It’s a big day for Apple at their “And the Beat Goes on” gathering today in San Francisco. The two biggest announcements are the launch of the iPod Touch which looks extremely similar to the iPhone, and a huge price drop for the 8GB iPhone. There were also a handful of other announcements which I’ll include at the end in brief. Without further ado, let’s talk about the iPod Touch!
–iPod Touch–
Offered in an 8GB and a 16GB model starting at $299, the iPod Touch is for all of your music, videos, and photos. Just like the iPhone, it has the multi-touch interface, a 3.5 inch widescreen display, Wi-Fi browsing, and now music downloads from iTunes!
Coming in at only 8mm thick, it’s slick and thin! The Wi-Fi feature with Safari is sure to be a big hit because now users will have access to YouTube videos and the iTunes Wi-Fi music store. The only downside, like the iPhone, is that it doesn’t have a hard-drive.
–$399 8GB iPhone–
Oh boy, am I feeling for all those “early-adopters” who just had to have the iPhone at launch! Not only is Apple discontinuing the 4GB iPhone, they’re dropping the price of the 8GB from $599 to $399! And to think, it’s only been 2 months since it launched…
For those of you who just bought an 8GB iPhone within the last 14 days, it’s rumored that Apple is willing to price-match. For those of you who stood in line on June 30th, so sorry… you’re out of luck!
Just an afterthought, I wonder what the refurb price will be? My guess is $299.
–Other News–
- New iPod nano – features video playback and an “enhanced user interface”
- More Shuffle Colors – includes dark red, purple, light blue, and light green
- iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store – download music right to your iPhone or iPod
- Create your own ringtones in iTunes – create a custom ringtone with your favorite song by selecting a segment up to 30-seconds
I said it was a big day, didn’t I? While the iPod Touch and the “overgrown” Nano were expected, a $200 price-drop for the iPhone definitely wasn’t! Oh, and did you hear? The Zune received a price-drop today too. Nice timing, huh? It’s now $199. No matter what Microsoft comes up with for the Zune, I don’t think they’ll be able to top what Apple just put out on the table.
“The only downside, like the iPhone, is that it doesn’t have a hard-drive.” Is that a typo? How would it store music then?
It has a Flash Drive which are thinner but hold less data.
Oh man I so there for the new iPod Touch…drool!!!
Maaaan that is super-lame. I’ve been waiting for them to announce the next-gen iPod for ages and now its only 16gb?? I want my hard drive player!
YESSSSS!
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What a sweet announcement. Serves all you iPhone fanboys right for taking off work to wait in line
New ipods look kickass, as well.
As for the 8gb or 16gb…I’m cool with that. At least you can browse the web, have an extra inch of screen, and ditch the wheel.
All in all, I only have like 2gb of music and podcasts on my computer anyways….and as for anime that I’d put on there, as well, I have like 50 gbs….but I can just take stuff off when I’m done watching. No biggie.
That thing does look pretty sweet. Although the home screen look a little empty since it only has a handful of icons.
I’m guessing that the touchscreen display takes up too much room in the unit to be able to include a hard drive version with it. I think I’d rather have the touchscreen than the extra storage space.
That was my thought exactly. And now they’re all complaining that they got ripped off. It’s all supply and demand…the demand was originally high so they could charge what they wanted. Now the newness has worn off so they are feeling pressured to drop the price and pickup new subscribers.
Yeah, that would be a ripoff if it was a hard drive version.
Sorry Max, I should have said it doesn’t have a hard drive – it has Flash memory.
It’s not a flash drive – there’s no drive in it, it’s just flash memory.
The price drop was probably expected – us here in the UK always get your stuff at over-inflated prices anyway and still $600 for a phone just seemed ridiculous. With regards to the early investors, you get what you pay for, as does anyone who buys any hardware early in its release.
The touch looks nice but they’ve ruined the Nano, if that shot is any evidence. The tall thin design was good, making it fat just makes it harder to hold and browse with one hand.
That is SO cool. I have one question though: is it able to update your podcasts without having to turn on your PC?
I doubt it will be able to do that, but that would be a huge benefit for me.
These are cool
I bought an ipod touch in january and my battery started dying in about june but i had no idea that they can replace the battery that you have to get a whole new unit each and every time your battery die out. Thats the only thing i dont like about it other than that the itouch is great.