Andrew O’Hara, AppleInsider, digs through the potential market for the new iPod touch. The biggest bit of this that clicked for me:
Apple also touts the upcoming Apple Arcade which will allow access to several exclusive games for a monthly fee. The new iPod touch is a very clear, inexpensive delivery device for that service.
This seems a solid strategy: Release a relatively low cost device, ready made for parents with kids and a long road trip ahead. A subscription to Apple Arcade is a perfect complement to the new iPod touch.
… except the screen is way too small. It’ll be interesting to see how playable those games are.
.. and an A10 processor underclocked to 1.6GHz instead of the usual 2.3GHz, not sure it’s going to be beefy enough for gaming.
It’s the most secure mobile device that you can own.
It’s the most secure mobile device that you can own.
well, “inexpensive”… for € 40 more i can get a nintendo switch. or i could get a 3ds/2ds/… for less. The Ipod might have lots of extra functionality (camera, apps, apple music,…), but when it comes to gaming alone, it’s more expensive, less robust, has inferior controls and an inferior games library than nintendo’s machines.
now, if apple was serious about a game controller, things would be different – also on the apple tv. but as it stands now, mfi-controller are expensive and just ok-ish quality-wise (at least the ones I know, namely the gamevice and the nimbus), and the requirement that games have to be playable on the touchscreen/via siri remote only hinders a lot of games.(why not check if a game-controller is connected before allowing a download – that’s just an as accessible / excluding / fragmenting experience as trying to download a game you device is too old for).
either way, it’s a device for kids who won’t get a “real” iphone yet, and as a parent i’d rather spend half the money on a used but simpler and virtually indestructible nintendo console.