The iPod Touch and ZiiLabs Plaszma Copy Cat Wannabe!

I was waiting for this, because I knew it was bound to happen, sooner or later, and it just did - Creative has announced a new initiative to take on the iPod Touch!

Creative ZiiLabs is hoping to open the floodgates, allowing any would be OEM challenger to try and take a big bite out of Apple.

Will it work? Will it have what it takes to topple Apple's Touch?

Well, that still remains to be seen, since no devices are yet available.

ZiiLabs officially announced that it's iPod Touch killer, or "Plaszma", will be an open sourced project, based on Google's Android initiative. I don't know about you, but it sure seems that I see Android popping up in a lot of different places these days, and not just for mobiles.

As you can see below, in this YouTube video, it rather looks like an iPod Touch, complete with it's ten-point 3.5 inch multi-touch screen, which they call, for whatever reason, multi-gesture. The Wi-Fi enabled device will include a GPS receiver, front and back facing cameras, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, SDC card slot, an accelerometer, headphone socket, 256MB RAM, and up to a whopping 64GB of storage. Oh, and before I forget, as well, X-Fi audio.

Exactly how long it will be before OEM's release a working device still remains to be seen, but something tells me that it won't be too long now. One thing, I firmly believe, is that no matter how well this device is, or how well it is perceived, this wannabe's biggest obstacle will be decided more on it's software side then on it's hardware side.

For one thing, when it comes to the software side it's going to have to confront the iPod Touch's huge and almost insurmountable advantage - the APP STORE and it's huge and growing software library! This isn't going to be easily matched by the Zii Plaszma, or anyone else, anytime soon.

That doesn't mean this new copy cat device won't build up a respectable library of apps, but I have the sneaky feeling that by the time they do, the APP STORE's already enormous software library will already have grown far, far greater than it is now. Some have even predicted that it could grow to some 100,000 plus apps, and that before the end of this year!

Despite it's well over 60,000 plus apps, of all sizes, shapes, categories, and price ranges, I would tend to think that Apple will still be watching this development with some interest, but, on the other hand, I doubt if their going to be losing any sleep over it, at least for the time being.

It's amazing to me, that when ever Apple does something, how its not too long before others try to copy and then kill it off. Take the iPhone for instance, the iMac's form factor, iTunes, the APP STORE, or the super thin-and-slim form factor of the MacBook Air, and on-and-on, etc.

What this says to me, is that Apple is clearly the leader in innovative technology. All others are just mere followers, mere wannabe's, aping it's every move. Even though their attempts have yielded some pretty interesting devices, most of them never seem to have quite the same impact, success, or the quality and lust factor of any of Apple's originals.

Again, will this new copy cat attempt to app one of Apple's more popular devices have any chance to succeed - maybe even to kill it off? Well, until they actually start selling these things, I will have to reserve my final judgement, but somehow, if history is our guide, then most likely not.

However, one thing is certain - it should help to keep Apple on it's toes, forcing it to innovate and improve upon the Touch in new and more interesting ways. Ultimately, I think that competition will be good for the Touch, provided that its fair, and, hopefully, that will be the case here.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Thursday, July 30, 2009