It would be great if a statement like this had been issued by some form of camera reviewer, and not a blog citing MacRumors. There are a lot of reasons I'd buy an iPod touch (like being a burner test device for iOS 8), but to have a pocket camera isn't one of them.
The article failed to mention that the previous $199 ipod touch hasn't had a camera, but now it does.
Apple mentioned in a previous keynote that that $199 price point is kind of a magical barrier. If you can lower your price to <200, lots of people consider it that previously have not thought about buying it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfgyQcyDthw#t=425 (jump to 7:05)
So what they tried to communicate, badly, was: a product that is already a best-seller now also includes a camera. So now it has the potential to upend another category after music, communication and gaming: photography.
Why do peole buy P&S cameras? Switch the device on - can take a picture. Startup times are counted in specs!
Then optical zoom is a selling point, sometimes even exchangable batteries and flash. Waterproof cameras seem to sell a bit. None of these features apply to the iPod touch. The iPod does not even have a shutter button.
Statements to position the iPod touch as a "cheap" camera have nothing to do with reality. The author should not confuse the iPod camera with the iPhone 5s camera.
I'd probably argue that it just pigeon-holes the iPod touch into being primarily a gaming device when it can do much more. Not that gaming isn't a good reason to get one.
It may not be as good as the iPhone camera but it's still great, it's the same camera as the one fitted into the iPad range and there seem to be more people than ever using an iPad as a camera.
It's an improvement to the camera that was in the iPhone 4 though with the same megapixel count. I've taken photos with my iPad mini in a pinch and they still look good.
The only change is that the lowest end model that previously did not have a rear camera now includes the same rear camera that the higher end models have had for two years.
The iPod Touch camera is an okay camera, but it has significantly more noise, less color accuracy, is much worse in low-light situations. If you are taking pictures in great light, it's fine, but it is like smartphone cameras from several generations ago.
