IPod touch with two cameras, Retina Display said to arrive soon | Hacker News Reader

IPod touch with two cameras, Retina Display said to arrive soon

appleinsider.com

22 pointsevo_921 comments

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.

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.

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

"3GS iPod Touch"?

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

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?

If it is the end game, it will play out at the same speed as email killing paper mail.

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.

Same here, and I was even considering it more when the 3G equipped iPod Touch cases leaked. Though I do notice the model in the FCC pics doesn't have a hole for the camera, I am sure that can be fixed (if not by the manufacturer, I have a drill that works just fine for a plastic case).

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/28/zte-peel-for-sprint-outed...

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... ;)

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.

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?

Microsoft of course tried with the Zune. Sony has been trying with various Walkman products.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Part of the reason why the iPhone is usually a June release and the iPod Touch (and its music-focused siblings) are September releases is probably just necessity in terms of supply chain management. Launching the iPad in April was very likely a choice to keep release schedules in Apple's mobile unit optimally spaced; we'll likely see an April-June-September schedule for a number of years to come.

Why would they launch all their great new tech for the iPod Touch instead of the iPhone? Especially if the iPod Touch is a lower-margin product.

iPhone is clearly the more important product for them; this doesn't mean the iPod Touch isn't important though.

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.

From talking to iOS engineers.

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