Posted on 12/07/2009 10:45:31 AM PST by Star Traveler
By Om Malik
December 6, 2009
As the competition for smartphone domination starts to heat up, it is becoming increasingly clear that the iPod touch is Apple’s ace up its sleeve, and according to a report by Flurry, a San Francisco-based mobile analytics company, 24 million iPod touches represent about 40 percent of the total 58 million iPhone OS devices.
From the time I first laid my hands on the iPod touch, I have been a big fan of it — after all, it is just like an iPhone except that it has more storage, is skinnier, and has none of the hassles of dropped calls.
It is a handy little touch computer, that allows you to quickly check emails when sitting in a nice comfortable chair and reading a book. It allows me to play a game of MLB World Series, control my favorite music system — the Sonos — manage the Apple TV, and very soon, people will be able to use it to accept credit cards.
OK, so what if it doesn’t make phone calls or have 3G connectivity? Those are problems you can fix by buying a MiFi and getting connected to Verizon’s 3G network, and you can make Skype calls as well. Last January (wow, how time flies) I wrote about why Apple was going to rule the mobile web, thanks to the iPod touch. I wasn’t that off the mark.
AdMob, a mobile advertising company currently being acquired by Google, in a recent report said that during the month of October (on a worldwide basis) the iPod touch accounted for 9.8 percent of all requests for applications and web sites that embed AdMob’s advertising script. In comparison, the iPhone has 22.4 percent of all requests. For the U.S. market, the iPod touch brought in 11.4 percent of total requests compared with 24 percent of requests emanating from the iPhone.
AdMob’s numbers mirror the data collected by Flurry, which tracks 3,000 applications, 45 million consumers and four platforms. In terms of the total number of user sessions per month, at present, iPod touch usage is much higher than the Android-based user sessions and is giving the iPhone a run for its money.
“It’s important to remember that the iPhone’s flank is protected by an often overlooked, powerful fighting brand: iPod touch,” Flurry notes in a report likely to be released Monday. “As all industry eyes look to the iPhone, the iPod touch is quietly building a loyal base among the next generation of iPhone users, positioning Apple to corner the smartphone market not only today, but also tomorrow.”
Agreed. In a post earlier this year I wrote how “the emergence of the iPod touch/iPhone is changing how we perceive and interact with computers. My friend Antonio Rodriguez, who founded and sold his startup Tabblo to Hewlett-Packard, thinks that a whole generation of kids is now growing up with keyboard-less computing as a default way to interact with machines.”
The iPod touch is much more than the iPhone’s little brother, as Jordan Golson recently pointed out:
Apple is perpetuating a “virtuous cycle,” as Gene Munster put it in a recent research note, to keep users on the iPod touch — an improved version of the lock-in provided by the old iTunes/iPod music ecosystem. Users buy the iPod touch; download apps; developers promote their apps (and the iPod touch platform), which leads to more consumers buying the iPod touch.
This virtuous cycle is more pronounced in the case of social networks and games. In its soon to be just released November Pulse report , Flurry notes:
Empirically, Flurry compared how iPod touch session usage has changed over the last six months across key application categories important to this demographic; namely, Social Networking and Games. While Social Networking’s viral nature is understood, iPhone Games have become increasingly social with the inclusion of features like friends lists, leader boards and remote multi-player modes. Together, Social Networking and Games category usage reflects the strength of the iPod touch Generation’s influence among its peers.
It is hardly a surprise. Apple changed its tune and started touting the iPod touch as a gaming device, which has started to have a negative impact on the earnings of specialist game device makers such as Nintendo.
It is starting to make its presence felt in the e-reader business. It is already a travel planner, thanks to apps like TripIt. So what’s next? (Related post: “The Past, Present & Future of Mobile Games.” On GigaOM Pro: “Is There Any Demand for a True Gaming Phone?” (subscription required)).
I think a digital camera would be a welcome addition, for that would allow the iPod touch to take on new roles: that of a camera. Secondly, it could become an easy-to-use and cheap bar code scanner. The latter would be the first of the many offerings for the iPod touch to disrupt a business described as enterprise mobility and dominated by Motorola’s Symbol Technologies.
It is not as far-fetched an idea as you might think. Square is already building a card reader. Last week, when I went to Apple’s Palo Alto, Calif., store, I saw the salespeople using a new device instead of the typical handheld credit card terminals. They were a combination of an iPod touch/iPhone (I couldn’t tell) and a sheath that snugly wrapped around the device and plugged into its connector, making it a point-of-sale device. And that’s just the start.
Against such a backdrop, it isn’t wrong to say: All hail the iPod touch.
All Hail the iPod Touch... :-)
I have a Blackberry. I’m on it now and don’t have a computer. Would the ipod touch be of any benefit to me?
If it just had a camera, I would so be there and get a Mifi to be able to use it anywhere on Verizon.
I have a Blackberry. I’m on it now and don’t have a computer. Would the ipod touch be of any benefit to me?
Of course that depends on individuals and their own particular set of wishes and desires and requirements.
I would say to look over either the iPhone or the iPod Touch areas on Apple's website.
And then, get your hands directly on one and use it at the Apple Retail Store...
If it just had a camera, I would so be there and get a Mifi to be able to use it anywhere on Verizon.
Most likely coming with the next upgrade... :-)
Also, go to the article link in post #3... :-)
I found a site called skinit.com, and ordered custom designed “skins” for the iPod Touch users in our family. You can upload a photo, or use one of their designs. Neat stuffing stocker.
On my touch I have:
A copy of the constitution,
A copy of the bill of rights,
The names and address of every Senator and Congressman, including email addresses, branch offices, phone numbers, both in DC and in each state, and a bobble head caricature of them.
and a ton of other stuff, but these are the political related stuff.
I have links to the VA medIcal as well as the VA web page.
Since I have no voice due to cancer, my touch talks to the world, ordering at restaurants and shopping for me.
I have 4 different weather links including my own at home.
I CAN DO WEATHER RADAR AND YOU TUBE.
....bOB
If you had WiFi in your house, it could be. It's a way better browser than a Blackberry. But since you don't have a computer, why would you have WiFi? Wait a minute. If you don't have a computer, how do you FReep?
Sounds fantastic... I’m glad it’s working so well for you... :-)
I freep on my Blackberry. Very quickly and easily in fact. :o) I’m at a Dr. Appt now freeping. I’m addicted to my Crackberry.
Is there a 64G iPod touch yet? I’ve been waiting for one.
I have the I-touch and my wife has an I-phone. By choice I make and receive few phone calls and rely more on e-mail so I have no real need for more than a minimalist prepaid cell phone. With free wi-fi available just about everywhere, my I-touch works just fine for me and no big wireless bill each month. I even use my touch as a digital book reader and the applications are fantastic. On a recent flight to Australia all I needed was my I-touch and some noise canceling headphones.
But no, if you have no WiFi, and no computer, I don't see an iPod doing much for you. I have close to 3K songs on my iPhone. I couldn't imagine putting that much music on it via iTunes, and you couldn't do that without WiFi or 3G. I did it the old fashioned way. I ripped my CD's to HDD and then transfered to iPhone via the laptop.
I think I've bought exactly one song via iTunes. And maybe two applications. All the other were free ones.
Great, thanks. My next purchase.
I like my Zune HD.
Well “cheers” [lifts glass up high...] — here’s to some people’s personal tastes... :-)
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