Square Galaxy

Today Apple announced some new portable devices, perhaps most notably, the iPhone 5.  Here are some of my thoughts about today’s announcement:

• The iPhone 5 is more or less an incremental release.
  •  Incremental releases tend to follow the obvious path of making everything a little better.
  • Incremental releases show less innovation, but better iterations about what is already there.
•  The iPhone 5 didn’t really come out with any new big features that the competition isn’t really doing.
• I don’t think the iPhone 5 has enough new features to convince people to upgrade their existing iPhone early.
  • But of course there are those Mac fanatics who always have to have the latest iSomething.
  • I think that when phone users do go to upgrade, the iPhone 5 will likely make many people happy.
• When the latest iPad came out, they branded it the “New iPad”.  Why wasn’t iPhone 5 branded as the “New iPhone”?
• The new iPod Nano follows Apple’s indecision about the shape of an iPod Nano.
• I am sad to see that the new iPod Nano doesn’t have a camera like the 5th generation had.
• The new iPod Nano looks like an iPod Touch want-to-be.
• I think the iPod Nano is a great option for a parent who wants to buy their kid a classy music player without the Internet (and games)
• I think there is a small market for the new iPod Nano.
  • I think most people will be willing to pay a little bit more to get the much more capable iPod Touch.
• Is apple ever going to allow third party apps on a iPod Nano?
• I like the refresh to the iPod Touch.  I’m a big fan of the SmartPhone minus the phone gadgets.
  • I wish there was an iPod Touch equivalent for Android.  Yes, there is the Samsung Galaxy Player, but it is old and far behind what Android phones can do now days.
• I had a 2nd Generation iPod Touch (still missing somewhere, maybe in the couch?).  The new iPod Touch makes it tempting to replace it.
• Dual cameras, Retina Display, Siri, and many other iPhone features make the new iPod Touch about the most capable non-phone device that you can put in your pocket.
• No iPad Mini, unless you consider the new iPod Touch.
  • The bigger iPod Touch display isn’t quite big enough for me to think of it as an iPad Mini, but closer!
  • The new iPod Touch price is what I would think of for an iPad Mini.
  • With the most expensive iPod Touch priced at the same point as the cheapest iPad, I don’t know that there is room for an iPad Mini.
• At the beginning of their presentation today, Apple rattled on too long about rocks.  No one cares how you made your last Apple Store.