Apple Cuts Cost of iPhone, Introduces Wi-Fi iPod - and Starbucks Deal

There's a lot of buzz over Apple's announcements yesterday regarding the iPhone and iPod.

The company slashed the cost of its 8-gig iPhone by $200 to $399 (ah, the pointless "does this mean iPhone sales are stalling" vs. "we just want to expand the market" debate). And it introduced the Wi-Fi enabled iPod Touch, which works a lot like the iPhone, minus the phone part. The device enables you to download songs from iTunes wirelessly via Wi-Fi networks.

Apparently you can use the device in Starbucks, too. Hear a song you like being played at Starbucks, tap on the screen to download the song from iTunes. And don't forget the new iPod Nano, which now has a bigger screen and video capabilities.

There's no word yet if the new capabilities will revive talks between Apple and NBC over selling its TV shows on iTunes; the current arrangement will end soon, and NBC says it'd rather go to some other service so it can charge more per show.

Personally, I don't care about most of this, except the iPhone part. I hope it's all a ruse to introduce the second generation iPhone (ie, more memory, faster network, few glitches) in early 2008 at the device's new, lower price point.

Now that'd be something to phone home about.

For more, click here and here.

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Rick Mathieson.com