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No maps or weather widgets? Useless.

Today, Apple sounded the death knell for the cellphone industry. The first major WiFi computer-phone will reach the market at the end of the month. Great day for Jajah and Skype.

Shame its just 8GB and 16GB... why not put a hardrive in thoses puppies.... nevermind... it will be fun to use for 5mins anyway...

This is exactly the product I've been waiting for. Couldn't care less about weather and widgets since Safari is built-in. Get that info from whatever web site you like.

PS: How many days after the first sale will it be before the first class-action lawsuit is filed because the battery is not user-replaceable? The under-over is 7 days.

Looks AMAZING!

Appears to be a lot of astroturfers on here today. Microsoft must be writing a lot of cheques!

Time to go buy a Zune!

In the words of Tenacious D, "Fsck Yeah!"

Yaaaaa Hooooo!!!!!!!!!

The iPod classic 80gb is thinner than the 5.5G 30gb, according to MacNN.

If that's the case, why couldn't they fit the 30gb hard drive into the iPod touch using the same magic?

It might not have been devastatingly thin but it still would've been a pretty svelte PMP.

Hackers: Ready....Set....Go!

It will not be long until that screen becomes filled with widgets!

The iPod Touch looks pretty nice. However, given that it has wi-fi access, I would have loved for Apple to include the iPhone's e-mail application. I guess I could settle for Gmail's web interface, but a full-fledged phone-less iPhone would've been exactly what I wanted.

But is it brown?
Can it squirt?

No, it cannot.

Apple may copy Microsoft's innovations all they want, but still they can't get it right like the brilliant people from Redmond.

Your Potential. Our Passion.™

The proportions of the nano still look odd to me - everything else looks fantastic (natch).

what is needed is a GPS receiver + maps ... could sell maps of countries vie iTunes or whatever, bigger harddrive,

I agree that a e-mail would be nice even if you had to press a send receive button if yahoo wasn't going to push the service. Maps would also be a good touch, but I know that they didn't include these features to differentiate the iPhone by more than just the phone concept. However, I still don't understand why a 16 gb iPhone isn't availble for 499?????

Michael, you're an idiot.

To repeat:
The Zune now has Wi-Fi in it's limited release "Butthole Surfers" edition.
BTW, ALL the Zunes are limited editions......

Just what I was hoping for!!!

I have a 30 GB Gen. 5 ipod that I recently filled up with music. I can't fit any more music on it. I encode at 256 AAC for most tracks, but all around I just have a lot of music.

Was looking forward to the ipod touch, but I am pretty disappointed in the small hard drive space. Looks like I'll be getting an 80 gb ipod classic. Definitely disappointed when I saw the small hard drive size. I just don't want to spend the extra money to hold LESS music...

Oh well, can't please everyone...

with the addition of the itunes wifi store, i smell a revolution coming... just think, anywhere there's wifi, you can shop millions of songs. goodbye cd stores...

michael! bookmark weatherchannel.com and google maps in the safari browser!

i was kinda hoping the touch ipod would be hard drive based, but seeing as i never use more than 10 or 11 GB on my 30gb 5g ipod, i don't foresee the downgrade in storage space outweighing the massively amazing upgrade in functionality. i imagine the battery life on a widescreen, hd-based ipod with wifi wouldn't have been so great, so there's the tradeoff for now.

i can't remember the last time i was this excited about a new apple product. probably when the imac g5 came out. this ipod is gonna be huge.

mw: party, as in i'm totally gonna party when i buy my 6g ipod!

Fantastic. This is the product everyone wants except for the (again) obvious omission of iChat and other communication apps. Go hackers!

So why no maps.

Only thing is 16 Gb, without a SD slot upgrade path is a VERY price.

What you're paying for is the larger screen - is it glass?, and the interface, plus wifi.

It is COOL... but I'd buy the IPodMini... far more fun... far more useful to me. Better price.

VERY nice, i just wish it had mail.

...good thing i have a .mac address and getting mail on safari will be a snap.

now i just have to subtly drool over it for a month till my wife can get the hint for our anniversary! :-D

I'm not used to bitch at Apple, and I think I'll criticize something for the first time:

Although the iPod Touch is an amazing device and almost (I say ALMOST) what a lot of us were asking for (an iPhone without the phone), there is one vital aplication missing:

Mail

I was really looking forward to see an email client. I know most people wil say "well, use a web client", but a lot of us use POP/IMAP and no web interface.

The god news is, it's a software update, and if people start asking for Mail on the iPod Touch, most likely, it will be a reality.

Other than that, what else can I say? I WANT ONE!

Apparently I'm not alone about including Mail on the iPod Touch.

"...The god news is, it's a software update, and if people start asking for Mail on the iPod Touch, most likely, it will be a reality."

--------------

Doubtful, Apple need to clearly differentiate the iPod touch from the iPhone, and they have done that well.

Mail, maps, sms and phone are all communication apps... It makes best sense for Apple to only bundle those apps on their communication device, the iPhone... Not on an iPod.

Like Grifterus, I'm not used to complaining about anything Apple . . . but DANG. I wanted an iPod Touch with at least 100 GB of storage, not 16. That is, I wanted a serious upgrade to my current 80GB videoPod. Looks like that's just not in the cards, maybe ever. (Flash vs. hard drive)

Have to try to talk myself into the 160 "Classic" now, I guess.

Again, DANG.

"If that's the case, why couldn't they fit the 30gb hard drive into the iPod touch using the same magic?"

I think the reason for this is combining the hdd w/ the big screen would kill the battery life.

"...but DANG. I wanted an iPod Touch with at least 100 GB of storage, not 16."

--------------------

Well even if a 100gb flash chip existed (which it doesn't,) the chip alone would cost more than a MacPro.

