I don’t know if Apple ever intended to transform its iconic iPod in a gaming platform, but the iPod Touch in combination with the recently announced iPhone SDK could be one of the most serious rivals of PSP and Nintendo DS.

During his latest speech at MacWorld 2008, Steve Jobs presented iPod Touch, not only as a high-end iPod or a phoneless iPhone, but as a mobile device with WiFi connection.

Now as the new SDK is out and Apple has offered its AppStore to distribute the applications created by the developers, the scene is all set.

It is not so hard to guess that soon lot of new games will be created for iPod Touch (and for iPhone of course), not only by the gaming companies, but also by independent developers.

With its touch screen and accelerometer, the iPod Touch seems like the perfect device for a generation of games, which will offer a new gaming experience.

iPod Touch is cheaper than iPhone and therefore more accessible as gaming device. The 8 GB version of iPod Touch is now selling for $299, while the 8 gig model.
Also, from the technical point of view it seems like is more evolved than iPhone. A teardown analysis performed in December by the research firm iSuppli revealed that there are significant differences between the two devices.

While the two models have a 90 percent commonality in terms of components - for example, Samsung's video/applications processor as key IC at their core, a chip based on an ARM microprocessor core, a power-management IC from NXP Semiconductors and the use of stacked on-package memory - iSuppli concluded that the iPod Touch is no iPhone clone.

iSuppli noted design departures for the latest iPod, declaring it “uniquely optimised to meet its form-factor and cost requirements.” For example, the iPod Touch makes use of advanced packaging for its components not seen in the iPhone, including 0201 diodes and passive components in 01005 enclosures on the touch's WLAN module.

“This is the first time iSuppli has seen these components in a product we've torn down,” said Andrew Rassweiler, teardown services manager in a statement at the time. “Apple products always seem to push the envelope in terms of space savings, and therefore we often first see the newest, most-compact components in Apple products.”

Other differences include memory density and the PCB design. The iPod touch also employs a single PCB as opposed to the iPhone's modular two-PCB design. There is also a new set of components to support the iPod Touch's Wireless LAN (WLAN) functions, according to iSuppli, and the location of the touch-screen circuitry is on the main PCB.

Already, during the Thursday’s conference, EA and SEGA has unveiled new games for iPhone. EA presented a version of Spore, the upcoming game from Will Wright, the mastermind behind games like The Sims and SimCity. SEGA released a version of Super Monkey Ball, a game that first appeared on Nintendo's GameCube console.

"This is the coolest thing I've seen in game development in 15 years, except maybe for the Nintendo Wii," said Glenda Adams, director of development for long-time Mac game publisher Aspyr Media.

So, PSP and Nintendo DS watch out, the iPod Touch and iPhone are coming!