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This is truly infuriating ... all ready to go spend some cash and get my first iPod, and once again let down by Steve's "I know better" thinking. To create such a nice portable device, and then to hobble it with 8G/16G storage, is quite a letdown. One other key thing for me that seemed to be missing was bluetooth support for syncing or connections to a phone. I can see the perceived fear they might cannibalize iPhone sales by allowing this device to use a cellphone for internet access, but I think it is unfounded. I guess AT&T could have some sort of language in the agreement with Apple that would not allow this in order to protect their "exclusive" iPhone time window, but I can't see that stopping Steve.
All and all a disappointing day :(
Screw Apple, Screw Steve ;)
Just kidding.. but anyways, Apple is just a company out to make money like any other. They have hordes of foaming mouthed fans that'll buy anything thye put out. So why not? :P
Well it is Steve Jobs you are talking about afterall...
Just look at what the NeXT cube's retail price was? Even after being pushed out of the hardware business for being too costly, remember the price of Next i486???
Completly insane I tell you!
But then OSX at $129 with the dev tools is quite the bargain! Esp that it now includes webobjects!
hehe, yeah, like 4999 for the x86 stuff, right? Hey, charge what you *want* then lower until the market can bear it ;)
btw, the iPod Touch is *flash* based. I'm sure 8/16gb of that is *not* cheap. Even if you buy in bulk. If it had SD or CF slots, I'd buy one in a heart beat :) nice screen, wifi, possibly BT, OSX 'lite' (whatever you wanna call it)... good battery life. It is really not a bad device.
Quote from: "helf"It is really not a bad device.
I agree for what it is, it is really not a bad device, just not what I am really looking for, and from what I am seeing online I am not alone. I can currently surf the internet on my blackberry, but it is not as nice as the big screen Safari surfing on the iPhone/ITouch. I would not mind carrying around two devices when necessary, but I would rather not have to. The old format "classic" iPod does not appeal to me, especially when compared to the big screen of the IPhone/iTouch.
The perfect device for me would be a 80/160G iPhone, leaving me with only one device to carry. Next would be an 80/160G iTouch that I would carry around to complement my blackberry (and ideally would use bluetooth to get internet from the cell), and could leave at home when necessary. This would give me most if not all of my music collection, a nice platform for surfing the web, and something to watch an occasional video on when flying or stuck in a waiting room. Yes it would be a little bit thicker due to the extra room needed for the HD and additional battery space, but I would not mind a bit considering the extra features it would provide.
Dont mind me, I am just venting at what really appears to be a missed opportunity.
At least I am glad I was not an early adopter that had to pay $200 more for the privelage of being the first with an iPhone.
Chef
EDIT
Looks like no bluetooth support :(
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2007/09/06/confirmation-no-blue.htmlEDIT
I guess for me, 8 or 16 GB is a lot of space for that type of device. All my music and videos comes to about 5.5 GB. I'm just happy there is finally a phoneless iPhone. Beyond disliking mobile phones in general, having to pay a monthly fee to have everything else I liked about the iPhone was a major deal breaker for me. The iPod touch is pretty much exactly what I was wanting ever since the iPhone was released.
My guess is that at some point the iPod classic is going to be phased out in favor of a iPod touch with an internal drive... but I wouldn't expect it before next year. On the other hand, there might be a 30 GB iPod touch before then depending on how fast the technology progresses.
I think Apple's desired goal is to eventually have only solid state devices in these lines. Mechanical storage is better suited for larger (and generally stationary) devices. Getting away from drives in their handheld lines saves a lot of head aches for them.
If this project progresses, it may alleviate the need to have all my music with me, and just let me grab them as I desire. I guess I could also just put all my music on a secure webserver and access it using safari when I want to grab a song.
http://code.google.com/p/telekinesis/Very neat idea.
Hopefully we will see apple release a proper toolkit at the next WWDC. The installed base should be more than sufficient by then to make it a platform everyone will want to develop apps for.
Chef
I would have to agree with the original 8/16 GB version of the iPod Touch... really cool idea (really liked the flash mem as my beloved iPod 3rd gen died due to HD disk-impact issues), but I had a hard time with only 16GB for portable fun. But behold the release of the 32GB touch... again, not awesome in size but pretty nice for a flash device. Add to that the impending release of the App sub-store of the iTunes Store and what a device! Not really into the $50 to $70 monthly service fee for an iPhone... and the Touch has everything else I wanted (can't say i really "need" it). None the less, just got one last week and very cool. I'm anxious to see what comes out in the App store... and from those already hacking their Touches and iPhones. Once you start adding legit apps (and at 32GB for storage and an estimated 512MB memory you could do) I think we'll be seeing the future of mobile computing. Making our Mac Books and other laptops look like the luggables of yester-year.
Go-go Touch!