“One exhibitor at the event, Hama, is already showing cases claimed to be for a third-generation iPod touch, as well as a fifth-generation Nano,” iPodNN reports. “In both instances the cases appear to have cutouts for cameras.”
iPodNN reports, “The Touch’s camera is located top-center on the back… The Nano’s camera by contrast is situated bottom-left, and requires an elongated cutout for reasons unknown. Both players otherwise seem to be unchanged in terms of overall design.”
iPodNN reports, “Missing from the collection is the iPod classic, which also been rumored to be getting a camera by some sources. The Hama leak is considered to be extremely reputable however, due not only to public exposure of a physical product, but the fact that a similar incident foreshadowed the debut of the fourth-generation Nano last year.”
See the photos of the cases in the full article here.
Seems a stupid idea. Why put in a cheap camera most people have a fairly decent one on their phone? A price cut might have been a better idea.
Elongated cutout = microphone.
The photo of the ipod touch case is questionable. Look at the font on the box for compatible ipods. The difference between the 2nd gen and 3rd gen styles looks like a bad photoshop job.
But I hope I’m wrong, because I really want one
Right. Microphone so you can record live VIDEO!!!
I think it’s odd that in the photo, the third gen iTouch is the only one that does not indicate capacity.
I’ll bet Apple will kill the Classic iPod this year. Touch is the new mode of control and all apps/games in the App Store rely on it. There’s almost no good reason for Apple to continue to sell old tech that cannot run 3rd party apps and negate the profit that goes with it. I’d be surprised if the new iPods did not have both a camera and a mic; it’s the natural evolution path for those who can’t afford a cell contract but want iPhone-like features.
On that touch it makes sense. On the nano it just seems like a gimmick.
@TheGyro
Why put in a cheap camera most people have a fairly decent one on their phone?
Because of the astounding ease of getting the photos onto your computer? The wife and I are shopping for new phones (actually I just want a better plan, the phones come with). I asked the guy what the best way was to get the photos off my cell phone, and it’s still “email them to a website”. You gotta be kidding me.
——RM
@Brau
If they kill the classic I hope they give sufficient warning beforehand so I can purchase a replacement for my old one, I like the form factor of the Classic and the usability of having my entire library in hand.
Check out the apps in the App Store. There are many uses for a camera besides taking cheesy shots of your friends. Color matching, barcode reading, visual measuring, avatar creation, pics to remind you of something you saw … just to name a few.
The more AAPL brings the iPod touch to iPhone levels (camera, compass) the more they will sell. My crappy cell phone camera isn’t worth diddly. I’d love to have a camera in the new iPod touch I will pick up next week, and I expect it will have one.
More AR for me (augmented reality).
The touch will make the transition to a voip, camera device. Basically your all in one device without a service contract. They’ll keep gps off the touch so it won’t cannibalize the iPhone. But if they put it on sign me up so I don’t have to kill my iPhone so much.
They won’t “kill” the iPod classic because there is nothing that comes close in capacity. If there is a version of the iPod touch at 64GB this time around, that is still only about half the capacity of the current iPod classic. There are still plenty of customers who only want to store a huge amount of songs and videos, and don’t care about apps, and Apple knows it.
Apple also knows that the click wheel interface is better for simply controlling media playback. You can do it with one hand holding and controlling the device, and you can do many actions “by feel” without the need to look at the screen. Compare that to the touch screen interface, which is certainly more flexible, but not as specialized for controlling media playback.
As long as that one model of iPod classic sells in sufficient numbers at $249 (or even $199), it has a much better profit margin than the much more sophisticated iPod touch, which Apple is compelled to sell with less margin (at the low end) due to comparisons with iPhone’s subsidized price.
I want at least 80GB on any future touch iPod. My 5G 60GB isnt big enough anymore and I want to have my whole library with me in the car.
until they get the ipod touch up to at least 80 its a no-go for my wife and I she went through her 80 gig, and now has a 120 gig and I wish I could have gotten my hands on 160gig-I never dreamed they would discontinue that model. We love traveling with our cd library and some movies for our daughter, don’t need anything else–right now!
@LordRobin
Why put in a cheap camera most people have a fairly decent one on their phone?
…
I asked the guy what the best way was to get the photos off my cell phone, and it’s still “email them to a website”. You gotta be kidding me.
Are we talking iPhone here? Anything you can do with the nano, iPod Touch, or any other iPod, you can do with the iPhone. Connect it wired or wirelessly to your computer, or whatever. In what way is it less convenient for pictures?
I really want the new touch. I need this b/c my phone, a really crappy Nokia 6800a, doesn’t have a camera. Plus, I was planning to get an itouch 2g this winter but when i heard about the new touch it seemed like a double whammy to me.