Unless you have been living in a cave you cannot have failed to spot that the iPhone 4 is with us, 'don't hold it like that' antenna problems and all. But what about the iPod Touch 4? Traditionally, the new iPod is launched in September and the new feature set is kept pretty secret. Well, as secret as it can be when you consider that it is inevitably based around the upgraded iPhone handset that has gone a few months before it. But this year, according to UK gadget site Pocket Lint at least, the new features cat is out of the Apple bag courtesy of a man by the name of Rob Hennessey.
Hennessey is the audio and telecomms buyer for UK retailer John Lewis, and during an event in London where he presented a sneak preview look at what the retail chain would be stocking this Christmas he included a slide entitled 'Apple iPod refresh in September' complete with photos and feature descriptions. You can see that slide featuring what is claimed to be the new Apple iPod Touch 4 here .
According to Hennessey, whose information is said to come direct from the suppliers, the major new features of the iPod Touch 4 will include:
5-megapixel camera with flash
720p HD video
Gyroscope
FaceTime video chat over Wi-Fi
Hennessey also suggested that the iPod Touch 4 will be marketed first and foremost as a multimedia device for the youth market, especially with regards to the uprated gaming capabilities (accelerometer and gyroscope) and the 'can be used as a free video-phone' aspect of including FaceTime over Wi-Fi. It is interesting to note, however, that there was no mention at all of the new Retina Display from the iPhone 4 though.
So, is this the new iPod Touch 4 or just someone taking a good guess based on the features already there in the iPhone 4? Apple is keeping quiet and declining to comment, as usual and as to be expected. It's doubtful that Apple itself would have told a John Lewis buyer anything quite so detailed as this for fear of leaks, but then again this is a major UK retailer and one wouldn't expect it to go public with such claims if they were simply pie in the sky guesswork for fear of looking silly in September. Which leaves me none-the-wiser to be honest, but my gut feeling is that Hennessey has quite obviously had some detail leaked to him by someone, and has quite possibly put two and two together as a result.
We won't know until September if he's come up with four, in this case the iPod Touch 4, or not though.
