The iPod Touch as Training Wheels for the iPhone

I've had my iPod touch for about a week now and I absolutely love it, aside from the learning process associated with the touchscreen keyboard. I have to admit that I was very perplexed when I first saw the iPod touch - why would Apple need a phone-less, touchscreen iPod when most of the other models appeared to be selling well? After owning the touch for a week, it's pretty clear to me that part of the logic for the iPod touch is that it's a training wheels version of an iPhone. Not everyone is willing to just go out and plunk down money and change service providers just to get their hands on an iPhone without being able to sample the device first. My guess is that people refresh iPods more frequently than they refresh their phones and the iPod refresh decision is much simpler than the phone refresh one - buying a new music player doesn't involve extending a contract, paying a termination fee, or any of the other issues associated with dealing with the mobile phone companies.

Now that I've had an iPod touch, I'm much more likely to rethink many of my initial qualms with the iPhone. I suspect that many other people who purchase and enjoy the iPod touch are likely to do the same. It's a great wait to get people comfortable with the iPhone touchscreen interface without asking them to make the big move in changing phone providers.