Apple beats Microsoft
OK, I know it's not big news, but I'm kind of ticked. This story talks about the new iPod lineup, including the iPhone-based iPod Touch -
Apple now sells four different types of iPod: the Touch, Shuffle, Nano and the original model, which Jobs christened the Classic on Wednesday
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As for the iPod Touch, Apple watchers had speculated for days that Apple would unveil an iPod similar to its new mobile phone. Though slimmer than the iPhone, the iPod Touch features a similar multitouch interface, built-in Wi-Fi and the Safari Internet browser.
Like the iPhone, the iPod Touch can play YouTube videos. It will retail for $299 or $399, depending on the memory installed.
I've always been in the middle of this Apple/Microsoft debate. I don't think Microsoft is evil or that all their products suck, and not every Apple product fell from heaven. But here's a case where Microsoft had a small window to grab some spotlight from Apple and now it's gone.
The two big areas where the Zune could have stepped out in front of the iPod a bit were with the wifi and the FM radio. The Zune is perfectly capable on the hardware side of connecting to the internet and time-shifting radio but the software doesn't exist. If the Zune had come out with the ability out of the box to sync through wifi, connect to the Marketplace to download songs over wifi, and timeshift radio, I really think the positive buzz would have outweighed the negative. As I mentioned in my review, it's a nice player with good audio and video quality, but its great potential for more is crippled.
I've heard that later this year the Zune 2.0 will come out and that a lot of the big feature upgrades Zune owners have been expecting will finally be available. But with the touchscreen, internet, wifi capability and widescreen, the iPod Touch has beat Microsoft again, and they're playing catch up.
The one area where the iPod Touch falls down is that it's not a hard drive based player. The largest, according to reports, is the 16GB model. That seems a little small for a widescreen video player. I understand why the phone may not have a hard drive, but I'm not sure why the player doesn't. I imagine it's beacause technically, he Touch is just and iPhone without the phone. Adding a hard drive would have meant too much reengineering, I guess.
But if Microsoft doesn't get on the ball soon, I'll be selling my Zune (if I can), and getting an iPod like everyone else.
6 comments:
You don't need to sell your Zune, just use it as an iPod case.
Wow, I'm just surprised that there's one person on this planet who actually bought a Zune. You guys are a fairly exclusive club. Do you meet in the phone booth next to the phone booth where the anti-gay Republican Congressmen who *aren't* gay meet?
- Badtux the Snarky Penguin
What's a Zune?
[ducks]
What's a Zune?
Damn Apple snobs, who let them in here?
Hey just be happy you weren't one of the iPhone customers Apple just fucked over with their $200 price drop. I do think apple is a good company but that was pretty bad. You don't drop the price that far after two months. I know they're getting a $100 store credit, but that's not quite even, in my opinion.
Here's what I wrote in July on the iPhone...I'll never feel too bad for the people who pay a premium to be first on the block with the new whatever—iPhone, PS3, Mini Cooper, etc. The price ALWAYS comes down, and particularly in the case with tech stuff, six months later it's not only cheaper, it's better...
Not sure exactly who Apple thinks is going to buy an iPod Touch, though. It looks cool to be sure, but all the regular iPods kick it's ass on capacity, and it's not that much cheaper than the phone...
Not sure exactly who Apple thinks is going to buy an iPod Touch, though
It'll have to be someone who really wants the wifi capability.
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