Ok, it can’t be easy being one of the greatest commercial innovators since the Industrial Revolution. It’s lonely at the top and everyone likes to take a shot at you. But… Is it just me or has there been a well-disguised lack of real customer-love by Apple these last couple of years, as well as a lack of innovation?

‘Borrowing’ ideas:
Before the iPod Touch, there was the HTC Touch. Apple couldn’t even be bothered changing the name of the rival product.

Before the Nano with camera, there was the Cisco Flip and the (better) Kodak Zi8.
Before the Wi-Fi enabled iPod, there was… um…. Zune. In fact that little sparkler was out for a whole year before the WiFiPod hit the shelves.

Being tight with easy requests:
iTunes 9 kinda-sorta included the feature that users have been screaming for: A way for new files on your hard drive to be automatically added to iTunes when it starts up. iTunes 9 has seen the quiet (almost covert) addition of an Automatically Add to iTunes folder. In true Apple style, this is not what the users wanted (i.e. the ability to point iTunes to the folder/folders of the users choosing for automatic updating) but its a little closer. Now you just have to choose between duplicating everything to the Automatically Add To folder, or risk keeping ALL of your movies and music in an iTunes-associated area. Call me superstitious, but there is something about storing all my goodies in a folder tied to the eternally clunky and couterintuitive iTunes that makes me want to throw salt over my shoulder and knock on wood.

The iPhone 3GS was one of the few products that actually seemed to have heard its buyers – more stability, a better camera and the ability to cut/copy/paste as well as use the keyboard in landscape mode. If only the First Else phone weren’t doing it all so much better. Unveiled a few days ago in Barcelona, the First Else is the first touch-phone designed for one-handed navigation. Finally, the thumb is back in the game. Did anyone else just hear angels begin to sing? Or was it only us right-handers?

Still avoiding true convergence
Yes, the iPod Touch now comes with 64Gig of memory. No, the iPhone does not, unless jailbroken and jury-rigged. Yes, the Nano now has a camera. Ditto the iPhone. No, the iPod touch does not. Does Apple really think we haven’t noticed that we are buying three products when one could do it all? It’s not like they’d lose money – Apple fans are not known for being tight with their cash, or for being late adopters! Sell me one unit and charge me a fortune for it. No problem, that’s what being an Apple fan is all about. Just don’t try to fool me, please.

Come on Steve, show us the love.

Here’s a look at this week’s Apple news:

• Psystar Continues to Play With Fire
• HD Movies Now Available for Purchase in iTunes
  
• Apple Says “Don’t use ‘Podium’, ‘Pod’ is ours!”
• More References to a New iPhone/iPod Touch?
• Next-Gen iPhone to Have Faster Internet?
  
• Safari Not So Secure?
• Did Apple Leak a 17-inch iMac for $899?
• AT&T Prepping no-commit iPhones?
• iPhone 3.0 Software Previewed
• The iPod Shuffle Doesn’t Have DRM in the Headphones?
• Facebook Connect for the iPhone

This Week’s iBAM Posts:

• The Iconic Transmit
• iPhone App Spotlight: Delivery Status Touch

Not too far back, I was given the opportunity to play with Midway’s Touchmaster series of games for my iPhone. A series of 5 games taken from Midway’s successful Nintendo DS title. You can get each game individually for $.99 or the whole bundle of 5 games for $3.99. The 5 titles available are:

• Spellwinder – This is a word search game with a twist. Only adjacent letters can be used to create a word. Make words in any direction without using the same letter twice.
• Dice King – Swap two adjacent dice to form matching combinations of three or more dice. Attempt to form the listed combinations displayed on the top portion of the screen and watch your score rise.
• Prismatix – Prismatix is an easy to play hexagonal matching game. The wheel shows a color sequence. Try to eliminate gems by matching the sequence in any direction.
• Combo 11 – With face cards removed from the deck makes sets of 11. As cards are eliminated, you can press the “Next” button to add available cards to the playfield. If no moves are left, you can use “Jumble” to mix up the cards.
• Carpet – A new take on the card game you know and love… Solitaire. The object of the game is to move all cards to the foundations where the aces have already been dealt.

[Continued]

Here’s this week’s top Apple-related stories:

• 17″ Macbook Pros Now Shipping
• RUMOR: Next-Gen iPhone Hardware Revealed
• GMail is now available for offline use
• Upgrade to iTunes Plus now on Track by Track Basis
• iPhone & iPod Touch 2.2.1 Update Available
• iLife ‘09 Now Shipping

This Week in iBAM:

• MindMapping with MindNode
• Blogging Made Easy with Blogo
• iPhone App Spotlight: Ustream.TV

“Hey iPhone user, Come on Down!”. The long-running game show, The Price is Right, has come to the iPhone as a game.  Upon opening up The Price is Right, you have the opportunity to set up a contestant. From there, you are taken through the game, playing miscellaneous price-guessing games.

While the actual meat of the game is fun, there are some huge defects. For starters, it takes quite awhile to load game and scenario. While this isn’t a huge problem, it’s annoying and not ideal for a quick game while waiting in line at the grocery store. Also, actual gameplay is slow. I hardly ever find myself playing The Price is Right when I’m out and just wanting to kill time. It is fun, for say a sunday afternoon when you’re just sitting around and relaxing – and have plenty of time.

At the time of writing this post, The Price is Right is selling for $4.99. Whether or not it’s worth it at $5 is up to you. I can say though, that it is not my absolute favorite iPhone App.