An Army of iPods

I thought the iPod Touch was just something that Apple threw into the mix when you bought a new MacBook. Now I realize it's also something they throw in when you sign up for the army:

At their fingertips, soldiers can stay electronically linked to other troops, tap applications for language translation and cultural information, and access data such as maps, photos, videos and voice recordings. A variety of protective covers fit the iPod Touch casing-does it come in camo? Glare and scratch resistant coatings stick onto the touch-sensitive screen. All of which makes the iPod Touch rugged enough for a soldier in the field.

This made me think of another fascinating post on the Union Square Ventures blog, this one by Brad Burnham. In it, he talks of the flow of innovation changing:

At some point, I said that the vector of innovation has changed. It used to be that innovation started with NASA, flowed to the military, then to the enterprise, and finally to the consumer. Today, it is the reverse. All of the most interesting stuff is being built first for consumers and is tricking back to the enterprise. I suggested that one reason this is happening is that the success of a web service is more often determined by its social engineering than its electrical engineering.

In the 1950s and 60s, innovation started at the most distant, centralized, powerful place possible (NASA), and then slowly trickled through society down to the consumer. Now, says Burnham, the innovation starts with the consumer, and is only later adopted by larger institutions like the military. I think the military iPod Touch story above is a perfect example to prove his point.