“We think there’s still a huge market for the iPod touch, such as people who don’t want to pay a minimum $70 per month for phone and data service, people who use non-AT&T wireless carriers, and people who like keeping their mobile phone and MP3 player separate,” Vasanth Sridharan writes for Silicon Alley Insider.
“So we don’t expect Apple to leave the iPod touch alone. But if it’s going to become the first ‘mainstream wi-fi mobile platform,’ as the company has been calling it, it needs some improvements,” Sridharan writes.
Specifically, we’d like to see:
• More storage for the same price
• A camera
• Mic and speakers
• Version(s) with 5- and/or 7-inch screen(s)
Sridharan writes, “We think some of these changes could come as early as this fall. We don’t expect Apple to do much to the iPod touch during the back-to-school shopping season — during which they’re giving away iPod touches to Mac buyers. But sometime around mid-October…”
More in the full article here.
I’d like to see usb-port in iPod Touch, for 3G internet connection.
Mac Mobile
This is the mobile, touch screen Mac that everyone wants.
Include an ExpressCard slot for 4G internet connections.
GMan,
Yes sir, that ExpressCard slot is better idea.
last year apple introduced improved models and the new touch at sep 5th. i think they will stick to that timeframe. a camera (minimum 3,2 MP) with mobile me and flickr support and different screen-sizes would be nice.
I would like to see the following on the next iPod touch:
– External Volume Controls (to change the volume when the iPod is in your pocket or other times when you can’t pull the iPod out)
– iPhone-style headphones with track-changing controls (previous/next)
– Built-in Speaker
– Plastic back (a la iPhone 3G) instead of chrome back so we don’t have to deal with scratches
– GPS-enabled Google Maps
– Vibrate (so you can get push notifications for e-mail or eBay or other similar apps without having to keep pulling the iPod out of your pocket to check for notifications and to allow for force feedback in games sold through App Store)
will the iPhone eat up the current iPods, and the new iPods become a family that includes a larger tablet?
I might be in the minority but I’d like a small dedicated physical button to switch to the next or previous song without having to hit the home button and then look at the screen to find the virtual skip button. If I’m running or mowing or whatever it’s just kind of a hassle. I know, I know… it’s a tough life.
the touch needs the speakers that have mentioned, and a chat camera (and ichat!) as has been mentioned, and 2 sizes, the current, and a 7 inch. then add more storage and give the 7 inch mini usb and the MBA remote optical disc tech and the lineup is nearly perfect…..
“I might be in the minority but I’d like a small dedicated physical button to switch to the next or previous song “
has anyone tried the i{hone headphones with a touch? does it skip?
if Apple stays with their norms on pricing, then we’d have to see a 16 GB iPod touch at 199 instead of the current 399.
Could Apple really drop the price that low??
Most component pricers think the 3G iPhone is costing around $175, so a 2.0 iPod touch would have to be less, right?? So Apple could still keep their healthy margins, right??
I’d love to see a camera and mic/speakers too . . . and the same form factor as the 3G iPhone. The current iPod touch just doesn’t have the refined look that the iPhone does.
I know what they should do with the iPod touch.
They should make the screen much bigger.
Can you say MacBook?
Well, how about giving it a mic and speakers so we can skype over WiFi?
Can you say iPhone?
The iPod Touch is not a phone or a laptop. It is an iPod.
Not really. To me, the Touch is more of an in between product. iPods used to just play music and that’s still what I use mine for. The more bells and whistles you add the more it becomes a sort of compact tablet.
How about they discontinue the old iPods altogether and make a touch with a tiny HD (SSD or regular) that has the same capacity as the iPod classic. If it also had the camera and the speakers from the iPhone, this would be the device to beat.
They could also replace the nano with a tiny version of the touch that uses a virtual click-wheel, and doesn’t do the email/text thing but is an awesome media player and holds your contacts and calendar like the current nano. Hell, they could even throw a phone in the nano if they tried hard enough.
The possibilities are endless here and I would only be surprised if in the next update Apple *doesn’t* do anything interesting with the touch besides add more capacity. Apple has so much opportunity here, that it’s only a matter of if they have the time and the people to produce anything given how overworked they are right now.
I don’t need a mobile phone (the last mobile phone call I made was probably about six months ago and it wasn’t even my phone). But I’d be happy to pay $20 to $30/month for data only (Edge, 3G or whatever combination) on an iPod touch, which I would use daily.
“This is the mobile, touch screen Mac that everyone wants.”
If you’re right, do you realize this device won’t have any competition.
Apple will hold 100% market share and invent a totally new category.
Think about it, music/video/movies, calendar, e-reader (ebook)
And more… perhaps handwritting, GPS, camera, wi-fi phone.
We’re talking about a real ultraportable device here.
The very first media/entertainment/productivity device.
This is the only way the Touch can survive.
How about a 12″ Mac with a 4:3 screen ratio to replace the 12″ PB, perhaps with a flash memory slot to supplement or replace the internal hard drive? Or an even smaller Mac with no screen at all that could be plugged into an external monitor or projector? Apple’s increasing market share requires more diversified product choice, but it’s not happening.
@Kevin:
The price drop on iPhones was in large part due to ATT subsidization. iPod Touches do not have any additional contracts, i.e. voice/data plans, and would not be under the same pricing model as the iPhone. This also puts more pressure on the iPod Touch product line because the iPhone, with more features, becomes even more affordable compared to it’s untethered counterpart. Apple has little motivation to create an iPod Touch that can recreate 90% of the iPhone’s functionality, but sells at a lower cost and would cannibalize sales. iPod Touch = AppleTV. A product with potential that never really quite materialized due to external factors.
I think there are several technological constraints that currently make the iPod Touch’s ‘expansion’ a little ways off yet.
First is the transition to SSDs. Right now, they are expensive to produce and thus cannot provide much in the way of storage space. Wait a year or two.
Second is the screen size. Remember, the larger the touchscreen, the more expensive it gets – and don’t forget the battery life when you’ve got full brightness running. And anyway, who wants to lug around a 12″ screen with them everywhere?
Have you not heard of the MacBook Air, eh?
The current Touch form factor is perfect for being a lightweight (but powerful) mobile device. Steve’s goal was, afterall, to ‘fit in your pocket’. A 12″+ screen won’t make the cut there.
As for Multi-Touch, it’s more likely future generations of say, the iMac, will ship without a keyboard OR mouse, since the entire screen will contain an iPhone-esque interface.
We’ll just have to wait and see.
16 Gig Touch needs to sell for $199. Then it could be legitimate competition for Nintendo and PSP not to mention creating an entirely new mobile computing platform independent of the Telcos.
Apple could “subsidize” the price cut through it’s game sales and other app sales, mobileMe subscriptions, ‘Made for iPod” certification and iTunes music and movie sales.
Well, my brother just bought the 32GB model, so as soon as Leo LaPorte buys one Apple will immediately unveil the newer model, complete with garage door opener
Please someone come up with a VoIP feature for iPod touch! then I’m all set! =)
How ’bout a “Spring Board” slot so I can add stuff to it.
I want one that shoots laser beams and craps candy!
Damn! Why does everybody believ iPhone will replace all iPods! Do you think every child will receive an iPhone? Do journalists believe all the parents are that rich?