What is going on with Apple?

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Over the last 24 hours I've been running into this huge banner ad from Apple on a number of websites I visit. Presented here are two screen captures from Wired and Yahoo! I've soured on Apple over the last 12 months or so, after realizing just exactly the kind of limited universe Apple has in store for those who consume their iDevices, especially the iPhone, iPad, and iPod. As a consequence I stay away from the Apple store and those sites that tend to advertise Apple. Until I started to hit these huge animated banner ads.


While I'm not surprised to see such ads on the Wired site, I was a bit surprised to see it on Yahoo! Regardless, I'm now very curious as to why Apple has to advertise for the iPod touch. Has the bottom completely dropped out of iPod sales? At least that's what the press has been reporting since July here, here, and here. With the touch being the premier iPod, it makes some sense to try and boost its sales. It's the only way to buy an iPhone without the phone and consequent mobile phone costs.

The only problem is that Apple deliberately crippled the touch by refusing to use its latest A5 processor in the last iPod touch refresh (If the A5 makes mobile gaming awesome, why isn't it in the iPod touch?):
When Apple introduced the iPhone 4S on Tuesday, the company took great pains to show off the A5 processors' ability to make games "really scream," claiming twice the computing performance and seven times the graphics performance of the iPhone 4's A4 processor. But Apple did virtually nothing to the iPod touch, arguably one of the most popular mobile gaming devices on the market, except slap on a coat of white paint and knock $30 off the entry level price.

If the A5 is so awesome for gaming, why then didn't Apple upgrade the iPod touch's A4 processor?
It's a bit cynical on Apple's part to push the crippled iPod touch, but Apple's a big multi-billion-dollar do-anything-for-the-money conglomerate now, a very long way from it's hip, counter-culture, Think Different days. I miss that Apple, if it ever really existed. Now, I just don't care anymore. Just like it appears they don't.

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