Apple updates iPod touch line, drops prices, adds top-end 64GB model

Couldn't see this one coming, right? Apple just announced an update to the iPod touch line. It's not exactly a major overhaul to the player, but prices have fallen, and it appears that the new models use the same CPU as the iPhone 3GS, since they can run OpenGL 2.0. The big news is actually no news, however: there doesn't appear to be a camera, contrary to all the rumors. You'll just have to make do with 8GB of storage for $199, 32GB for $299, and 64GB for a whopping $399.

[Crb Posted Sep 9th 2009 1:56PM]

The 8gb one doesn't sound like a very good deal...

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 9th 2009 1:59PM]

Agree, for $100 LESS you can get an iphone : /

[Inzain Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:03PM]

Your math isn't very good.

[Crb Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:06PM]

Why would anyone buy an 8gb touch when you could go to 32gb for $100 more? They really should have put the 16gb version @ the $199 price point.

[Jorvay Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:21PM]

unless you want people to perceive the $300 price point as a better value and throw an extra $100 at you.

[Crb Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:27PM]

Wow....the 8gb version doesn't even have the faster processor?! At this point they should have just removed the $199 price point....

[The Dead Marxist Trio Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:30PM]

@Alundre: Where are you getting that the 8GB is the old internals?

[Crb Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:31PM]

@NoAndThen Check the store page....the 32gb and 64gb models list "Faster Performance" while the 8gb model doesn't...

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipod/family/ipod_touch?intcmp=AIC-WWW-NAUS-BUYNOW-HEAD-IPODTOUCH-080910

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:36PM]

Actually, seems even worse. To my understanding, the 8GB version is actually the OLD Touch. Meaning, no 3GS performance.

check the Apple Store page: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipod/family/ipod_touch

8 Gigs version says 'Updated' while the others are new. The others say Improved Performance, that one doesn't. I hate when Apple pulls shit like this.

[DRHouse Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:39PM]

You can if you compare the ipod here
http://www.apple.com/ipod/compare-ipod-models/

"Enjoy all the great features of the 8GB model along with better performance, richer graphics and voice control"

you also get free remote/mic with the 32/64GB versions

8GB model is a bad deal.

[Vidikron Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:40PM]

Wow... if that's true then Apple is really trying to fuck customers [even more] with that 8GB model.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 9th 2009 3:21PM]

"Why would anyone buy an 8gb touch when you could go to 32gb for $100 more?"

A better question is why would you buy an 8GB touch for 199 when for $20 more you can get a 16 GB zune with Tegra.

[admmck Posted Sep 9th 2009 3:56PM]

Exactly which pulse is Apple monitoring?? Steve Job's or the consumer's?? We know the answer to that question already, Steve has received more attention then what the consumers have, especially in 2009.

Nano = future of iPods??

Apple, put your finger back on the consumer's pulse, please!!

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 9th 2009 8:00PM]

I for one, am glad they listen to someone that that started a multi-billion dollar corporation and was even named "the most powerful person" in business by Fortune Magazine. What references do you have admmck?

[admmck Posted Sep 9th 2009 11:50PM]

So what you're saying is that everything Steve-O says we should have and when we should have it should be enough to satisfy the consumer's wants/desires in a product?? If he says that's all we need then hell, I will never ask for anything more than what he gives us. Long live Steve, oh great inventor/King!

Murmermer, it's obvious you can't think for yourself and that you follow Steve-O with blind faith without thinking outside his "vision". I enjoy Apple's products, but Steve-O doesn't always have the consumer in mind when designing his products. The bottom line is what motivates him (and rightly so).

Would people be complain if he put the Camera, FM radio in like they are now without them?? I think not, fool.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 10th 2009 9:13AM]

I bought my 8 GB iPod touch back when it first came out, and I paid around $320 dollars for it. Haha.
So $199 is looking like a great deal to me.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 22nd 2009 9:47PM]

The Reason the 8GB isnt a good deal is becuase apple is trying to give people access to the app store for a lower cost, and to get it there, they had to get it to 199 which is the magic number for a price

[Anthony Joel Posted Sep 9th 2009 1:57PM]

64gb eh :)

Now where is the 64gb iPhone!

[Shinigami Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:13PM]

I was like OMGWTFBBQ when I saw that one. Didn't expect 64gb versions this soon. Good to see progress!

[evilspoons Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:20PM]

I've read in several places that the iPod Touch has double the capacity of the iPhones because they replace the space the cellular radio takes up with another flash memory chip.

[abinge05 Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:51PM]

Put 64gb into a Zune HD and I'm all over it at $399.

[VanillaSpice Posted Sep 9th 2009 9:09PM]

"Good to see progress" gets lowest ranked. "I want a Zune" gets highest ranked despite the fact that it is trolling. (At least, it always is when you shill for iPods on a Zune article, so surely shilling for Zunes on an iPod article is trolling, yeah?)

Yep, the comment ranking system is working well. Just imagine if, on a Zune article, someone had said "give me an iPod instead" - what do you think the reaction would be? A little negative, perhaps?

Said it before, saying it again, will keep saying it until it changes: the comment ranking system is not working. The rankings do not reflect the quality or worth of the comment. It is just a tool that is used by trolls to make dissenting opinions disappear and to make it appear as though everyone here believes the exact same things. It is fascism - there will be one opinion and one opinion only and we will not acknowledge that other opinions even exist.

At least stop the fading of low-ranked comments, so readers can see for themselves that the rankings reflect bias, and not content. They'll see that they reflect people's subjective opinions of companies, rather than objective assessments of products. And then they'll realise that the rankings are just rubbish and that the only thing they reflect is how completely and earnestly the comment follows the party line.

