As expected, Apple rolled out several updates and new iPods today. So here’s a quick recap:
iPhone OS 3.1
The iPhone OS 3.1 update was rumored to be in the works shortly after 3.0 was released. This new version adds Genius App Store recommendations. I’ll be interested to try this feature. The idea is that now that there are over 75,000 apps available on the App Store that you can’t possibly find them all or see them all. So like Genius playlists, this feature will recommend Apps to you. Should be fun.
Free update, available today via iTunes
iTunes 9
A major update to the iTunes that includes the following:
- iTunes LP support – think of DVD extras for your Albums. Sounds good, just not a feature that appeals to me. I’m not into digital booklets and other memorabilia for Albums. However, for those that are, this should be cool.
- Home Sharing – Finally! Purchases from the iTunes store have always been sharable on up to 5 computers in your home. However, there was never a mechanism built-in to allow you to actually transfer the content easily from computer to computer. Now you’ll be able to do so right in iTunes. Buy a song, movie, TV show, etc on one computer and easily share/copy it to another computer in your home.
- Genius Mixes – basically this is an extension of the Genius Playlist feature. It will allow you to automatically generate endless streams of music that you like based on the music that you listen to. Think of it like your own personal iTunes radio station.
- iPhone/iPod touch Home Screen Management – This feature is definitely going to be one of my favorites. Now you’ll be able to manage your Apps/Home Screens right in iTunes. You can layout your home screens right on your Mac or PC and rearrange them! Hooray!
- New iPhone Syncing features – Now you can sync music by Genre and Photos by Faces or Events.
iTunes 9 is a Free Download for Mac and PC and available today.
iPod shuffle
New colors and lower price. 2GB model now $59 and the 4GB model is $79. It comes in silver, black, pink, blue and green. No new features.
iPod touch
New faster processors. The iPod touch 32GB and 64GB models now use the same processors as the iPhone 3GS and support Open GL ES 2.0, which should be great for gamers. There New configurations: 8GB for $199, 32GB for $299 and 64GB (Yum!) for $399.
iPod classic
I guess flash memory prices aren’t low enough yet to eliminate the need for a hard drive based iPod. So the iPod classic lives on. It goes from 120GB to 160GB for the same $249 price.
New iPod nano with Video Camera!
Apple saved the biggest change for last. The New iPod nano gets the video camera, mic and speaker love that we were all sure that the iPod touch was gonna get! Wow, I didn’t see that coming. Not only that, the New nano also gets an FM tuner. FM lives on and building it in shows that Apple does (in many cases) give customers what they’ve been asking for for years. Not only does it get FM, but you can pause a live broadcast (think TiVo buffering like). There is tagging as well as a built-in pedometer (no Nike+iPod kit required. Track miles and calories burned. Cool! The display is now slightly larger at 2.2".
Video camera in your nano – Video is big and more and more people are recording short videos at parties with their cellphones and such. More and more DSLRs are getting video too. The idea here is that you record a video on your nano. You can play it back and watch it on the nano and then once you get home you can transfer it to your computer and then upload it right to YouTube (MobileMe, Facebook, etc.) if you want.
8GB model $149 and the 16GB model is $179 (go with the 16GB model – duh!)
The Bottom Line
Nice updates, most were expected/rumored and of course there were some no shows (no camera on the touch, nothing about the Beatles, nothing new with Apple TV). One thing is for sure is that the New iPod lineup is better than it was yesterday and in many cases you get more for less $$$.
More details at apple.com
You’re a very nice guy Terry, but you shouldn’t be letting Apple get away with this. Apple screwed up royally. You should be holding their toes to the fire.
If Apple has a camera-equipped touch in the pipeline for sale before Christmas, they should say so and keep a lot of less well-informed people from making a purchase they will regret. If they intend to castrate the touch, so it doesn’t hurt sales of the iPhone, then they should say that too.
Here’s what posted on Apple’s feedback page for the iPod touch. I don’t seem to be the only one who is feeling this way.
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Apple has got me so ticked off, I’ll probably put my energy into getting a 1-G iPhone cheap and forget buying these ho-hum iPod touches. That way, Apple won’t get a penny and I’ll probably save money.
I need a camera, and I need a mike and I don’t want to pay AT&T fees. I also need them soon. I thought I would get that in the new touches. Instead, Apple is giving the tiny Nano more features but not the iPod touch. Why? With that tiny 2.2-inch Nano screen you can’t see much of what you’ve taken and the equally tiny battery isn’t likely to last long in video mode.
What’s going on? If Apple has production problems with camera-equipped touches, they should say so, give us the details of new touch, and a release date. This cult of secrecy is such a pain. You’d think they were the Kremlin circa 1935. Both have a cult-like obsession with not admitting mistakes.
Still worse is the possibility that Apple wants to build high walls between its products, doling out features in odd ways to fit a marketing straight-jacket. The iPhone would be for work and business for those with the money. The touch is for games but not recreation, hence the lack of a camera and the boring length of game promotion today. Color touch users fat and flabby couch potatoes. The Nano is for mostly outdoor recreation (camera and Nike added), but has nothing that lets you get work done. If so, it’s stupid move.
To add insult to injury, I just checked the specs on the new touches. The 8 gig model ships with the old-style earphones not the remote earphones and without a plastic dock adapter. Total saving for Apple? Probably about 25 to 50 cents. Cost to customers who don’t want to pull their touch out of their pocket every time they pause music: $30 That stinks. Heck, even the cheap little $59 Shuttle ships with remote earphones. While Jobs was gone, the niggling little bean counters seem to have been running Apple. This is the unfortunate result.
I hate companies that treat their customers as if they were stupid, and that’s precisely how I feel Apple is treating its customers now.
Mike, I understand your frustration. However, I’m not sure what case you/we have here? Apple never said that they would introduce an iPod touch with a camera. It was all RUMOR and speculation. Now of course that doesn’t mean that they aren’t working on one and it doesn’t mean that they won’t introduce one when it’s ready.
That being said, the clear course of action for you and anyone else frustrated by a missing feature that they were looking for is simply not to buy! Not buying a product is the best way to send a message to a developer!
However, expecting Apple or any other manufacturer to say “hey, that product we were going to introduce is not ready yet and it will be ready in 3-6 months”, although it would be nice, it’s not going to happen. So again, the thing to do here is wait until the product is introduced with the features you want.
I’ve never read someone so upset with the wrong people before…we can’t blame a company for not doing stuff they never promised to do, you know.
yay!! 64 gigs… nice try but i dream with more 🙁 still hopping for a iPod touch of 120 GB at the price of the classic, maybe next year but now i want it with camera!!! do it APPLE!
I was all ready to buy a new 32 GB Touch, I really wanted to give it a try. To be honest, I want an iPhone but the packages that AT&T have make it hard to switch over for the price. But I didn’t, hard to justify for a few games and a couple of apps especially when Blackberry is coming out with an Apple approved sync program that lets you sync with iTunes.
So I hoped, like the OP that the touch would have a camera, but it doesn’t and I really don’t need a nano as I have an 80 GB classic and a flip if I want video. I guess I will have to wait, or save the money and put it towards some new Nikon glass.