“Since it first unveiled the iPhone more than a year ago, Apple has been heading down a new path. Having developed a version of the OS X operating system that runs not only on a Macintosh but also on a device that fits in your pocket, Apple has blurred the distinction between what we know of as a ‘computer’ and what we think of as a ‘consumer electronics’ device,” Arik Hesseldahl writes for BusinessWeek. “The best evidence of this point, which I’ve argued before in this space, is the iPhone’s overlooked cousin, the iPod Touch.”

MacDailyNews Take: Overlooked by whom, Arik? The MSM and Wall Street, sure, but not by those who follow the company closely. And it’s iPod touch, with a small “t.”

Hesseldahl continues, “On its face the Touch may seem to be little more than an iPhone without the phone features.”

MacDailyNews Take: Unless you realize that it doesn’t have a built-in microphone, either. That’s important because it would necessitate adding mic hardware to the iPod touch via the Dock Connector along with software for little things like, oh… VoIP.

Hesseldahl continues, “Notably, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook has taken to publicly describing the Touch as a ‘mobile Wi-Fi platform,’ as he did in remarks at a Goldman Sachs conference on Feb. 27.”

MacDailyNews Note: Apple execs Tim Cook and Peter Oppenheimer first called iPod touch “the first mainstream mobile Wi-Fi platform” repeatedly during Apple’s Q1 08 financial results conference call on January 22, 2008.

Hesseldahl continues with supposed revelations about how important the iPod touch is – which would be great, if the article was dated on or near September 5, 2007 (Hey, we’re not asking for December 10, 2002 here!) when Apple debuted the iPod touch, not in March 2008. Hesseldahl, normally an interesting writer on Apple-related topics, also offers a bunch of speculation about what iPod touch means, how it just might be a portable minicomputer, and similar “discoveries” that anyone following Apple even remotely has already thought and/or read about for months now. It’s almost as if Hesseldahl had to submit something today, so he pulled out one of his old unused drafts from last September, touched it up a bit, and voilà!

Full article, read it if you want — there’s nothing particularly wrong with it, it just seems to be well-past its due date — here.