Essentialy, the new iPod touch is a little MacOS X computer with internet networking ability. It has audio and video playback. It clearly lack audio input. But the question can still be asked: can the ‘touch’ become a VoIP phone for WiFi environments?
Some people are already working on Skype solutions for the iPhone (there is no Skype clients for the iPhone yet). As the iPod touch runs the same variant of OS X that runs on the iPhone, we can expect these Skype-like solution to work on the iPod touch too.
Of course, the problem is: there is no audio-in for the iPod touch. But can’t that be solved through the iPod’s standard 30 pin connector. After all, voice recording accessories have been available for the iPod for a long time.
It would be really cool if a solution like this emerges for the iPod touch. It would be a shame if there’s a little computer with Wifi in your pocket and you cannot use it to communicate.
All this raises questions about the omission of other iPhone apps form the iPod touch, such as Google maps, Mail and others.
Gizmodo had a post yesterday addressing exactly that question, and claiming they had an unofficial answer from Apple insiders already.
You may be asking yourself where are Mail, Weather, Google Maps or Stocks in the new iPod touch. The answer: they are coming, but probably not from Apple. The iPod runs Mac OS X like the iPhone does and we have got unofficial word from inside Apple that it runs exactly the same applications. The exact quote: “they use the same damn binaries.”
The ultimate question is about the iPhone’s and iPod’s openness. These gadgets are moving away from single use devices to multi-purpose computers. Artificially limiting these devices doesnt make much sense in the long run.
The ‘touch’ is not out yet. But when it is, I will be looking at this matter again, checking if audio-in and VoIP can be combined on the device to make a ‘phone’ out of it.
Comments
2 responses to “iPod touch with wifi” can it become a VoIP phone?”
Its the all in one cell phone issue again, when the mobile phones evolved from a basic phone with an address book to a full multimedia solution that can play music, take pictures, organization applications, web, … Do we really need to duplicate these features from our phones to the portable music player? Whats the point from carrying two gadgets that can do the same thing, i carry my PDA which can do all the above and i even have Skype installed, along with my mp3 player which also can play videos and photos, i always like that kind of separation of multimedia and communication devices.
I don’t need to check my email from my mp3 player
Skype is possible on iPod touch and iPhone with IM+ for Skype by http://www.shapeservices.com. Their solution bridges two real phone numbers. No VoIP yet, but pretty good callback quality.