Apple added some considerable new features to the iPod nano today. By comparison, the evolution of the iPod touch seems restrained. That may have implications for the forthcoming iTablet.
Mr. Jobs has previously offered a confirmation, of sorts, that Apple is working on a touch screen tablet device. Even though he told the Wall Street Journal that many of the rumors surrounding the device are wrong, we can still safely surmise that Apple needs to take into account the feature set of its best selling iPod, the touch.
That means that if too many cool things were added to the iPod touch today, it would take some of the steam out of the tablet device. That's why, I think, the update was restrained, simply moving to a maximum of 64 GB of RAM, a slightly faster processor and the focus on it as a gaming platform.
On the other hand, the iPod nano, thanks to its market, size, and pricing is no big cannibalization threat to the iTablet -- so it gets all the new spiffy features like a camera, microphone, pedometer and FM radio.
One might even go so far as to suggest that the iTablet will be a new family of devices and that the iPod touch will be nearing the end of its evolutionary life next year as Apple seeks to widen the market for the iPhone. That's just speculation, but it does suggest that Apple is thinking hard about how its current products will mesh with the next generation of tablet-like products.
What crosses my mind is a less expensive mini-iPhone using CDMA in concert with Verizon. That and a larger iTablet would put the squeeze on today's iPod touch. If that's true, then one can guess that the iTablet will use the iPhone OS, to play all those 21,000 games.
These are just a few scenarios that help explain the restrained evolution of the iPod touch.