Now quickly, fascists - low rank me and get this dissenting opinion buried before anyone sees it!

[myzter Posted Sep 9th 2009 1:59PM]

r u kd'nk

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 9th 2009 1:57PM]

Wow. Look at that. I wait for a camera and a mic.. and they pull out a faster iPod Touch? And 20 dollars cheaper?


LAMEEE.

[willyu Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:24PM]

None of these improvements are exciting or innovative. Everything that's announced is just a natural progression of the device. And that one more thing? Sorry, that's just kind of lame. I use to remember the time when everyone's heart is at their throat when "One more thing" comes out... Now it's just kind of "Meh."

Apple's really gone down hill on the innovation part... Maybe they have no more tricks in their hat?

[Ryan Trevisol Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:23PM]

Actually it's "a faster iPod Touch" OR "$20 cheaper". The $20 cheaper one is not actually faster.

[Ryan Trevisol Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:32PM]

Oh and how ridiculous is it that they eliminated the 16GB version instead of the 8GB version? The 8GB version is essentially the SAME as the one you could buy earlier today for $189 before the store went down . . . .

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:36PM]

Co-sign...Lame!

[hari Posted Sep 9th 2009 3:15PM]

exactly. a cam could have made the ipod touch definite choice . But now i ll wait for ZuneHD.

[looselycoupled Posted Sep 9th 2009 4:10PM]

The 8GB iPod Touch is the SAME OLD ONE. IT DOES NOT have the FASTER PROCESSOR / BETTER GRAPHICS that the new iPhone 3GS does. Only the 32GB/64GB iPod touch does.. There are going to be a lot of confused, disappointed people.

[Mikey M Posted Sep 9th 2009 1:57PM]

Hmmm... so the only hardware upgrade is a better processor (is this confirmed, because the live blog didn't talk about this being the same processor as the iPhone 3GS... at least not yet). It looks like the Zune HD will have a decent shot at being competitive.

[Canucker Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:31PM]

1.1% to 2.2%? ;-)

[DRHouse Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:44PM]

so according to you apple small share compared to microsoft OS means Windows is always better?
Market share means nothing, Zune HD does have better audio quality, HD video output and the 16GB version sound like a VERY good deal now for only 220$~

[willyu Posted Sep 9th 2009 4:07PM]

I was considering replacing my iPod Touch with a Zune HD. Then Apple had this event, which I was hoping they would announce something that would compel me to buy another iPod. It's a total disappointment at this point.

Now I would consider Zune HD more because
-OLED
-output HD
-better sound (?)
-about the same price

Things I worry about getting a Zune HD
-heart, "I like it" or "I hate it rating". I like the star system and have invested in rating my songs
-playlist, I heart there is no smart playlist?
-my stats and playcount probably won't translate over to zune software

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 9th 2009 4:16PM]

I don't really know what you mean by smart playlist. There is a way to set parameters to generate a playlist if that's what you mean. For example, I have a 90s rock playlist, which I set to only include music from the 90s and in the Rock genre. It goes through my library and chooses only those songs.

[Brad Green Posted Sep 9th 2009 7:10PM]

So, they were having quality issues with the camera, or something like that, and instead of saying, "lets wait and release this when its ready", they decided to only marginally bump the specs and take out the one version (16GB) that was directly competitive with the ZuneHD (price and feature wise). Sure, Apple isn't going to go down the hole just from this one mistake, but they certainly are going to give MS a better opening with the ZuneHD, since it is clearly better than the Touch, and the camera issue doesn't come into play.

They'll be partying in Redmond tonight.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:00PM]

phil said "doubled" twice in the keynote...was there a typo on the slides? should the "8" have been a "16"?

[Crb Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:04PM]

I noticed that too....good to hear I wasn't the only confused that 32 is somehow double 8.

[MarcusMaximus Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:12PM]

The 16 doubled to 32 and the 32 doubled to 64.

[Crb Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:16PM]

@Mark...yeah I thought of that....just sounded awkward the way it was presented.

[MarcusMaximus Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:00PM]

Thank god. If those rumors had been true of no new iPods, they would have just completely ate it against the Zune HD. Looks like there'll be some halfway decent competition against the Zune.

[Rem DX Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:47PM]

I'm just happy this means there's going to be a 64gb Zune HD, probably by year end.
Unfortunately I might have to save my money until October for confirmation. :(

[Cardstatman Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:00PM]

It should be a 16gb for 199 not 8gb

[ack154 Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:05PM]

That's what I'm thinking... And this was the quote from the liveblog:

"8GB $199, at $299 we're doubling the memory... and at $399 we're doubling to 64GB"

Math fail?

[MarcusMaximus Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:07PM]

@acj154: Wasn't the old 16GB one $299? So therefore it doubled the memory up to 32GB at the same price point.

[admlshake Posted Sep 9th 2009 3:21PM]

Yeah, I have to admit I'm a little confused as to why they are keeping the 8 gig around and dropping the 16.

[DrDr Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:19PM]

But not the 8GB one which people can actually afford.

The iPod is a toy. It will be obsolete in a year. Who wants to pay $300 for a toy?

EPIC FAIL APPLE.

EPIC FAIL.

[ack154 Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:20PM]

Oh, that's possible. Though I think that just made it more confusing... and I would have expected them to drop the 8gb all together and just go with 16gb.

[midnightprince7 Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:30PM]

you damn right joseph, i feel like my soul has been raped and camera in ipod touch :(

[Jorvay Posted Sep 9th 2009 2:39PM]

It's all about marketing to the masses. When the average joe or jane sees that an extra $100 gets you "so much more," they'll perceive the 32gig model as a better value. Basically it's apple's way of squeezing an extra $100 out of buyers who wouold have been happy with 16gig, but find 8gig just a little too limiting.