GOODBYE WHITE PLASTIC!!! The end of an era. iPod's no longer have white plastic. iMac's - forget it, it's all about aluminum now. All we have left is the MacBook.

WHITE is clinical.

I didn't like it much... but ok.

HEY - is there a SD slot on the iPodtouch?

And now that the iPhone is lower in price... hmmmm why buy the iPodtouch? I get the iPhone.... hurray! Xmas is early - so good for us all.

Please, Please Apple let us replace our own batteries.
Please, Please add a SD card slot to all iPODs.

Man... it would be sweeter then pie.

howie

Me will have to wait for gen2 unfortunately. I need more than 16 gig space for my songs. I could go for a pod classic but now that looks so retro.

I've waited for 2 years - I can wait some more. I wonder if I can get a cheap iPod video on ebay for the interim?

i don't want the new shuffle... because i already have one

i don't want the new nano, because it does not have enough storage, or a large screen,

i don't want the iPod classic, because, the screen is too small for video

i don't want the iPod touch, because it does not have the storage space, no Skype/iChat/mail.

i want the "new" iPhone, i liked the old one, and the new price is good.

i would like to have:

an iPod Touch with a hard drive + full internet + maps

OR

a 16 GB iPhone + GPS.

i'm not impressed by the new products at all, they made a big mistake.

One thing is troubling me - There's no mention of OS X being used on the new iPod Touch. Mr Jobs usually crows loudly about things like this. No OS X could mean difficulty for hackers in adding the obviously missing apps, like a mail client and instant messaging.

Since the ipod touch is not a phone, it would have been nice for Apple to place the camera on the front of the iPod touch so you can do video conferencing (skype). iChat would be nice too.

Other than that...I think I will buy one or two....

If iPodTouch has Safari to browse with...

will I not be able to see my emails in the browser
while I am near a wifi transmitter.

Come-on... Apple will let it be so... I know it.

All new products are very nice. Love the NANO best.

Brau sez:

One thing is troubling me - There's no mention of OS X being used on the new iPod Touch. Mr Jobs usually crows loudly about things like this. No OS X could mean difficulty for hackers in adding the obviously missing apps, like a mail client and instant messaging.

i can't find any mention of a microphone on the iPod Touch!!!!
no skype, no VOIP without that....

Time to buy a ZUNE.... hahahahaha
they sell for 30 bucks cos they are not in demand. Run out now and get 10... and man enjoy them cos they are really really a waist. I bought one and took it back in 30 minutes. True.

And I am a Windows user... using iTunes and iPod... these Apple devices, well, THEY ROCK man!!!! Yup, the Apple device s looks and sound so much better. And these new babies are sweeter then ever.

And well the ZunePhoney ain't here yet... but come on... MS going to sell it for 299.99? Will it be a multi-touch screen - hmmmm. Will it have a HDrive... ok... let it. Dinosaurisous....

dan

"If Apple didn't use OS X in this iPod, this means that Apple has developed TWO ENTIRELY DIFFERENT OS'ES for two nearly identical products."

Yes, that's right, they could indeed. None of the previous iPods run OS X. They have a specially designed OS. There's no reason why Apple couldn't limit the iPod Touch by not using OS X. Steve bragged loud about having OS X on the iPhone and TV. Not a word on the Touch. Time will tell.

Looks really cool. Like other people I wish it had a couple of things. More storage would be nice, mail, chat, VOIP. Just as is it is an amazing upgrade though.

I noticed something--you can't buy movies, TV shows, or games from the built in iTunes store, just music. Anyone know why? Seems like they would want to sell as much of everything as possible.

1. No mail? No widgets? Puhleez... it's an "iPod" designed primarily for music and video into which they've tossed in touch controls, coverflow, wi-fi and Safari. It's more than you can get from any other manufacturer.
2. 16 gigs may not hold your entire library, but having used my 8 gig iPhone exclusively for two months I can say that it is not a hardship. I suggest you look into Smart Folders in iTunes. You can set up a special iPod/iPhone Smart Folder that can constantly modify the music being loaded into the iPod each time it's docked. The collection always stays fresh and your massive library gets rotated through the smaller device automatically.

mail, widgets and maps should have been included. There are some people that would love the iPhone but just don't want the AT&T;network. In our area, it's not good.. But, I'd still be willing to pay for the other options.

What would also be a great hacker addition, would be a skype application and then have a dock connector device that is a headphone with microphone.. Then we can get phone calls on it too.

"i'm not impressed by the new products at all, they made a big mistake."

I have a feeling their "big mistake" is going to result in yet another stellar holiday sales season regardless of your reviews.

@ boogle

The iPod touch has a USB port in it. Or use Brian's idea of the headphone port for the microphone.

It appears that there is no mic or camera on the iPod touch? I searched the apple site but could not find anything.

Can anyone confirm if the iPod Touch has a mic and video camera built in?

I would like to use it for video chats among other things....

Thanks

A quick look at Apple's website reveals no mention of the iPod Touch using OS X as its OS. The tech specs of the iPhone clearly state OS X as its OS, and since there was no mention of it at the press release, I don't think the new iPod runs on OS X. My 2 cents on this issue.

Santa is coming... be a good boy

There is no camera on the iPod touch.
There is no microphone on the iPod touch.
Nor is there a vacuum attachment, satellite dish, dishwasher, emergency road flare, breathalyzer or mass spectrometer. Third party manufacturers will come up with those for attachment through the 10-pin connector at the bottom of it.

It is an iPod-nothing more, nothing less.
It is meant for you to use as a portable media device with some light web surfing, not as the swiss army knife of portable computing devices.

MDN Magic word: Land, as in "I am the landstander, I stand on land"

Some interesting points of view from zune users here (Seriously)

http://www.zunescene.com/forums/index.php?board=1.0