Apple Bumps iPhone and iPod touch Capacities
February 5th, 2008

While there has been speculation over the last few days that Apple would match flash capacity offered with the iPod touch by introducing a more expensive iPhone model, a new higher capacity iPod touch has come as a surprise to most. The iPhone now comes in a new 16GB model for US$499, joining the existing 8GB model for $399. iPod touch now comes in a whopping 32GB model for $499, joining the 16GB model for $399 and the 8GB model for $299. Both products are available immediately.

“For some users, there’s never enough memory,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPod and iPhone Product Marketing. “Now people can enjoy even more of their music, photos and videos on the most revolutionary mobile phone and best Wi-Fi mobile device in the world.”

Other than capacity, there are no other hardware changes that have been noted. So what does this mean for future device updates? It is expected that with the next full iPod touch revision late this year, the line will return to two separate models at the lower price points. The iPhone will maintain two separate models and will receive a full hardware upgrade much sooner. The new models will both be 3G, but feature differences will create a greater separation between the $399 and $499 models. We plan to have a more in-depth look at the future of the iPhone in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, technology research firm Canalys has estimated the market share of the iPhone to be 6.5% amongst smartphones worldwide for Q4 2007, a significant percentage given the iPhone is only officially available in a limited number of countries. Additionally, the firm estimates that Apple took 28% share of the fast growing US converged device market. This figure exceeds Apples estimate of a 19.5% share of the US smartphone market for Q3 2007, showing major growth in iPhone sales in more recent months.

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