Jobs' Excuse for No-Camera iPod touch Doesn’t Click
Last week's iPod event in San Francisco left many Apple watchers wondering why the iPod touch didn't get a video camera, while the less sophisticated iPod nano did. After all, the jack-of-all-trades touch, with its iPhone-like feature set, seemed a natural for a camera.
Not so, said Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who attempted to clarify his company's strategy in a post-keynote interview with New York Times' tech columnist David Pogue. Jobs said that Apple's customers see the iPod touch as a "game machine" rather than as a phone-less iPhone or pocket computer. For that reason, Apple felt it was more important to cut the price of the entry-level 8GB touch to $199 (down from $229), which would boost sales and draw more people to the App Store. "We don't need to add new stuff," Jobs said.
