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Apple Updates iPhone and iPod Touch
u-bend writes "With little publicity Apple has released new, higher-capacity models of the iPhone and iPod Touch. The new iPhone boasts 16 GB of storage and is priced at $499 (the 8 GB model remains at $399), and the new iPod Touch has 32 GB, also priced at $499. Although the price is still pretty hefty, it indicates that the capacity/price ratio on these wireless flash-based players is starting to move in the right direction."
The problem, as I understand it, is that the iPhone only has room for one flash chip, not two. This means that instead of using two 8 gig chips to give the iPhone 16 gigs, they need to use a single 16 gig chip. The iPod touch, on the other hand, has room for two chips. That's why the cost-to-added-gigs ratio is different.
"Stumble before you crawl"
The originating poster was speaking of the USB Mass Storage Device class. Other devices of this class include USB flash memory sticks, iPod Classics, and any plain HDD-only device that interfaces with a computer through USB. Usage of such a device is supported by most computers with USB ports without installation of any special drivers.
The iPod Touch and the iPhone is not a device of this class unless such a workaround is installed for the firmware that is already preinstalled onto the device.