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Dear iPhone case makers,

Why do you hate us iPod Touch owners so?

Sure, we decided to not get our iPhones like everyone else, but did you really have to do it?

Did you really have to make us feel like second class citizens in an Apple-dominated ecosystem?

Woe is us. Woe is us.

When I first got my iPod Touch 4G last October, I was beyond thrilled! Access to the much vaulted Apple App Store and in the process, a million applications and games that would be the Bonnie to my geeky Clyde. A media player that, bar the reliance on WiFi and the mediocre camera, could go toe to toe with the juggernaut of an iPhone sans the hefty monthly bill.

I was also tremendously excited by the lure of third-party accessories, but alas, my sense of euphoria was short-lived. In Malaysia and Singapore at least, the choices of cases and covers for the iPod Touch at the local Apple Online Store were limited and passe at best.

Aside from the generic solid or transparent offerings from Speck and Incipio, only the insanely expensive Paul Frank and Kate Spade cases (priced at RM154, which means six of these bad boys could get you an entry level 8GB iPod Touch, just saying plus the iPhone versions are always more lust-worthy) offer any sort of imagination. So, like any other lost soul looking for an answer, I went online.

I’ve been eyeing the Threadless x Griffin cases for awhile now, but since Griffin increased the international shipping fees by epic proportions, I have been hoping that Threadless, with their affordable $9 shipping fees, would start selling iPod Touch cases on their official website.

Unfortunately, Threadless would rather sell discounted iPhone 4/iPhone 4S cases than display iPod Touch cases at full price.

Additionally, I’m not a fan of Rabito, but I would at least like to have the chance to shun the iPhone 4-(and lately Samsung Galaxy S2) only case.

The last straw was when Gizmodo heralded the coming of Casetagram, a Hong Kong-based company that creates iPhone cases from buyers’ Instagram photos. Ingenius? Damn straight. Double standards? You can bet your iPad on it. As of now, only iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S users can import their Instagram shots and design a case.

I don’t use Instagram (I’m more of a Hipstamatic sort of guy), but that’s beside the point. If a Touch version of Casetagram was made available, I would have installed Instagram immediately, sprinted out of my house and started shooting random pictures of my neighbourhood, which has no breathtaking scenery whatsoever, in order to get my hands on some gorgeous Casetagram goodness.

And Casetagram offers free international shipping? Talk about salt in wound, people!

Why the lack of love for the iPhone’s slimmer brother, case makers?

Just a couple of years ago, analysts were trumpeting the iPod Touch as a rival to the Nintendo and Sony portable gaming console duopoly while the media player’s sales were on par with the iPhone. While I must admit that the iPhone has taken centre stage in recent years, iPod Touch sales continue to grow despite the lack of interest in the Classic and Shuffle.

With the Microsoft Zune out of the picture and the once popular Creative nowhere to be seen (remember the company’s iPod Classic killer the Zen Vision?), the iPod Touch is THE portable media player.

*cue Underdog by Spoon in the background*

I’m not asking for much. I just want my iPod Touch to feel pretty, that’s all.

Yours sincerely,
Boon Ken, speaking on the behalf of my neglected iPod Touch (whose name is Zooey Touchy Feely, in tribute to Zooey Deschanel), who’s crying in the corner 😦