Apple advertises its iPod touch as an iPhone without a phone (and as discussed last night, they might actually merge them). For kids and teens (its primary audience), the iPod touch is an App Store machine that lets them play jaw-dropping games, listen to music, run social apps to share stuff online and what not. Despite these treats and really low $229 price point, the gizmo is seriously lacking in the connectivity department: It works only with wireless hotspots and does not connect to cellular networks.
Now, a Dutch blog called AppleSpot.nl is running a report this morning which asserts that a fifth-generation iPod touch will contain new antennas and circuitry for 3G data connectivity. Bad translation courtesy of Google Translate:
[UPDATE July 8, 2011 11:05 Eastern]. Reader Peter from Netherlands sent in a much better translation:
Adding 3G would improve usability of the product which is now hobbled to a significant extent by WiFi-only design. See, wireless networks aren’t nearly as ubiquitous as cellular ones, which seriously limits users to areas with wireless hotspots. Sure you can listen to music and watch a movie on your iPod touch while offline, but the vast majority of iOS apps are useless without network connectivity. With 3G, iPod touch-using kids will be upgraded to the always-on computing. They will be able to use VoIP apps like Skype anywhere there’s WiFi or 3G coverage and carriers would surely welcome a new revenue stream by selling prepaid data packages and microSIMs to the youngsters. Finally, this notion of a 3G iPod touch jives with our own Seth Weintraub’s school of thought calling for a cheap iPhone by adding “the GPS/3G baseband chips and some phone wiring and a solid 3 megapixel camera and you are 99 percent of the way to an iPhone lite”. So in a nutshell, the next iPod touch – and this is pure speculation based on a very questionable blog report – could get 3G data-only connectivity while Apple could add phone parts to the device and boom – there’s your inexpensive iPhone for the masses. September can’t come soon enough, that’s for sure.
