the end-game for the telcos?

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evo_9
I've been considering switching back to a Touch from my iPhone. A 3g mifi
router is much cheaper than a att's voice + dataplan and I personally would
prefer not to have a phone. I'm fine with Skype now that it runs in the
background on iOS 4.

~~~
starkfist
Here are the downsides to the MiFi:

\- it gets really hot

\- the battery only gets about 2.5 hours, max

\- in NYC area, it is slow.

\- it's not really cheap, it's $60/m for 5GB. Plus you have to pay $150 to buy
it in the first place

If that still sounds good to you, I've got one for sale... ;)

~~~
evo_9
Ha, nice. Of course it always _seems_ like a good idea in theory, but it's
another thing in practice.

It's really too bad municipal WIFI got crushed by the telecos, they really
know how to hold onto power. I give them that.

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twidlit
There is something mysterious about why Google, Microsoft, Sony or even Nokia
doesn't create something similar to ipod touch. Its a big seller and platform
expansion device. Its perfect for me who prefers sturdier phone and it makes
me open to buying the next iphone as long as i have an ipod touch. Is it the
cost/margin of making one? lack of distribution channel?

~~~
Setsuna
Perhaps they don't see it as a "platform expansion device" rather they see it
as an iPod - just a music player. And the music player market is very tough
unless you're Apple.

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sabj
I feel very conflicted about the iPod touch. On the one hand, I know that
Apple doesn't really care about it, and is focused on the iPhone. I hate
getting the same taste of Apple fascism via app store, etc, everything.
However, it's quite compelling as a device for a lot of things, which does
appeal. There is no viable competitor (at present) that fulfills the same
niche; if Zune HD were updated more frequently and ran Android, that would be
something a little better.

One use that really almost swayed me -- or would have, had I known before I
left -- was when I was in China for some number of months last year.
Touchscreen input + dictionary = WIN for character learning and study! So much
better than just drawing with a mouse on nciku.

All of this is, I guess, a long winded way of saying that I am glad that they
got around to updating it and if my old Zune 2.0 dies I will probably end up
with something like this, bitter as I might be.

~~~
BigZaphod
What do you mean "got around to updating it?" The iPod touch gets updated
every year - just like the iPhone! Apple most certainly _does_ care about the
iPod touch. It sells like crazy.

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Zev
It just _seems_ like it gets less love, because the iPod touch is updated 2-3
months after the iPhone is. Really, its just because the products were
announced 2-3 months apart and thats how the release cycle works out.

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ugh
New iPods are traditionally announced in September, right before Christmas.
That’s the way it has always been, nothing to do with love or hate. It would
be stupid if Apple changed that, you don’t announce two high profile products
at the same event.

The iPod touch has also traditionally been ahead of the current iPhone, as far
as I recall the iPod touch always had a slightly higher CPU speed.

I don’t know how you could even get the idea that Apple neglects the iPod
touch.

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sabj
From talking to iOS engineers.

