I’m beginning to think the iPod touch is not an end-of-life product that should be ignored. Oh, I did at one time due to the torrid pace at which Apple was releasing new iPhone products. Seemed like the old iPod was absolutlely superfluous. As the iPhone models increased their storage and speed, the iPod touch tagged along, but not too closely. Currently the iPod touch is consider a second generation device (2G) versus the iPhone in its 3G and now 3GS forms.
Like most of you who may not own an I phone, I have felt the pressure of seeing all my friends of Facebook buying iPhones and cross-posting from Twitter to Facebook via their iPhone. So caving into peer pressure, I’m considering buying an iPhone maybe in October when I reach the 3 year mark as a customer with AT&T. I have some things working in my favor though. I lucked out with being a Cingular customer before they combined with AT&T and before the exclusive distribution deal for the iPhone. But do I really need to buy an iPhone to get all the benefits of the App Store? Do I need to pay for the big hefty data plan?
Maybe not. Just this past week Mark Sigal @ O’Reillycom followed up all the rumors and speculation about Apple entering the netbook market with a Tablet PC. He claimed then Apple was already making a netbook and it was called the iPod touch:
But, perhaps the real story with respect to the forthcoming Apple Tablet Device is that Apple has already released a tablet computing device.
It’s called the iPod touch, and because it’s often overshadowed by its noisier sibling, the iPhone, we sometimes forget that it has already sold 15M+ units.
via: O’Reilly.com
Today J.P. Morgan is also saying, Apple is already in the netbook market. They have a device called the iPod touch.
The J.P. Morgan report views the iPod touch as Apple’s netbook, of sorts. At least, the analysis says, until Apple officially enters the netbook market – something the firm expects the Mac maker to do.
via AppleInsider | iPod touch seen as small but stealthy asset in Apple lineup.
Given the confidence level of reading these two articles I am more willing to consider an iPod touch. It seems like a more frugal choice without the burden of un-ending data plan fees. True the cost is not susidzied by AT&T, but that one time shot of money is about what I was willing to spend on a netbook anyways. So maybe an iPod touch is the better option if you want to save a little cash by not purchasing a huge data plan from AT&T.
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Comments
3 responses to “Apple lineup: The Netbook is already here.”
good point, it’s definitely a mini-computer with a “light” OS.
what about keyboard, though? can you really do any computing on the thing without a (non-touchscreen) keyboard?
i’m still trying to avoid a smartphone. i spend way too much time on the computer as it is, and a smartphone would just allow me to spend even more time on it.
No it’s only has the typical iPod dock connector on it. So unless you pay Apple a license to ‘hack’ an accessory onto that connector you won’t see an external keyboard any time soon. The accessories market for iPods and iPhone 3GS is going to pretty healthy though. So who knows, maybe somebody might yet make an external keyboard for the iPod Touch.
Apparently Stuart Larson is now an iPhone owner/user and is updating his Facebook much more frequently now he’s ‘wired’.