Apple has sent clear signals that it thinks the iPod touch and the iPhone are the future of its iPod business. It considers the Wi-Fi-enabled iPod touch "a new type of device," Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of worldwide iPod and iPhone< marketing, said when Apple unveiled a higher capacity iPod touch in February.
But that doesn't mean the whole world is ready to step up to a more sophisticated device like the iPod touch: Lots of people just want to play their tunes and watch their shows on the go, and don't want to break the bank to do so. While Apple is taking sure steps toward evolving the upper echelon of its iPod product line, what should it do to keep its iPod cash cow going into the next decade?
Look to the clouds. IaaS (iPod as a service) will thankfully never catch on as a buzzword, but Apple could bridge the gap between today and the future by bundling regular iPods with services, adding wireless as fast as possible, and bringing OS X down into a new generation of iPods as soon as Moore's Law lets it happen.
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