The iPod touch through the years

iPod touch 4th Gen - Present

The iPod touch, the most popular iPod since the iPod nano revolutionizes the way users do their everyday tasks, such as emailing, browsing the web, playing games, watching videos and many more! Since the release of the 1st Gen iPod touch in 2007, it has now gone to be the most popular gaming device in the world. Like Steve Jobs mentioned, 'its the iPhone without the phone'. In the September keynote, Steve Jobs mentioned that most of the apps in the App Store are downloaded directly to the iPod touch. Not downloaded to the iPhone, synced to iTunes, and then synced to the iPod touch but just to the iPod touch. So what is it with this device. Well for starters, its touch screen. The touch screen enables users to interact with their games, without the use of buttons. Next, internet capabilities. This is the first iPod with internet capabilities. This enables users to do what they normally do on their computers, whether that is watching videos, checking emails, downloading media content (music & videos) or just simply browse the web. And its slim. Making the iPod touch slim makes it easy to carry along with you. And lastly, it is easy to use. Users with an iPhone are already familiar with the iPod touch. Just like Jobs said, 'it is the training wheel for the iPhone'.

So I decided to compare the different iPod touches and see what really made this device popular.


2007: The First Gen iPod touch


Touchscreen: Yes
Internet Connectivity: Yes
Slim: Yes
Phone: No
Gaming capabilities: Yes (with an update released in early 2008)
Video capabilities: Yes
Email client: Yes
Camera and video recorder capabilities: No
Web browsing: Yes
Home screen customization: No
Multitasking: No
Fast: Yes (at the time)


2008: The Second Gen iPod touch*


Touchscreen: Yes

Internet Connectivity: Yes

Slim: Yes

Phone: No

Gaming capabilities: Yes 

Video capabilities: Yes

Email client: Yes

Camera and video recorder capabilities: No

Web browsing: Yes

Home screen customization: No

Multitasking: No

Fast (yes at the time)

2009: The Third Gen iPod touch*

Touchscreen: Yes

Internet Connectivity: Yes

Slim: Yes

Phone: No

Gaming capabilities: Yes 

Video capabilities: Yes

Email client: Yes

Camera and video recorder capabilities: No

Web browsing: Yes

Home screen customization: Yes

Multitasking: Yes

Fast: Yes (and it still is)

2010: The Fourth Gen iPod touch - present

Touchscreen: Yes

Internet Connectivity: Yes

Slim: Yes

Phone: No

Gaming capabilities: Yes 

Video capabilities: Yes

Email client: Yes

Camera and video recorder capabilities: Yes

Web browsing: Yes

Home screen customization: Yes

Multitasking: Yes

Fast: Yes (very fast)

So comparing the 4 different generations, the only way the iPod touch became popular is when Apple added new features such as a camera and video recording capabilities. 


* These iPod touch generations were not publicly introduced in Apple Keynotes.


(C) iPod touch image is courtesy of Apple Inc