I love/hate Apple

It took me by surprise. I clicked on computer software catalog link that was just one step away from spam in my email, and I saw the iphone being advertised as an ipod. Can't they get this straight? Wait a minute. Something's fishy. 

Turns out that the iTouch is just an iPhone without the phone. Check out this Eflux article for the skinny. So far as I can tell, the only diff is that the itouch has no phone. Otherwise, it's exactly the same. Oh, and shave about three quarters of an inch off the top of the thing. And to top it off, the iPhone is now two-hundred dollars cheaper.

There is great tearing of hair and gnashing of teeth with the analysts, who are trying to figure out what Apple is trying to do. "Sounds like a move of desperation" says one. "Brilliant long-range plan" says another.

Apple doesn't care. Let the analysts, customers and competition stew in their own juices while Apple laughs all the way to the bank. No matter what you might think of Steve Jobs, he's a canny operator. Biggest music store on the net, one million phones sold by the end of September? No big, right?