Steve Jobs tells us why the new video nano doesn't do stills, and why the iPod Touch still has no camera. Here are excerpts from their exchange:
David Pogue:
You put a camcorder on the iPod Nano. Why not on the iPod Touch?
Steve Jobs:
Originally, we weren’t exactly sure how to market the Touch. Was it an iPhone without the phone? Was it a pocket computer? What happened was, what customers told us was, they started to see it as a game machine. Because a lot of the games were free on the store. Customers started to tell us, “You don’t know what you’ve got here — it’s a great game machine, with the multitouch screen, the accelerometer, and so on.”
David Pogue:
How come the Nano can now record video, but can’t take stills?
Steve Jobs:
The sensors for doing video are fairly thin. The sensors for doing a still camera, at much higher pixel resolution — and we’d really like to have autofocus — they are just way too thick to ever fit inside the Nano.
David Pogue:
It’s great to see you back! How are you feeling these days?
Steve Jobs:
I feel great. I probably need to gain about 30 pounds, but I feel really good. I’m eating like crazy. A lot of ice cream.