We want to personally welcome analysts to earlier this week — we realized right after Tuesday’s huge event that Apple was making a foray into the handheld gaming world with the new iPod touch model. If there was any question, Apple even sent out an email this past week to customers asking them to “game on” with the touch 2G, and as business observers are finally noting, Apple is moving the iPod touch away from its former positions as a media player and a cheap iPhone to be game central.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether the push will work — obviously, the handheld games market has a few very entrenched opponents in it, and Apple has attempted to sneak into the videogames market before, with unsatisfactory results to say the least. But there’s no question that the iPod touch is an incredible piece of hardware (at least until Nintendo comes up with a “WiiBoy”), and that integrating the iTunes store gives Apple’s unit a nice advantage over units like the PSP in terms of media viewing. There’s that nagging tactile controls problem, but moving the touch away from Apple’s other lines and throwing it out there for would-be gamers this holiday season is a solid business decision on Apple’s part whether it pans out or not.

[via IMG]