iPod Touch Rumored To Get Camera And Microphone Again

It's been about two weeks, which means it is high time for another Apple iPod Touch rumor involving cameras.

While the whispers that Apple may embed a camera in the iPod Touch music player have been circulating for some time, there has yet to be much in the way of hard evidence. But now Wired is reporting that a well-connected insider is saying that a new iPod Touch will be put on sales sometime in the next two to three months.

This version of the Apple iPod Touch will have a camera and microphone built in. A camera and microphone in an iPod Touch when paired with the Skype app would, as the report on Wired points out, essentially turn the music device into a VoIP-ready telephone.

While that's true, it seems unlikely that creating an in-house competitor to its own iPhone would be part of Apple's business strategy -- after all, the company charges more for a 32-GB iPod Touch than it does for a 32-GB iPhone 3G S. Why, then, would a consumer purchase the music player instead of the iPhone, which contains all the capabilities of an iPod Touch?

Sure, breaking a contract costs money and some consumers feel loyalty to long-time telecoms, but ultimately, when push comes to shove, it seems unlikely that a customer would throw down the extra cash for the iPod Touch instead of going straight to the iPhone. After all, the MP3 player isn't 3G capable, forcing users to rely on WiFi to connect to the Web. The iPhone can connect from anywhere AT&T provides coverage.

Instead, Apple may be continuing what could be a policy of playing catch-up. On the whole, Apple's products tend to be ahead of the curve -- the iPhone, some would say, revolutionized the smartphone market. Yet, oddly enough, the mobile device didn't support MMS or landscape typing at its inception.

But when Apple rolled out OS 3.0 ahead of the release of the iPhone 3G S, the Cupertino Crew implemented long-sought-after features, as well as advanced the OS to the next level. After seeing the success the iPhone 3G S had at its launch, Apple, if the report is accurate, could be hoping for a similar rejuvenation of excitement with the iPod Touch.

It seems that cameras, if not microphones, are popping up in most handheld devices these days. While it may seem that equipping the iPod Touch with a camera and microphone would essentially be creating a VoIP version of the iPhone to compete against itself, it's likely that Apple will throw in a new wrinkle to keep the sales of one from cannibalizing the other.

Instead, an embedded camera and microphone in an iPod Touch will probably seem like the natural progression of the music player and be looked on as one more way that Apple kept its products relevant.