My ideal iPod touch
Don't get me wrong, I love my iPod touch. As a matter of fact, I'm writing this post with it on the beach as my girlfriend goes surfing. But with Apple's new product announcement on Tuesday, it makes me wonder what changes could be in store for our favorite supercharged music player.
I think the single greatest thing Apple could do for the iPod touch is take a page from the Amazon Kindle and offer free "Whispernet" service for every iPod touch sold. (Or, say, roll it in with a Mobile Me subscription.) Amazon bought access to a chunk of Sprint's EVDO network, which means every Kindle has network access wherever it goes.
Apple could make such a deal with AT&T -- and its various partners worldwide -- to provide the necessary bandwidth. Who knows -- perhaps they have already. Allow tethering with software like NetShare, and you've got Internet access for your Mac, too. Instant-on, and always there. Brilliant.
Another simple addition would be GPS functionality, bringing the iPod touch in line with its newer sibling. Suddenly, the need for both a GPS and an iPod in your car is obviated, and it opens up interesting opportunities with the car manufacturers who already offer iPod integration in their vehicles.
Third, and this could apply to new iPhones too, would be to allow access to the dock connector for Apps. This opens up all kinds of options for iPhone and iPod touch owners to use voice recorders and cameras, as well as potentially control a wide range of equipment from industrial automation tools to backyard telescopes.
Who knows what Apple has up their sleeve? Certainly not me. But with this wish list fulfilled, you can be sure a new iPod touch is in my immediate future.
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Don't get me wrong, I love my iPod touch. As a matter of fact, I'm writing this post with it on the beach as my girlfriend goes surfing....
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Yes, the iPhone and iPod touch have a strange and perhaps strained relationship. How does the parent stave off sibling cannibalism?
Unrestrained, the iPod touch could devour the iPhone. Full, unrestrained access to the dock would indeed enable all sorts of things such as VoIP, Cameras, etc. The other key piece is ubiquitous Internet access.
So perhaps this is why we haven't seen these things materialize yet. The revenues from carriers is nothing to be sneezed at.
Yes, the iPhone and iPod touch have a strange and perhaps strained relationship. How does the parent stave off sibling cannibalism?
Unrestrained, the iPod touch could devour the iPhone. Full, unrestrained access to the dock would indeed enable all sorts of things such as VoIP, Cameras, etc. The other key piece is ubiquitous Internet access.
So perhaps this is why we haven't seen these things materialize yet. The revenues from carriers is nothing to be sneezed at.
How about an external speaker like the iphone???
Why do I have to run around and find earbuds just to listen to a podcast or play a game?
First: What you're talking about is an iPhone. You want all that extra crap, get an iPhone. If you're on AT&T's network, you might as well have a full blown phone with it too eh?
Second: How about external speakers like an iPhone?
I think everyone is being a little too know-it-all on the, "I know what has to be done to keep the iPhone a success" front and to call the touch just a music player is much closer to the asinine side, I'm afraid.
Instead of acting like I'm the strategic planner for all Apple mobile devices I would just say that I want GPS foremost so that I can use maps and the omnifocus locater.
I don't necessarily care about 3G, but I do wish they would fix the way the touch connects so that all those wi-fi hotspots that computers have no trouble utilizing aren't impossible to connect to with the touch. (So annoying!)
Otherwise, on the far end of my wish list, I'd love some visual and voice input (camera - microphone) simply so I can utilize other apps like Evernote, etc.
As others have said, you're basically asking for an iPhone without the 2 year commitment to AT&T. It flat out won't happen. I do think they will add GPS to the Touch, but "whispernet" will never happen. And the only reason GPS will work on the Touch is because 2.1 will add turn by turn functionality with preloaded maps. Without preloaded maps the Touch is pretty worthless as a GPS device. At least that's what I predict will happen.
September 08 2008 at 3:22 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplySo you want an iPhone? Seriously, you just listed the specs of the iPhone, except you want a cheaper data plan AND you want tethering. Those two things do not go together.
The touch is a music device. If you want a data device with GPS then you get an iPhone. Kind of a frivolous post, don't you think?
Frivolous? That's not my call to make.
(and to dave, too, above) I do want an iPhone, but I don't want a *contract.* In the U.S., those two go hand-in-hand. I'm happy with the Verizon service I have. That's a big deal for me. I don't necessarily want a cheaper data plan, either -- I (and many others, I suspect) am willing to pay for the service as part of Mobile Me, for example. My point was that Amazon can afford to bundle wireless service with its mobile device, so why can't Apple?
Money? Maybe. They have $20 billion lying around, though. It wouldn't be hard to part with some of that. Keeping the touch's price the same, though, or creating a subscription fee via Mobile Me sidesteps the need.
To argue that the iPod touch is just a music device is at best shortsighted and at worst asinine. The iPod shuffle is arguably the only "music device" that Apple sells: all the other iPods do much more than just play music. They didn't build their business on the back of the iPod shuffle. They're building a mobile platform to carry them for the next decade or longer, and that's a story that's much bigger than just a "music device." Sorry.
So no, I don't want an iPhone. The Kindle isn't an iPhone. A TomTom isn't an iPhone. The iPod touch shouldn't be either. I'm not saying this is practical, either. But Amazon and Garmin seem to have done it. So why not Apple?
Amazon's "whispernet" only transfers small ebooks and such. You want full on laptop data tethering, which eats so much bandwidth that AT&T outlaws it without a dedicated plan. There's no way Apple can pay for a whispenet that includes tethering or even device data. iTunes would eat bandwidth downloading songs, Safari would use way more data than a few eBooks. Comparing the Touch to the Kindle is completely unrealistic.
Sure, the touch has other features besides music, but those are mostly a tack on to the music. If you want a multi-function device that also plays music, that's the point of the iPhone.
Think of it from Apple's point of view: why would they add GPS and a data connection to the Touch (having to design a new device) when they already have such a device: the iPhone? If they somehow could afford the ridiculous costs of a data connection without passing a monthly charge onto the consumer, then they could pretty much get rid of the iPhone.
The Touch and iPhone fill completely different needs, and to expect them to converge towards two devices that do basically the same thing is ridiculous.
The Touch still doesn't have the all basic PDA functionality of a 5-year-old Palm PDA.
Syncing notes/text
Copy/Paste
Todos that sync
I know that their are things it does WAY better than a Palm but it's still not the PDA I want to make it be.
If the touch had external volume controls I would buy one in an instant.
September 08 2008 at 1:58 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI agree with dave.
Why would apple put all those features into the Touch when most are already there on the iPhone 3G?
Answer : they wouldn't.
I've often been tempted to buy a Touch, but every time I've always thought "Why not just buy an iPhone?"
I'm currently waiting for my Orange UK contract to run out, which should be when iPhone v.3 comes out!
Can't wait.
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