After many rumors and speculation, Apple’s “Let’s rock”
event launched
on Tuesday, as Apple CEO Steve Jobs headed the show and unveiled the new iPod
line. Some loved them, some.... were less enthusiastic, but everyone had
something to say. From news agencies to bloggers - everyone dissected (some
quite literally)
the new iPods. But what does the Vox Populi have to say?
About the iPod Touch 2G, some have been, like the review
from PCMag,
raving praises, considering the new Touch to be indeed the portable gaming
platform Jobs is selling it as, claiming that although not as powerful as the
PSP, “a solid interface and a well-executed design can go a long way”,
citing the Nintendo Wii’s similar success.
The NY Times cite the Touch’s $70 price cut as a factor that
“should make the device more appealing to mainstream buyers and expose them to
Apple’s App Store and its thousands of games and other programs.”
Others, such as blogger mknopp, find the price difference
between the iPod Touch too small to justify the difference in features, saying
that “[the iPod Touch] is like the red-headed step child of the Apple family. It
is overpriced and crippled on top of that. What should be one of Apple's top
products is languishing for some unknown reason.
Macworld have posted a first
look review of the iPod Touch, which is quite informative and they appear to be
generally satisfied with the new Touch, calling it “a step in the right
direction”.
Certain tech writers tend to consider the iPod Nano’s new
features a little lacking, and changes a bit too minor for its $149 price tag, ChannelWeb
sarcastically noting that “The profile is more Giselle Bundchen instead of Elle
Macpherson, shaving off a whole 0.06 of an inch.”
Users generally tended to like the new selection of iPod Nano
colors though, with Black and Orange
topping the preferences as this
poll from the Unofficial Apple Weblog shows.
"The new iPod line is sweet," Sven Rafferty, technology blogger
and director of Internet technology for hyperSven, said in an
article for MacNewsWorld. The new nanos are very cool, he said,
"though I'll miss the fat boy." You can find more bloggers’
impressions in the article.
Even Greenpeace
had something to say about the new iPods in their blog, as they laud the new
iPod line for using non-toxic materials, in an article that sounds more like a
sales pitch (makes you wonder, doesn’t it?):
“It’s great to see Apple dropping toxic chemicals like PVC, BFRs and mercury
in their latest products”, Greenpeace blogger tomD said, and further added that “In
May 2007 Steve
Jobs stated that Apple would improve its environmental record by removing
toxic chemicals by the end of 2008 and boosting recycling by 2010.”
Love them or hate them, everyone’s got something to say about the newly released lineup of iPods these days
it would seem, and that’s probably just the way Apple likes it.