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