For crying out loud, look at all the whiners. It's the base iOS device. It has a small screen. It has no cellular component at all. It doesn't NEED more than the A10. In addition, those of you with older phones should be rejoicing. This implies the A10 will be supported and get iOS updates for several more years at least. Yes, if you have an old phone you could set it up for someone as an iPod. But not everyone has one handy. Not everyone knows how to do that. Some people use their phone until it dies and they have to get another one. Some people want a warranty.
So yes it would be nice if it had X, Y, or Z. But that isn't what this is for. It's for games, and music, and connecting if you have WiFi around. For taking a few quick pictures and sending them to your friends. For texting, and e-mail, and surfing the web. And for that it's perfect.
Apple should have made the base model 64Gb for $199.
But, of course Tim and his cronies won't because they know 64Gb is the sweet spot everyone wants. Get the user to pay $100 more for 128Gb. Milkers.
I always say Phil Schiller’s middle name is upsell.
I rest of us just see it for what it actually is — choosing your level of need and exchanging money for value-adding capabilities. There is no one storage capacity that is the one true option. i know people with the minimums and people with the maxes. They aren’t victims, they’re consumers choosing what gives them value.
Apple should have made the base model 64Gb for $199.
But, of course Tim and his cronies won't because they know 64Gb is the sweet spot everyone wants. Get the user to pay $100 more for 128Gb. Milkers.
Good lord, the whining. Remind me never to tell you about my first MP3 player — the Diamond Rio. it had 32MB of storage. Yup, that’s about 30 mins of 128kbs music. It was $200.
What you paid for, for a shitty MP3 player many years ago is irrelevant. Storage costs have dropped significantly since that device has been on sale. Maybe if you came back down to reality and realized not all of Apple's moves are consumer-friendly you would know that.
Give me a fucking break. I am here, grounded in realty, while some of you repeat whiners just can’t seem to accept the world as it is — that you have to pay for things. The exchange of currency for capability is the basis of value exchange and all commerce. It’s not anti-consumer. You are not a victim. Say it with me: “I am not a victim.”
Thanks Apple, but I don't need a camera or microphone in my music player.
Do you travel with a stand alone GPS nav device? Or do you integrate several consumer devices into one item?
I travel with my iPhone. And I have an Apple Watch. I don't need my music player loading up a bunch of tech I won't need.
Apple's challenge is always "make it smaller". They do it to the Phone (at the expense of battery), the MacBook Pro (at the expense of the keyboard) and the iMac (at the expense of upgradability.)
But when you really need them to do it, they decide it's not a big problem if the music player has a bunch of extra functions.
I always say Phil Schiller’s middle name is upsell.
This is always been how Apple has operated.
I remember buying a G4 back in 2001, and there were 3 models. It was hard to choose, because the base model wasn't attractive enough for me. The top model was too expensive, and I ended up choosing the middle model, even though I obviously wanted the top model, but it was just too pricey for me at the time.
Actually, that's how most of my Apple purchases have ended up being, no matter what I'm buying, laptop, phone, iPad, desktop. I end up choosing a model somewhere in the middle. Not the cheapest model, but not the most expensive model either.
Ai needs to consider shutting down the forums and just remain an Apple news site, sort of like iMore. The ones who leave won’t be missed and the site may actually pick up readers who don’t to be bombarded with whining crybabies who are never satisfied with anything.
The A8 CPU was one year old when the 6th generation iPod Touch was released. The new 7th generation iPod Touch slipped an entire year with its 2.5 year old A10 CPU. On top of that, Apple is charging $200 for the 256 GB upgrade. A much faster 256 GB M.2 sells for $40. The Hubris is strong with this one. Apple asked "we have to update the iPod Touch so it can run iOS 13, what is the least we can do?" The 7th generation is the answer to that question.
Apple's not going to invest hundreds of millions in retooling so you can get a ``much faster'' M.2 form. Your kid doesn't give a shit. This is targeted mainly at pre-teens.
Or... you could just give the kids your old phone.
Good for you never recycling your old shit. Most of the world does recycle, and besides, this device hardware is far better than the 5S, and millions of kids will be thrilled to own one.
These work nice as wifi phones. Just install a text/phone app and you can use around the house as a phone for your kids without paying a monthly fee.
Unlikely to work.
I don’t have a mobile phone but have an iPod touch - most message apps won’t run on an iPod touch, only on a phone. WhatsApp for example will only run on a phone. Messages and FaceTime are fine of course.
Bizarrely, when I had a bank account with NatWest bank (in the UK) I could not run their banking app on my iPod touch because it insisted sending me a text message to activate it, but my partner could of course run it on his iPhone. Nationwide, my other bank, had and has no problem running such an app on my iPod touch as they don’t use stupid ideas to validate it.
You don't really need anything more than 32GB for a device that's mainly oriented around games. Apple has made it easy to move games on/off your device at will without losing your save game data etc.
