Edible Apple

When Apple refreshed its line of iPods this past September, a video camera equipped iPod Touch was largely expected as a given.  In the days leading up to September’s media event, however, word broke that last minute technical difficulties with the planned camera had forced Apple to shakeup its roadmap and plan on releasing an upgraded iPod Touch model sans a video camera.

Specifically, some have speculated that fitting the camera module into the extremely slim iPod Touch without sacrificing robustness and reliability was more of a problem than initially anticipated.  Remember that the iPod Touch, at it’s thicket point, measures in at .33 inches.  The iPhone, in contrast, measures in at .48 inches at its thicket point.  And given that the planned location for the camera module on the iPod Touch was located at the top of the device, where it slims down, the space Apple had to work with was even smaller.

And now comes a report from the examiner, citing inside sources, that Apple is planning to refresh its iPod Touch line up this Spring.  But before you get all excited, we should point out that the planned camera will be the same one in the iPod Nano, and not the one found in the iPhone 3GS.  The camera in the iPod Nano, if you recall, is able to record video but unable to take photographs.  The video camera in the iPod Nano is alright, but is nowhere near the quality of the one found in the iPhone 3GS, and with impressive photography apps ever present on the iTunes app store, it’s a shame that the iPod Touch will soldier on without point and shoot camera functionality.

To a certain extent, this might actually work in Apple’s favor.  The iPhone is Apple’s flagship product and it makes some sort of business sense to keep the features on the iPhone just slightly ahead of those on the iPod Touch.