Evolution not revolution
Another Apple hype cycle has culminated with the launch of new versions of the iPod touch, nano and shuffle, an iTunes based social networking service and the long awaited refresh of Apple TV. There were a lot of eye-catching announcements but these seemed more like incremental improvements rather than anything paradigm-breaking.
First we had a the new iPods. The shuffle got some more buttons and the nano was fundamentally overhauled with the removal of the click-wheel. The result is a device that's almost half the size and weight of its predecessor and is now controlled via the multi-touch screen.
The new iPod touch features a lot of Apple's best new components, including the retina display and the A4 SoC. The other big change is a front-facing camera allowing FaceTime video calls over Wi-Fi with other iOS 4.1 devices, but not the iPad until it gets a camera, which will surely be soon.
Version 10 of iTunes was announced, with the big new feature being Ping - yet another social network to allow you to share all your favourite songs, etc with your mates. Assuming, that is, they don't already know absolutely everything about your every waking thought and action already. Apple also introduced the ability to rent TV shows for 99 cents a time and movies for $4.99, note this is a rental-only thing, which leads us onto the final announcement.
Apple TV was the thing we were most curious about from this event, especially with there being so much activity in this field right now. What was announced was a physical shrink of the box to a fifth of the size of its predecessor and the availability of a bunch of movies and TV from ABC, Fox, Disney Channel and BBC America (bear that in mind next time they whine about the licence fee - Ed).
You can also stream content from Netflix and YouTube, but the most eye-catching aspect of the new Apple TV is the price - $99. That takes it firmly into impulse-purchase territory and means it's probably a loss-leader to boost the sales, sorry rentals, of all this video content.
Apple has done a lot of fun things here; that tiny iPod nano looks fun and at $99 even we might be tempted to have a look at Apple TV, assuming is comes over here in this form. But we were expecting a bit more from this event than just the ability to rent content via iTunes. Apple has the technology to do something far more adventurous with the TV, but clearly it's still got a bit of work to do.