Local storage for music. 64Gb is ideal for most people.
64GB is nothing. Let's see a 512GB or 1TB. I have almost 256GB of music in my iPhone XS. I'd love 1TB. I rip all my music with Apple Lossless (ALAC), so the more capacity the better.
I just read Gruber's take; he feels that the iPod touch is more for enterprise and I'm inclined to agree with him. Consider the Apple stores - all they need is a device that can run a supported OS, the in-house POS software (or stock management software, etc), and connect to WiFi. So why have more than 32GB storage? I think they'd use 16GB if they could get away with it, but I guess at this stage (a) they're not saving any money by going with a lower capacity, and (b) by using 32GB they're more likely to be able to sell this low-end device to consumers.
So maybe the "base" model is just something that Apple was going to build for themselves anyway and felt that they might get additional sales by making it available to third parties. The Consumer level model is the middle tier with 128GB for US$299 - and if that was marketed as the base model, I think most people would see it as a fair price.
They might cause less uproar if they only listed the 128GB and up models as available for sale to consumers but quietly offered the 32GB model for business customers in packs of 5 for US$995 (and various other bundles). I can see a whole bunch of SMBs lining up for that. Build a custom app that can manage multiple aspects of your business (for which the camera is undoubtedly useful), make sure data is maintained on the company server as much as possible, and you've got a solution that can be run on a cheap device when on-site and on an iPhone when in the field. What's not to like?
I don’t have a mobile phone but have an iPod touch - most message apps won’t run on an iPod touch, only on a phone. WhatsApp for example will only run on a phone. Messages and FaceTime are fine of course.
Comments
It's the base iOS device.
It has a small screen.
It has no cellular component at all.
It doesn't NEED more than the A10.
In addition, those of you with older phones should be rejoicing. This implies the A10 will be supported and get iOS updates for several more years at least.
Yes, if you have an old phone you could set it up for someone as an iPod. But not everyone has one handy. Not everyone knows how to do that. Some people use their phone until it dies and they have to get another one. Some people want a warranty.
So yes it would be nice if it had X, Y, or Z. But that isn't what this is for. It's for games, and music, and connecting if you have WiFi around. For taking a few quick pictures and sending them to your friends. For texting, and e-mail, and surfing the web. And for that it's perfect.
If you’re expecting them to change it for change’s sake, or to alleviate your boredom, you’ll always be disappointed with Apple.
Apple's challenge is always "make it smaller". They do it to the Phone (at the expense of battery), the MacBook Pro (at the expense of the keyboard) and the iMac (at the expense of upgradability.)
But when you really need them to do it, they decide it's not a big problem if the music player has a bunch of extra functions.
32 GB is perfectly fine for the base model.
Apple is not a damn charity.
Many people will get by just fine with the base model.
If 32 GB doesn't suit your needs, then go buy the model with more storage. Whining will get you nowhere.
I remember buying a G4 back in 2001, and there were 3 models. It was hard to choose, because the base model wasn't attractive enough for me. The top model was too expensive, and I ended up choosing the middle model, even though I obviously wanted the top model, but it was just too pricey for me at the time.
Actually, that's how most of my Apple purchases have ended up being, no matter what I'm buying, laptop, phone, iPad, desktop. I end up choosing a model somewhere in the middle. Not the cheapest model, but not the most expensive model either.
and curiously, what IS your portable music player?
I don’t have a mobile phone but have an iPod touch - most message apps won’t run on an iPod touch, only on a phone. WhatsApp for example will only run on a phone. Messages and FaceTime are fine of course.
Bizarrely, when I had a bank account with NatWest bank (in the UK) I could not run their banking app on my iPod touch because it insisted sending me a text message to activate it, but my partner could of course run it on his iPhone. Nationwide, my other bank, had and has no problem running such an app on my iPod touch as they don’t use stupid ideas to validate it.
I have almost 256GB of music in my iPhone XS. I'd love 1TB.
I rip all my music with Apple Lossless (ALAC), so the more capacity the better.
So maybe the "base" model is just something that Apple was going to build for themselves anyway and felt that they might get additional sales by making it available to third parties. The Consumer level model is the middle tier with 128GB for US$299 - and if that was marketed as the base model, I think most people would see it as a fair price.
They might cause less uproar if they only listed the 128GB and up models as available for sale to consumers but quietly offered the 32GB model for business customers in packs of 5 for US$995 (and various other bundles). I can see a whole bunch of SMBs lining up for that. Build a custom app that can manage multiple aspects of your business (for which the camera is undoubtedly useful), make sure data is maintained on the company server as much as possible, and you've got a solution that can be run on a cheap device when on-site and on an iPhone when in the field. What's not to like?
(edited to correct my maths errors)
The other ones come with various risks.
Joni? Love her music. Didn't know she was into digital device design, lolz.....