And Lo, Jobs Appeared and Said “No, This Is the Best iPod Ever,” and It Was, and There Was Much Rejoicing
by John Paczkowski
Posted on September 8, 2009 at 6:37 AM PT
When Steve Jobs described the iPhone at D5 as “the best iPod we’ve ever made,” he set the bar high for future iterations of the iconic device.
Now, in the run-up to tomorrow’s invitation-only Apple event, the question is: Will Apple (AAPL) reach the bar? And with what? The answer, if the latest rumors prove true, depends on your feelings about iPods with cameras. Because according to reports, when Apple refreshes its iPod touch and iPod nano players, both will feature cameras–the nano’s for still images, the touch’s for photos and video.
We may also see a new price point for entry-level touch models, one intended to undermine Microsoft’s (MSFT) forthcoming multitouch Zune with HD display and to really juice App Store sales. Perhaps the 16GB touch at $199 and the 8GB at $150.
Beyond this, the event might also include the announcement of iTunes 9, said to include some sort of social networking element; “Cocktail,” a new music format that bundles full-length albums with art, video and other bells and whistles; and perhaps even Blu-ray support (no Beatles, though). And after that? Well, it’s tough to say. Apple’s never an easy read when it comes to product announcements, even when there’s evidence floating around that would seem to suggest otherwise.
So join us tomorrow for live coverage of Apple’s event to see if the above rumors prove true or if Apple’s got something else entirely up its sleeve. The event kicks off at 10 am PDT.
Comments
I really do not expect too much for tomorrow. And really, they are so far ahead, they do not really need to do much. Cameras can be considered a fact. Otherwise they will double capacities at the existing price points or slightly less. All indicators point to raising component pricing, so I would not bet on dramatic price drops. I hope for 720p playback via the component cable on the touch – if they use the same CPU as in the iPhone 3GS, this should be possible and kill MSs main selling point (who cares for HD radio?). An OLED screen in the 64GB top model would be nice.
Otherwise I expect mainly iTunes 9 and iTunes Store makeovers, mainly for the App Store, Movies and TV Show sections. The current interface does not really work as good as it could be.
Posted by Uwe Rueckeshaeuser at September 8th, 2009 at 6:56 amHow quickly were are to count out the competition. “Who cares for HD Radio?” I don’t know, lots of people who still listen to radio and considering HD Radio isn’t free and it is with the Zune HD I think that’s important. Apparently you don’t listen to radio ever right? Sometimes you wanna listen to someone else play music. This whole Camera thing is so pointless. “Oh wow I can buy an iPod with a Camera? Hmm where have a seen that before? Oh yeah, on my cellphone.” Yeah that point is so moot. How many people are actually going to sell their iPod Touches or even their iPod classics to pick up an iPod touch with a Camera? Not many people because the people with iPod Classics do it for the amount of storage space and people with iPod Touches are already in good hands. Also for assuming HD Radio is one of Microsoft’s selling points…you indeed fail. Zune has had radio since 1st generation so no I don’t think so. Apple is running out of ideas and the Zune HD has apple running scared. The nVidia Tegra chip set allows the Zune HD to be more primed for games as well as integration with the Xbox Marketplace. I’ll tune in on Sept 9th to see what Apple does but the real spotlight will be shown on Sept. 15th
Posted by Aaron Rowe at September 8th, 2009 at 10:49 am> Apparently you don’t listen
> to radio ever right? Sometimes
> you wanna listen to someone
> else play music.
There are many, many radio apps for iPhone and iPod touch, and many are interactive. There is no shortage of radio on iPod. Many more people have chosen Pandora on iPod touch than ever chose any Zune.
As for the HD audio part, good luck selling higher audio quality in the 21st century.
> How many people are actually
> going to sell their iPod Touches
> or even their iPod classics
> to pick up an iPod touch with a
> Camera?
People don’t have to sell their existing devices. The iPod touch is 2 years old. The first iPod touch purchasers now need a new iPod touch. What will get them to upgrade? The camera will be one reason.
The camera is not just a cell phone camera as you imply. It’s got tap-to-focus, and it also has an H.264 camcorder with trimming and YouTube upload from the device. Lots of people are lusting after this camera after seeing it in the iPhone. The job of the iPod touch is to satisfy the need for people who don’t want an iPhone.
Also, there are hundreds of camera-based apps that do interesting things with the camera, like scanning bar codes, or digitizing sudoku games. These are things most cell phones can’t do even if they have a camera because they have such awful software (see Microsoft Windows Mobile.)
> people with iPod Touches are
> already in good hands.
Unless they have infinitely long-lasting iPod touch models they will need new ones at some point. As I said, the iPod touch is 2 years old, some devices are being retired.
> the people with iPod Classics
> do it for the amount of storage
This year there will be 64GB iPod touch models. That is half the storage of the iPod classic, plus you get apps and touch. Lots of classic models will get replaced this year with iPod touch.
> Also for assuming HD Radio
> is one of Microsoft’s selling
> points…you indeed fail. Zune
> has had radio since 1st
> generation so no I don’t
> think so.
You’re right, the Zune has not sold well ever since the 1st generation. Radio has never been a selling point.
> Apple is running out of ideas
Weird how they’re still being copied by Microsoft, though, huh?
Even if this were true, there are 65,000 apps on the iPod, so the user does not have to be satisfied with Apple’s ideas. We will likely see many 3rd party hardware options for iPod touch also.
> and the Zune HD has apple running
> scared.
It’s Microsoft that just discontinued their entire music player line in favor of an Apple iPod touch clone that is over 2 years behind the state-of-the-art.
The Zune HD is not even out yet, how could it make anybody run scared? And Zune HD does not even compare well against the 2008 iPod touch. The Zune HD has no apps, no modern Web browser (IE? from 2001? this browser is already blocked by many websites), and the pinch-to-zoom is not there although it was in Microsoft’s big-ass-table from 2007. There is a slider to zoom in and out. It is a joke.
> The nVidia Tegra chip set allows
> the Zune HD to be more primed for
> games
This is pure marketing fantasy. Primed for games means nothing. Where are the games?
The iPhone and iPod touch also have 3D hardware as well as many layers of software the Zune HD lacks such as Core Animation, which makes it easy for developers to create 3D interfaces without having to program the 3D directly themselves. You need an SDK, API, developers, and so on to do 3D, not just the hardware. OS X has been drawing its whole UI in 3D for almost 10 years. There is years of work for Microsoft to do here.
It’s interesting that the Zune HD interface is not 3D. What a waste of a 3D chip.
> as well as integration with the
> Xbox Marketplace.
Yawn.
> I’ll tune in on Sept 9th to see
> what Apple does but the real
> spotlight will be shown on Sept.
> 15th
Everything that’s coming on the 15th has already been shown. We’ve been looking at Zune HD for over 6 months. Same as last year and the year before, reviewers thought the Zune models were OK until they saw the corresponding iPod models which completely embarrassed the Zune each time.
Where was the Zune HD in 2007 when Apple introduced the iPod touch?
It’s great that you like Zune. But sorry, you don’t get to go on like there is something original there. Zune HD is 2 years out of date by anyone’s measure. The Web browser is well over 5 years out of date. Microsoft already did a commercial where a woman pukes at the sight of IE6 and you’re going to buy it from Microsoft again this fall? Even Palm Pre has a modern HTML 5 browser. Zune HD is another in a long line of epic failures for Microsoft.
Posted by Fred Hamranhansenhansen at September 8th, 2009 at 8:11 pm