Well, so much for not making the iPod line more confusing than it already was. As the pre-event rumors heated up, I’d eventually warmed up to the realization that there was, indeed, a place for an iPod touch: it had to be bigger and thicker than the iPhone, with a huge hard drive, to justify its existence — 160GB alright, with Cover Flow and wi-fi and the whole shebang. It wouldn’t be competing with the iPod nano for obvious reasons, and it wouldn’t be competing too much with the iPhone because it would be thicker and heavier — not something you carry in your back pocket like a phone, but something you always have in your bag. The ultimate internet tablet plus the ultimate portable media player.

And what do you get instead? A slightly thinner iPhone stuck in airplane mode (with, unexplicably, more flash memory, but I’m sure the phone will catch up). What’s the point? What the fuck is the point? It was either going to be too expensive to be a viable alternative to the iPhone, or so cheap it would steal a fair share of the handset’s market — turns out they chose the former (no surprise there — and a nice thought for the suckers who bought the iPhone at its original price). Is that a sign that carrier negotiations abroad aren’t going as well as Steve would like? Short of pathological allergy to AT&T, I can hardly see any reason for an American to buy a phone-less iPhone for almost the same price. So, there you go, dear European or Asian or whateverans friends, you can play with an iPod while waiting for our nice, exclusive phone.

Yeah, sure, of course I’d want an iPod touch for myself, right now, in my paws — but I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be paying for it (by the way, I seem to recall that Apple France has discovered bloggers and wants to start a relationship with them?). I’m saving my non-existent money to buy an iPhone when it finally comes out, and most people will do the same — who really wants just an iPod touch?

One thing’s for sure, though, if it were ever in any doubt: Apple doesn’t give a damn whether customer unlock their iPhones or not. They’re obviously quite fine with selling just the hardware.

As for the rest: I can’t believe it’ll cost $1.98 to download a song then make a ringtone out of it (but then, Apple doesn’t really mind nickel and diming its customers that much — never forget QuickTime Pro); the fat nano still looks wrong; and if you want a piece of advice, don’t ever launch the iTunes mobile application on your iPod or iPhone. You shouldn’t trust wifi with anything that can cost you money.

P.S. The new mode dock (which I guess will come to an iPhone update very soon) is much nicer:

…but it only works if they always leave the final row of icons free, as a separation. Which, uh, they won’t, since they’re launching the iTunes store on the phone, too.

 

# 2007-09-05 20:24:08