Some see the iPod touch as just an iPhone without the phone. Others see it as a taste of things to come: Truly portable tablet computers that deliver features only Apple can bring to the table.

Apple’s touch screen iPod is about to take a serious leap forward in capabilities come June when the App Store launches and third party developers can start offering their programs for the palm-size computer. It appears that Apple will be doing little to limit the applications developers can release, which means the iPod touch will be limited only by coder’s imaginations.

Even Apple refers to the super-slim touch screen iPod as a “mobile Wi-Fi platform,” and not as a media player, making a clear distinction between the touch and its other iPod products.

Right now, the iPod touch offers a subset of the features found on its cousin the iPhone. It doesn’t include a cell phone, and Bluetooth is clearly missing, too. While Apple won’t add cell phone features to the touch, it may well roll in Bluetooth at some point, which could potentially open the door to a wide range of wireless peripherals like keyboards, mice, and stereo headsets.

BusinessWeek pointed out that one feature missing from the touch is an e-book reader like Amazon.com’s Kindle. The touch’s current display size is fine for Web surfing and email, but it might be a bit small for reading books, which means if Apple is considering e-book support, it might also be considering a larger screen version of the device — which could be the birth of a true Apple table-like computer.

E-book support could also lead to a new feature at the iTunes Store: Electronic versions of books, magazines, and other periodicals. “All that’s needed are willing content suppliers for the iTunes Store, which could become a central distribution…

Tags: Apple, application, business, computers, Wireless