Exclusive interview with Apple’s iPod boss!

We’ve just got off the blower with Apple’s Greg Jozwiak, vice-president of worldwide product marketing for iPod and iPhone.

The new launch today of a 16GB iPhone and 32GB Touch has raised some serious questions about how often Cupertino is outing updated products, leaving first adoptors to rue the day they lashed out on a new piece of Apple flavoured kit.

Here’s what he had to say when we took him to task over today’s shock news.

T3: So, first and foremost, it’s been three months almost to the day that the 8GB iPhone was launched in the UK. Are people going to be annoyed that a better model has been released so soon?

GJ: No, I don’t think so. The price remains same for the existing 8GB model and while the price decreased dramatically in the past (8Gb reduced to 4Gb prices – Ed), we’re offering an additional option to the existing model.

T3: Will existing 8GB iPhoners get a compensatory upgrade?

GJ: No. We’re releasing a brand new model with a brand new price. The original 8Gb price is still the same – we’re just offering a different option.

T3: Why hasn’t Apple launched a 32GB iPhone? Memory technology is available, as proved with today’s iPod touch announcement.

GJ: Different things are happening in both products. We’re offering choice.

T3: Is it really a 16GB capacity? How much space is gobbled up by the OS?

GJ: Not a whole lot is taken off. Jump into the settings and you’ll be able to tell.

T3: It’s no secret that lots of the UK mobile phone crowd won’t buy an iPhone until 3G appears. When can we expect it?

GJ: We don’t talk about future products. We have the most sophisticated platform for a mobile device. The ability to add to features as and when is phenomenally compelling.

T3: Will 8GB iPhone users quickly find themselves out of memory with the impending raft of apps from the SDK-ers?

GJ: There’s still quite a bit you can do with the existing model. A higher capacity model can obviously hold more but we try to be clever and efficient in iTunes to meet the needs of both.

T3: Right, so how many 8GB iPhones sold have been sold in the UK?

GJ: We’ve haven’t made any decision to announce sales figures.

T3: Finally, this bigger storage size should merit more visual media, so what’s holding back iTunes movie rentals in the UK?

GJ: Yeah, we’re interested to get that up and running and expecting to bring them to the UK this year.