Apple's Greg Joswiak touts iPod touch as the future of handheld gaming

Apple's Greg Joswiak touts iPod touch as the future of handheld gaming

from Engadget by Joshua Topolsky

We speculated in our review of the new iPod touch that Apple had designs on more than just consumption of music and video, and now an interview with company VP of iPod and iPhone product marketing Greg Joswiak all but confirms that sights are set on the gaming market. In a conversation with T3, Joswiak boasts that the devices are breaking through as a viable alternative to established handhelds (such as the PSP or DS) due mostly in part to competitive software pricing and the company's content delivery system. While much of the interview focuses on iPod sales figures, it does delve into more detailed comparisons of platforms, with Joswiak stating, "The 3D graphic power here [iPod touch] is significantly greater than what you have here [picks up Nintendo DS]. So this allows people to do significantly higher quality games." While it's not unusual to hear Apple's honchos hyping their products like they just skipped across some water to heal a few lepers, it is a new trend to see the company aggressively going after gaming platform mainstays so directly. With Sony and Nintendo just getting up to speed on non-traditional content delivery, Apple may find an edge come holiday season with casual gamers -- the real question is whether the hardcore will bite.

iPhone 2.2 update due in a week and a half?

November 21 is the day the 2.2 software update for the iPhone (and iPod touch) is expected to be released, according to the blog iPhone Hellas.

Gadget blog Gizmodo, which calls the Greek site “consistently reliable,” says the feature list is expected to be largely the same as what has been seen by developers in the second beta version of the software.

This means in 10 days we should all see the additions of: Google Street View, Google Maps transit directions (including walking directions), the ability to download podcasts to the iPhone, a new proactive rating system for apps and a new, slightly reconfigured version of the Safari web broswer, among other smaller changes.

There is still no word on if highly sought-after features like cut & paste and the Push Notification system will be included in the update, but seeing as Apple has given no indication that they would be, it’s probably unlikely.