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Apple Quietly Releases New iPods
redletterdave writes "At the company's media event last month, Apple introduced its fifth-generation iPod Touch and seventh-generation iPod Nano, but only mentioned an October timeframe for when it would start filling pre-orders. Without an official word, it looks like the official launch day for the new iPods is today. Apple Stores around the country are currently stocked with the new iPods and customers who pre-ordered are finally receiving email notifications that their orders have shipped, or are 'preparing to ship.' Still, it is interesting to note that Apple didn't make a special announcement or even post a press release to announce the launch of its newest media players, especially as the competition heats up before the holiday season."
They didn't make a special announcement, because there is nothing special about the product
Umm, they had a huge event where they unveiled new iphones and ipods. what is quiet about it? the release date I guess? regardless, they're here now. I've got a new ipod touch on order, so I should be getting it soon. the price went up - $299. I wonder how the price of the ipad mini will compare to this?
eh? in media players? what competition?
It's just shipping. What's the big deal about shipping...?
Of course they won't make any, they want people to buy the more expensive iphone5, as it can do everything the ipod does and more.
...non-iPod media player of equal storage and superior features for third of iPod price.
From the specs on Apples page:
Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)
Really? What would cause this. This means it can't be used in places like Leadville, CO for example. Is this some sleazy warranty trick? Granted, this is the same for the 4th generation but I don't understand why any media player would be limited to 10,000 feet.
Apple Quietly Releases New iPods
Not quietly enough, obviously...
(I kid, I kid!)
Care to elaborate on that? Do you mean the competition between the various Apple players? Or are you suggesting there are other serious players in this market?
I'm not seeing how adding video will help this product. It's a little "over-featured" and "over-priced" to be successful, in my opinion.
All an iPod is is an over priced flash drive. Who actually uses it for anything other than a music storage device? Most of the time you either "dock" it or you just use your smart phone instead when you're on the go.
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
Strange that Apple wouldn't release the iTunes overhaul in conjunction with these iPods. That overhaul is well overdue, more than any iPod refresh...
They did announce it.
Do people still buy these things? And 300 dollars is outrageous. My phone was 80 dollars, no contract. A 32gb microsd is 20 dollars. So 100 dollars total for a device that can outperform this I-Pod touch in everything, even media playing thanks to winamp and winamp remote.
We should have paid more attention to the articles 3-4 months ago about those damn cables and their authenticator chips.
Maybe they're keeping a lower profile so people don't point out the new ipods have the same proprietary, border-line uncopy-able cables?
I had a sucky sig.
Strange - I thought I had that ticked, but I can still see this story.
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
If they are using the new port then they will be just like the new Iphones, the built in controls in the car will not be able to control the device...
A number of things with a USB port (like cars) can still control iOS devices with a lightning port, simply using he included cable.
Other devices that had dedicated dock connectors can still work just fine with the new connector if you get the adaptor. The only thing that will not work is playing video or "iPod Out", which was displaying a virtual iPod screen on some other device (since it needs video). That's not much of a loss though as the iPod Out interface was laggy and really low res.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Really? What would cause this. This means it can't be used in places like Leadville, CO for example.
I was driving and hiking around the mountains at higher elevations than that all weekend. An iPhone 5 (with the same specs) worked just fine. I have no idea why the continue to include specs like this in totally solid-state devices, but it probably has to do with ranges all the components were tested in and they just don't want to legally claim it will work under conditions they have not tested.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The strangest thing about the timing to me was that at exactly the same point in time we suddenly have the Lightning adaptors arriving as well.
I could not believe there was such a fuss over things like Apple Maps, which by and large work fine for most people - meanwhile a truly massive slipup on Apple's part, not shipping with adaptors day one, was underway. It's been weeks since the iPhone 5 launch and only now is Apple finally shipping adaptors... that is not good planning and a really disservice to customers in trying to make a shift to the new connector as painless as possible.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)
Really? What would cause this.
Probably because some chip inside the iPod says its maximum operating altitude is 10,0000 ft. If a supplier says that is all the chip is rated for that is what Apple has to put on the box.
Interestingly chip suppliers sometimes have chips that are mil-spec (military grade) that are rated for higher altitudes. What is the difference, aside from price, sometimes it is merely a matter of testing. Chips rated as mil-spec may actually get tested at low pressure (simulating high altitude). Regular chips get no such testing and may actually be capable of working at higher altitudes.
.... at the special media event which announced the pre-orders of the iPhone 5. Unlike the iPhone however no specificl launch date or pre-order was done.
