The new, recent Apple event announced a new range of iPods, with an iPod touch that has cameras, iTunes 10 and that iOS 4 is coming soon to the iPad. Among this plethora of new stuff, there's a new iPod nano too. It no longer looks like the old-school version anymore, however. There's a touchscreen.
Touchscreens seem to be poking themselves in everywhere. The new nano has a touchscreen too. Multitouch capacitative, obviously. But though it has one, it doesn't surprisingly run iOS. Boo, Apple. You could have done a lot with it.
Now that there's no iOS (yet) on the nano, there won't be iOS apps running on it. There probably won't be any special App Store for it either. It's the same old handicapped click-wheel iPod, now without the click-wheel.
The touchscreen seems fun, and there's the FM radio with live pause from the previous version. The battery lasts for 24 hours of audio. It's 46% thinner than the previous version, and much lighter too. It has inbuilt Nike+ support and a pedometer, like the touch also. What's new is the clip behind it, much like the shuffle. From the side, the nano now looks very much similar to the cheapest iPod, and it can be mistaken.
What's bad is that Apple took away the video recording camera from the previous version (did Steve Jobs feel that the two cameras on the new touch will lead to a shortage of lenses in the world?). But there, it's an entry level personal music player for everyone, with a touchscreen.
What if the new iPod nano ran iOS 4? Wow. There would be another new member of the 'premium' App Store devices. Probably there would be a new category of apps and games on iTunes, alongside iPhone and the iPad. That would be game-changing for Apple. The iPod nano is so cheap and affordable that people would buy more of this than the iPod touch or the iPhone. Okay, less income for Apple, but there would be surely more App Store sales. They probably considered both sides.
Well, I would have genuinely liked it better if the iPod nano had iOS 4 on it. Having such a good touchscreen seems stupid, when it can't be put to good use with iTunes apps. Better luck next time, Apple.
Read about the new iTunes 10! And yes, if you can't receive the update, you're not alone. Don't worry. Wait for the fixes.
