Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs announced some big changes for the iPod touch at Let's Rock - the special Apple event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
As widely predicted, Apple's 'a bit like the iPhone but no phone and more expensive' iPod touch has been redesigned to be what Jobs described as "the funnest iPod ever". While the memory capacity has stayed stationary, the touch also received a massive price drop -the 8GB model is $229/£169, 16GB is $299/£219, and the 32GB is $399/£289. According to Jobs, that means:
Physical changes
More changes than predicted on the rumour sites. Jobs lists:
- A thinner body plus contoured stainless steel design
- Volume controls now integrated into the side
- A built-in speaker
Software
Jobs also confirmed built-in Nike+iPod functionality, while the new Genius playlist generator and App Store are also built-in. Non-musos can thrill to new games such as Need For Speed and Spore. Actually, if we had to call it, it looks like the iPod touch is now being positioned far more as a gaming machine - hello Messrs PSP and DS, can you hear us at the back?
Firmware
The new 2.1 firmware promises to be a decent-sized update, if primarily behind-the-scenes in focus. According to Jobs, the new firmware "fixes lots of bugs… battery life improvements… no crashes with Apps (and) backing up is faster." Sounds good to us, especially re backing up and improved battery life which Jobs confirmed as 36 hours for music and six hours for video
All of which is slightly more change than predicted but is certainly welcome (and even makes this author fall in love with his existing iPod touch a little bit more). More as we get it.