Strange - I thought I had that ticked, but I can still see this story.
My bad, I had the "increase advertising" option ticked, it must be bleeding over to other users.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Of course Apple launched them quietly after all the flak they took for hearing damage caused by loud iPods.
It's an iPhone - without the phone capabilities. I find it really handy to not just check mails, but also the weather, stocks, a calculator, time in different cities and YouTube. Only complaint - lack of an SD card slot, and the inability to store music videos the way one can store music audios. Otherwise, it's a great thing to have while waiting in a restaurant, at the doctors or for the car to get done.
No, there is actually a story here. IPhones and Galaxies and HTCs are being launched by companies like ATT, Veriozon, Orange, Sprint, etc. But growth of handheld devices is skyrocketing in urban environments around the world. 80% of the Earth population now has electricity, and 47% of households have access to wifi (or soon will). Just as (and this is lost on wealthy audiences) MOST display devices sold in 2006 (by number, not by dollar) had both an SVGA jack and a TV tuner, because most buyers (India, China, Indonesia, Egypt, etc.) could not afford, or have room in the house, for both a TV and a computer, there is a very large market which IPods are aimed at. WIFI. Using Google Voice or Skype to speak on an IPod over Wi-Fi is a frightening trend to the telecommunications firms which promote the IPhone. I would expect this kind of relative silence over a device which does not require $90 per month individual subscription and data fees. Why do almost all the comments on this article treat the Phone-company-Less device as a toy? Because Slashdot readers live in a world where buying a laptop AND a desktop AND a television AND a cell phone AND a pad AND a pod seems just slightly consumptive. See pictures of slums with electricity and wifi, a third to half of the world telecom market, here. http://retroworks.blogspot.com/2012/04/useless-lists-of-jobs-beneath-wealthy.html
Gently reply
Huh, people actually pre-order some device without even knowing the specs and absolutely no idea what it physically feels like? I am getting old.
Are you seriously suggesting the newest 'touch' was 'quietly released' due to some conspiracy by the 'telecommunications firms which promote the Iphone"?
Could you stand in a mirror and read your post to yourself for me? After doing so, can you say it doesn't sound just a wee bit tin-foil-hat-ish?
Move to Canada, my friend. I've never heard of a "Jimmy Donal Wales".
My employer provides a "smart" phone - a BlackBerry Bold. It's... terrible for anything other than very light browsing and, of course, its core business functions (not that it performs many of these terribly well, either, but that's for another post). The phone's best feature, by far, is that it's free. And, as I have a free smart phone with the basic necessities, I'd rather not shell out my own cash just to have a second phone to carry around. In my case, an extra $75/month+ is a lot to pay for a better interface and some additional capability.
Enter the iPod Touch. For $300 and no monthly bill, I get access to all of the apps I wanted, a pocketable device I can use anywhere there's WiFi, a lot of music, a few videos, a decent point 'n shoot camera, etc.
It's not that I haven't considered tablets; I like my Nexus 7 a lot, but the iPod Touch is far more portable.
Not a conspiracy... But heavily marketing the non-phone handhelds (virtually identical technology to the phones) would potentially be perceived as "biting the hand" that has fed Apple billions. @Jhon, are you suggesting the telecomm industry isn't writing about the threats to growth in hand-held phone service by VOIP and wifi in their own stock prospectus? Was CEA catering to paranoids in establishing the Emerging Markets series on this topic at CES? Here's an article from 2007, does it sound crazy? http://www.voip-news.com/articles/voip-blog/coming-soon-wifi-voip-52019/ By the way, I get the same sneers when I tell people about the size of the PC-monitor-TV-combo market, I get sent to the mirror a lot when talking about 3 billion consumers in the good enough market.
Gently reply
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." -- H. L. Mencken
Mencken failed to draw the general lesson: it's not just true of Americans.
Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
Apple can only eat crow so many times in one month.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
Dude. You're still being a crazy tinfoil hat paranoid guy obsessing over the significance of things which aren't significant. Stop that.
You need to try to calm down and understand that this is yet another bullshit stupid slashdot non-story, anyways. Apple didn't "quietly" release the new iPods any more than they "quietly" released the iPhone 5. The actual truth: Apple announced both at the very same press event, and spent a lot of time hyping up the new iPods. The only difference? They announced a specific ship date for the iPhone, and "sometime in October" for the iPods. That's it!
Thrill-seeker demand up. Holiday Store-buster Blame Down. Profit up. Stock value up.
Tech support = quantity > quality
Status quo.
How many price is mini ipod. dog Waste bags