Capacity Upgrades for iPhone, iPod Touch

I’ve been meaning to write a post about Apple’s pretty new MacBook Air, but I was so underwhelmed by its capabilities that I haven’t found the inspiration to do so yet. But today’s announcement from Apple is far more interesting.

Apple has very quietly added larger capacity versions of both the iPhone and iPod Touch to their store as of today. The iPhone is now available in a 16GB flavor and the iPod Touch has a new 32GB iteration. Both sell for $500. Why is this a big deal? And why release these larger versions now? Three words: software development kit (SDK).

For those not in the know, Apple did not make it so any old third-party programmer could write programs for the iPhone/Touch straight out of the box. That’s half the reason why people are so intent on hacking their device (the other reason, at least for the iPhone, is so you can use a carrier other than AT&T). But starting in February there will be an SDK available for any developer who wants to make their program legit.

Of course, these programs are going to take up space on your iPhone/Touch, precious space that’s already being used by your music, photos and videos. That’s where these new toys come into play.

I think most people wanted the higher capacity iPhone to include 3G, but that announcement is going to come with its fair share of hoopla. I’d say it’s possible we’ll see the 3G iPhone this summer at WWDC, but more likely that it’ll be at MacWorld ‘09. That’s just personal speculation, but I think Apple is going to make the refresh of its MacBook Pro line the focus of WWDC ‘08.

I’m still not going to buy either device simply because I currently don’t need either of them, though both are very tempting. If it weren’t for the astronomical price I’d think that the 32GB Touch would be a really hot item. I’d personally rather have an iPod Touch to compliment my fully-loaded computer than I would a MacBook Air, if that’s any indication.