When I first heard about Apple’s announcement of the iPod Touch, my first question was “How big is the hard drive??” I easily have 60gb of music, and probably 200gb of video. Size really does matter for my usage patterns.
Since I’d just bought an iPhone and my 80gb iPod is half a year old, I was praying that the Touch was undersized just so I’d feel better about turning my back.
I was actually relieved to discover they only came in 8gb and 16gb flavors. Then I was confused. It’s basically an iPhone without the phone. And why bother with that storage size? It’s a really expensive Nano. They’d Apple also announced a brand new, reimagined Nano. What in the hell is going on?
Then it dawned on me.
The iPod Touch has very little to do with music, video, or the name “iPod”. This device is a PDA. Well sorta. It’s a pocket sized device that deals with things like Web, calendar, email, contacts (business) as well as music, video, and photos (personal/fun). It’s the business-capable device we don’t mind carrying with us on the weekends.
Largely, the PDA market is dead, or at least largely uninteresting. With phones that can handle just about anything we’d need in a portable device, why carry two? But here comes Apple sneaking in the back door of this market…nay, reinvigorating a mostly dead market. Is this their move towards the business customer?
Where they’re going, I’m not sure. This is a master stroke for Apple, and mark my words, this is nowhere near the last we’ve heard from Apple on this front.
Dax Davis
September 11th, 2007 3:27
I tell you, I'm a bit disappointed about the file size, but I guess it's a necessity considering the screens battery usage. To add the movable parts of a hard drive to the drain, would likely be too much. Dax
Dax Davis
September 10th, 2007 21:27
I tell you, I'm a bit disappointed about the file size, but I guess it's a necessity considering the screens battery usage. To add the movable parts of a hard drive to the drain, would likely be too much. Dax
Matthew J
September 11th, 2007 7:11
Jake, thanks for this article, you hit it right on the nose - this is a PDA. I have to say that the iPod touch is exactly what I have been wanting for several reasons.
1) As a web (and mobile-web) developer I am always running my websites on different devices for testing and development.
2) Being able to use the iPhone interface without having to get a new Cingular contract is awesome (I am still in a 2-year contract with Verizon).
3) I have a 30GB iPod Video and is it about 75% full (15% of that videos). I have never really liked watching videos on the 2 1/2" screen with the iTouch (I renamed it for Apple!) I will have 3 1/2" (yes, an extra inch does matter) that is a 40% increase in screen size.
I must disagree 98% about the fact that the PDA market is dead. Firstly, the iPod Phone is a PDA by definition. Also, Palm (still my favorite) is releasing new units on a regular basis. Plus, HP just announced another round of Pocket PC connected PDAs.
[I also agree with Dax, no moving parts is a good thing for battery, heat and reliability]
Matthew J
September 11th, 2007 7:11
Jake, thanks for this article, you hit it right on the nose - this is a PDA. I have to say that the iPod touch is exactly what I have been wanting for several reasons. 1) As a web (and mobile-web) developer I am always running my websites on different devices for testing and development. 2) Being able to use the iPhone interface without having to get a new Cingular contract is awesome (I am still in a 2-year contract with Verizon). 3) I have a 30GB iPod Video and is it about 75% full (15% of that videos). I have never really liked watching videos on the 2 1/2" screen with the iTouch (I renamed it for Apple!) I will have 3 1/2" (yes, an extra inch does matter) that is a 40% increase in screen size. I must disagree 98% about the fact that the PDA market is dead. Firstly, the iPod Phone is a PDA by definition. Also, Palm (still my favorite) is releasing new units on a regular basis. Plus, HP just announced another round of Pocket PC connected PDAs. [I also agree with Dax, no moving parts is a good thing for battery, heat and reliability]
Brooks
September 11th, 2007 12:41
Bummer thing about this device are the things "not" included. Calendar exists but in the same method as existing iPods. This means that you can't enter a new entry. Say, wha...
There is no support for Notes. No biggie, but silly when you think about it.
Guess what? No email.
I'm sure it will get hacked in but the the whole selling point for me would have been the iPhone w/o the phone. I don't really want/need the phone, but the other services would have sold me. I'm sure that is all part of the selling strategy.
I'm like you with tons of content, but I like shaking mine up without having everything at my fingertips. Too much stuff to wade through for my taste. I'll stick to my shuffle and cell phone combo for now.
Brooks
September 11th, 2007 12:41
Bummer thing about this device are the things "not" included. Calendar exists but in the same method as existing iPods. This means that you can't enter a new entry. Say, wha... There is no support for Notes. No biggie, but silly when you think about it. Guess what? No email. I'm sure it will get hacked in but the the whole selling point for me would have been the iPhone w/o the phone. I don't really want/need the phone, but the other services would have sold me. I'm sure that is all part of the selling strategy. I'm like you with tons of content, but I like shaking mine up without having everything at my fingertips. Too much stuff to wade through for my taste. I'll stick to my shuffle and cell phone combo for now.
Anonymous
November 3rd, 2008 15:26
iPod Touch has very little to do with music, video, or the name i pod This device is a PDA