Picture Imperfect

iPod PhotoWhether or not I really have a use for an iPod Photo or not is unclear to me, but seeing how I’m in the market for a new one of these things, there’s a decent chance I’ll own one by the end of the year. However, I still have a quibble: I like the fact that Apple is continuing to expand the feature set of its increasingly important digital device, but I’m frustrated by the company’s apparent unwillingness to just go the whole way — how much longer must we wait before Apple just makes the iPod what it so obviously is: a true multimedia portable digital assistant? Most of the groundwork for this is there; all that’s missing is a touch screen screen. With these photo features, the iPod Photo amounts to one big tease. Anyway, all I know is the U2-edition iPod is really dumb.

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4 Comments

  1. jscott

    “U2-edition iPod is really dumb” from the man with whom I saw the Joshua Tree tour with at RFK all those years ago? Actually, I agree.

    The biggest gripe I have with this new iPod is that I can’t download images directly from my camera. Seems like a half-ass product.

  2. Harris Lapiroff

    I agree with your sentiments entirely. When I first heard the iPod was going to have an address book on it, I imagined that it was going to evolve into a full fledged PDA within the year…

  4. Raphy

    Sorry to be a contrarian, but if you need a PDA there are plenty on the market already. Right now the iPod is being marketed, very successfully, as a portable music device – not a PDA. Furthermore, getting U2’s stamp of approval heaps an enormous amount of credibility on iPod and Apple (red on black is hot). A brilliant move.

    Apple is building market share with the iPod. Loading it up with PDA features many people will likely never use will only dilute the brand, making it less of a must-have hipster device, and more like a nerdy PDA or mega Swiss Army knife.

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