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Apple: Way to go Apple, you mp3 player is the new PDA
Fri, 07 Sep 2007

Teething keeping us up half the night aside, my brain is a little more functional today. I thought it very interesting when Apple announced the iPod Touch -- an iPod (mp3 player) with a large touch screen, a pile of storage, and good multimedia abilities. Despite the fact that PDA sales have been punished severely the last few years (and the whole product class being ignored by the manufactuers like Palm, Dell etc), Apple has just created the next PDA.

Apple for all their greatness and faults is pretty fearless these days, and they've demonstrated time and time again a willingness to take an aging concept and attempt to revitalize it, just as they've done most recently with the cell phone. We can be sure Apple knew they were just buffing up the iPod, but sneakily hoping to enter the PDA marketplace from the side..

I've not really looked into the iPod Touch specification to know how its data entry will work -- is the touchscreen simply for yes/no and kicking up applications and picking songs, or will the device feature an onscreen keyboard like the iPhone does? I doubt they will take on a grafitti-like stroke solution for fear of being branded a PDA and losing their core music-loving tech-fearing community. Regardless, the unit does feature a calendar and addressbook (with synchronization via iTunes) and media playing, which as everyone in the PDA industry knows.. account for eight tengths of what that gadget set are used for. Perhaps Apple has nailed it -- sticking to a minimal core of the highest demanded features and yet staying closed to shun the other uses will let them recapture a lost marketplace. People already carry iPods and phones, whereas carrying a PDA and phone is redundant in so many peoples minds.

Naturally, as with the iPhone, the devices are closed (for now) to developers.. more or less. No iMail port sure opens up an angle for developers to make a buck with, and gaming of course.. but I'm sure Apple will make some strategic partners (Bejewelled on yet another device), and open up web applications if.. confirmed - yes, the iPod Touch will include wireless. Sweet.

It'll hopefully be sold in Canada, even..

Way to go Apple .. while everyone else dropped the ball literally for years, as I've so often lamented and ranted about - you've picked it up again.

Please don't lock us developers out. We like to nibble on your pie.

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