Jobs announces new iPod Touch
Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the stage today and got plenty of applause as he announced the company’s new gadget lineup just in time for the holiday season.
The upgraded iPods led by the iPod Touch created immediate buzz. Sasha Segan of pcmag.com said “This iPod Touch which now has an HD video camera and a front facing camera is going to probably kill the flip video market and it’s going to really put their face time video calling thing into the forefront. Before you could only face time between iPhone 4′s now there’s going to be all these iPod Touches out there without AT&T contracts where people are able to talk to each other”.
But the tone was very different when it came to the revamped Apple TV a device that has in the past been one of Apples few misfires. The latest one is smaller and will cost just $99. Users can rent, not buy, programming including content from video rental site Netflix. But it is what Apple TV does not have that has some scratching their heads. Says Segan, “It’s like you are out in the woods with an antenna. All you can get is ABC and Fox. You can’t get CBS, you can’t get NBC, you can’t get a lot of cable programming. You have to pay $24 for a season’s worth of shows and then you can’t watch them twice. And the movies well they’re more expensive than Blockbuster and they are on the same schedule. So I just don’t see this changing people’s behaviors.” The company is also facing competition from rivals like Google TV.
And finally, not wanting to be left out of the social networking game the latest version of iTunes will have a social networking feature called Ping which Apple referred to as Facebook and Twitter meets iTunes.
