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Apple Musings: Disappointing Disappointment

When you talk about September product announcements you're talking about Christmas present purchases. Getting the iPod touch entry price under $200 could be very big in terms of Christmas sales. Loading up the iPod Nano with new features at the $149 price also makes it a probable hit this Xmas (The Nano now comes with a built-in video camera, a microphone, a pedometer, a larger 2.2-inch display and an FM radio tuner. It costs $149 for an eight-gigabyte version). Both of these models provide tremendous functionality for the price.

Hardware features like a camera and an OLED display are nice but none of that compares to the value that the App Store adds to the Touch. It's those Apps that make the Touch an overwhelmingly better choice than the Zune. Microsoft will try to build a software library and copy the App Store but they're way back at the starting line and won't be competitive in this product lifetime.