Lost in the excitement around Apple's introduction of the iPhone 5 last week was news of two new iPod models -- generation 5 of the iPod touch, and generation 7 of the iPod nano. (Yes, Apple still refuses to capitalize these products, or to identify them with a model number.)
Yawn! -- Does anyone still care about iPods? After all Apple, reports that iPod sales have declined 10 and then 15 percent in each of the last two quarters.
On the other hand, iPods still can be a nice business for Apple, as during those same quarters Apple sold 14.5 million units. And the iPod brand dominates the market -- when was the last time you heard of another music player? As a result, Apple has been happily selling its previous iPod nano generation 6 and the iPod touch gen 4 since Sept. 2010, and is still selling the iPod shuffle gen 4 from Sept. 2010, as well as the positively antique iPod classic from back in Sept. 2009.
The iPod touch has a clear place in the product line -- as a Wi-Fi iPhone without the phone part, or as a mini-iPad (especially in the absence of an in-between size tablet). The touch provides conveniently portable access to the Apple iOS world, including iTunes music (26 million songs) and videos (45,000 films), and all those 700,000 apps -- including over 175,000 game and entertainment titles that help make the touch an attractive handheld gaming device. Plus, it's a Wi-Fi device for web browsing and email and other cloud access.
The new iPod touch (generation 5) basically catches up with the previous-generation iPhones and iPads, with the bonus of a 4-inch widescreen Retina display (same res as the iPhone 5, up from 3.5").
It also features a 5 MP iSight camera (vs. 8 MP on the iPhone 5) with full 1080p HD recording, Apple's A5 processor (like the iPhone 4S and iPad 2), and even the Siri voice-input intelligent assistant as part of the upcoming new iOS 6 release.
The advantage of the iPod touch is that, even as a flexible multi-purpose device, it's so thin and light -- shrunk from 7.2 to 7 mm thin, and down from 101 to 88 grams, even though it's slightly larger in the widescreen aspect ratio (4.86 × vs 4.4 in. tall by x 2.3 in. wide).
As it often does, Apple has held the same pricing for the new magic -- 16 GB for $299, 32 GB for $399 (no more 8 GB), now in a broader range of colors (pink, yellow, blue, white & silver, and black & slate).
See my Apple iDevices Gallery for more details on the current -- and past -- Apple iOS devices, including the iPods, iPhones, and iPads, as well as product chronologies.