Just in time for the holiday gift season, Apple is launching another wave of those things your kids just absolutely will want to have. And there's a chance you might want them, too.
On September 1, Apple rolled out three new versions of the iPod. The top of the line is the new iPod Touch, which Apple CEO Steve Jobs jokingly referred to as "the iPhone without a contract". It packs in most of the features of the iPhone 4, but without the phone.
The new iPod Touch boasts the same "Retina" display as the iPhone 4. It also has the same gyroscopic motion-sensing system for detecting the tilt of the device, and the same fast processor. Those are all plusses for playing the games that have made the Touch so popular.
Another thing the iPod Touch has in common with the iPhone 4 is the two cameras built into it—one forward-facing for video conferencing with Apple's FaceTime video chat application or recording photos or video of yourself, and one on the back for taking digital photos and video of the world around you. It captures video in HD quality, so the videos you record will look great on your HD television.
The new Touch starts at $229 for the version with 8 gigabytes of memory. 32 gigabyte and 64 gigabyte versions are $299 and $399, respectively. While those prices are higher than the subsidized price of the iPhone 4, they might be a better bet in the long term financially—especially if you or your kid has a Skype account. With the Skype app, the iPod Touch is as good as a cell phone if you can connect to a WiFi network.
The two other iPods announced are the diminutive iPod Shuffle and iPod Nano. The new $75 Shuffle has 2 gigabytes of storage—about 15 hours of music. And you can navigate through songs using the clickable control button that takes up the entire face of the Shuffle. A "voice over" feature announces the title of each new song as it starts. The Shuffle also has a built-in spring-loaded clip, so you can clip it on your clothes.
The latest version of the Nano looks like a microscopic version of the iPod Touch—and it is, in many ways. It has a touch screen instead of buttons, so Apple has been able to reduce the size of the device by about half—it's only slightly larger than the Shuffle. It doesn't have the video camera that its larger predecessor boasted, but it does have is a Shuffle-like built-in clip, a pedometer, and a built-in FM radio that can "live pause" radio programming, storing up to 15 minutes of audio so you can resume listening to a program when you're ready.
The Nano comes in 8 gigabyte and 16 gigabyte versions, for $149 and $179, making it more accessible than the Touch price-wise. But with an 8 gigabyte Touch priced at only $40 more than the 16 gigabyte Nano, most teens will undoubtedly have the much-more-capable Touch on their wish list.
Then there's the new Apple TV. The much smaller, much less expensive Apple TV has been rumored to be in the works since before the iPhone 4 announcement earlier this year, and Jobs saved it for last in the September 1 event. At $99, it's much less expensive than Apple's previous (and relatively unsuccessful) attempt at the Apple TV device.
Beyond the price, the most interesting feature of the new Apple TV device is that it doesn't store movies. Instead of buying movies and television programs from the iTunes store, you can rent them and stream them from the Internet for as little as 99 cents. The Apple TV also supports Netflix streaming, so you can watch movies on demand on your television through a Netflix account as well as through iTunes. You'll also be able to watch movies streamed off your computer or your iPad.
The combination of features will certainly make Apple TV very competitive with other Internet TV devices. It will also arrive before devices based on Google's own Internet television effort. That will probably mean another merry Christmas for the folks in Cupertino.