Some sites are saying that Jobs lied to Pogue on his reasons for the camera-less iPod touch. I would be the first one to point out Steve's lies, but this time it seems they are getting it wrong.
Those sites are claiming that there's enough space to fit an iPod nano camera in the iPod touch 3rd generation. This is their evidence:
That's ok. However, if you look at the guts of the iPod touch 2nd generation, you will find there's probably plenty of space to fit a nano camera too:
So Apple may be able to fit the iPod nano camera in the iPod touch third generation and the second generation. So?
The question is: Why the hell should they do that? Why should Apple include the lame 640 x 480 webcam of the nano—a camera that Apple doesn't allow to do still photos because they would look like crap—in a high end product like the iPod touch? Wouldn't people expect the same quality as the camera in the iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS?
Like I already said in this analysis of the potential reasons, if there's no iPod nano camera inside the iPod touch, it is probably because the nano webcam sucks. Plain and simple. It just doesn't match the feature mix of the touch, and the standard set by the iPhone.
So no, I'm afraid there is no need to find mysterious conspiracies in this one, neither to justify failed rumormongering. In this case, Jobs points out perfectly valid reasons for the exclusion of the camera in the third generation touch, even if that fact sucks. It's a marketing decision on their part, not a technical one. He is not lying this time. You can crucify him for that, if you want. We already did.
I'm sure that, in time, they would include a camera in one of upgrade cycles, when they actually need it. But you can be sure that it will be a decent camera, and not the nano's. [iFixIt's iPod touch 2nd generation and 3rd generation teardown]