A new line of iPods were announced by Steve Jobs today among other new things. Here, I am just going to comment on the new “touch” version and the iPhone.

The new iPod Touch is everything I hoped it would be. I had a major gut feeling that WiFi + Safari would be worked into it and it was. iTunes Mobile is in it which doesn’t surprise me so much.

I am going to hold off ordering it for a few months in hopes (unlikely) that a version with a bit more memory will come out. Lots of people are complaining in forums at Macrumors, Gizmodo and other sites that the 8 & 16gb is TERRIBLE. It is when you compare it to the “classic” version which has 80 & 160gb HDDs. I don’t think it is that bad considering it is flash based rather than HDD based which should lend to a longer life if you aren’t the type to upgrade EVERY time a new one comes out. I consider my music collection relatively large and diverse and it is only 11gb, which would leave 4.change leftover for other things such as the occasional video or hack. The “negatives” of the touch are outweighed by the new capabilities it wields like WiFi and Safari as well as other apps and hack-ability.

I am hoping that the iPod “touch” is as hackable as the iPhone, which I’m sure it will be. I am expecting to see some new applications come out for it such as a full email client, chat client, etc. Those programs would make it virtually a fully featured PDA, especially if someone can write or port an email client (like Evolution) that has an Exchange Connector for corporate email.

I am very excited about this product and hope it isn’t the last new item to be released before the holiday season.

On another note, I’m a bit disappointed at investors dumping Apple stock (AAPL) today on news that the iPhone was dropping $200 to a more “justifiable” $399 for the 8gb model and killing the 4gb version altogether, which should save a little in manufacturing costs as flash memory prices drop. I could easily see 16gb for the iPhone + 32gb for the iPod happening within the next year within the same price point. The more reasonable price will drive higher volumes for a device that is already the best selling “Smart Phone” in July 2007. I also have a strong feeling the exclusive AT&T relationship will end within or around the 1st anniversary of the release and Apple will openly support other carriers in driving proliferation of the iPhone.

Only time will tell…