MacRecon > The phone-less iPhone & more

His Steve-ness caused more ruckus today in the media world than usual, all thanks to various announcements regarding the iTunes family. From what was seen today, despite the continuing rejection that Apple is facing from other media companies (I’m looking at you, Universal and NBC!), they are here to continue rocking well beyond the upcoming holiday shopping season.

The phone-less iPhone, AKA the iPod touch. This one had been in Apple’s fans’ dreams for far too long — a touch-screen iPod. Its appearance either shocked you, or bored you: the same as an iPhone, although a bit more compact. I know we harassed Apple too much when asking for a phone-less iPhone, but now where’s the white iPod design we all grew with? A copy-paste of an existing design is a bit annoying to say the least, all because Apple prouds itself in differentiating its products. Learn all about the iPod touch at Apple’s dedicated page.

The fat iPod nano. Those secret spy shots that were leaked to the internet (but later removed by Apple legal) turned out to be true — just as those interface videos (also removed by Apple legal). The nano gained more width thanks to the bigger screen implementation, which complements its newly-added video playback feature. Someone get a dietician over at Apple’s nano page!

The iPod classic. This may sound like the Coke/Coke Classic page from history books, but the regular 5th gen iPod also got a much-needed remake. Basically containing a leaner and sexier body (and bigger HDs!), the iPod classic is a good alternative for the fans who demand more and more storage space out of their iPods. Learn all about the iPod flavor you’ve always loved at Apple’s classic page.

New iPod shuffle colors. The lil’ iPod maintained its current shape, storage capacity, and functionality — so the only change was the colors in which you could pick up one for yourself. Behold the new colors at Apple’s shuffle page!

iPhone price cut. Yes, it’s true! The much-needed price cut that analysts predicted happened right on time. The 8GB iPhone now costs $400 (as of yesterday it was $600), and the 4GB model was phased out. The only ones that look annoyed by this move were the early iPhone adopters (like yours truly, except the annoyed part), because Apple only gave about two months’ time since launch for the price cut to take place — compared to the usual six months now common in the tech world. Couldn’t afford one, but now you can? Head to Apple’s iPhone page to get one!

iPhone ringtones. Apple has announced that soon everyone will be able to get ringtones for their iPhones out of their popular iTunes Store for 99 cents each — but doesn’t include the cost of the actual song. So, $1.98 per ringtone, or $15 for a life supply’s worth (iToner)?

iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. The missing piece — now all iPhone and iPod touch owners will soon be able to buy songs from the iTunes Store in a wireless fashion. Wires are sooooo 2006.

NO BEATLES! So is it ever going to happen, or what?!

Conclusion. Only that Apple will be getting a nice bonus from Santa’s order this year. Oh, and that the Zune will be the new charcoal replacement this holiday season! Overall, what do you think of all the announcements that were made?

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[tags]Apple,Mac[/tags]