iPod Touch VoIP likely

When Apple rolled out its first WiFi-enabled iPod [1] Touch (pic) [2] earlier this month, it had a marked lack of phone functionality. This would only make sense to Apple, which started selling iPhones not three months ago for around $600 a pop, and more recently, $400. It didn't make as much sense to the user community, however, because the $300 stoked-up iPod touch music player was also a wireless transceiver.

The key to VoIP enabling the touch involves jacking a mic/headphone set similar to the one compatible with the iPhone, because both run on the same browser, the Apple Gazette [3] reports. A cabled-up iPod touch may not be as sleek looking as a regular iPhone, but it would still be $100 cheaper than the real thing.

It would also allow users to select from any number of VoIP services, compared to the short leash that iPhone users are on with AT&T (even though hackers [4] have broken it a time or two, and a Skype app is in beta.) A new GUI version of iUnlock called AnySim was released over the weekend as well, according to Gizmodo. The advent of iVoIP is probably not far behind, but only for users willing to deconstruct their pricey Apple handhelds. In the meantime, the Nokia N800 tablet [5] is already there. It's just not an Apple.

For More:
- The downloadsquad [6] compares the iPod touch with the VoIP-enabled Nokia N800 Internet tablet
- Gizmodo [7] shows AnySim

Related Article:
Skype for iPhone hits (and so do the bills) Report [8]