This past September, Apple upgraded its entire iPod lineup, but one conspicuous omission was a camera-enabled iPod Touch. In the weeks leading up to Apple's special media event in September, an iPod Touch with a built-in camera was all but guaranteed, but last minute technical glitches reportedly forced Apple to scrap that portion of the upgrade and simply offer a new iPod Touch with improved internals.
This got some people thinking that Apple would lay low for a few months before releasing a new iPod Touch, with a camera in tow, just in time for the holiday shopping season. In doing so, Apple might risk upsetting recent buyers of the current iPod Touch, who might feel slighted having payed $299 for a device that became "less than" just a few weeks later. At the same time, the Zune HD appears to be decent competition for the iPod Touch, and you can bet that Apple wants to maintain as wide a lead, feature wise, over the Zune as it possibly can. Translation: Apple wants to ship an iPod Touch with video recording capabilities as soon as possible.
Apparently, though, that back and forth is now a moot point as a report from Gizmodo has Phil Schiller saying that there won't be any new Apple products released before 2010. Now this might seem obvious as it's almost November, it's still somewhat newsworthy given some recent murmurings of upgraded MacBooks, not to mention speculation of the above-mentioned iPod Touch.
But as with anything Apple, we're always left guessing. After Gizmodo's report ran, Apple called Gizmodo up and bluntly told them that their official positiion is that "The holiday lineup is set."
Hmm.. cryptic.
Now this could mean exactly what it seems like - that there won't be any new Apple products released in 2009. Or, it could mean that Apple's holiday lineup is set and finalized internally, but there's still a trick up Apple's sleeve as we approach the busiest shopping season of the year. I guess we'll find out soon enough, but I imagine that Apple is done releasing new products for the rest of the year. For cryin' out loud, they just released brand new iMacs, along with a new multi-touch mouse and an upgraded baseline MacBook. And with MacBook Pro's having been upgraded just last summer, and a complete iPod refresh still fresh in our mids, there really isn't that much left for Apple to upgrade during the next 2 months.
Furthermore, given that almost all of Apple's products have been upgraded or refreshed in the past few months, I'd wager that most of Apple's developmental efforts over the next few months will focus on getting the rumored Apple tablet ready for the masses.
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After announcing
After announcing record-breaking earnings for the third quarter, Apple is looking for a repeat performance with a slew of hardware Relevant Products/Services products: A new iMac line, a lighter MacBook, a Mac mini, and a Magic Mouse. The skyrocketing in Apple earnings is directly linked to the sale of iPhones, as it is far and away the most popular product. The sales for iPods have begun to drop, although Mac sales are still pretty strong, which is surprising considering the popularity of netbooks over traditional laptops and desktops. It's been one of the few huge corporations that haven't run home to the government for a bailout – though they aren't without critics. Still – the Apple earnings of the last year make it obvious that many consumers are still willing to get instant cash loans for Apple products.
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