On Friday, November 21, 2008, Apple released iPhone 2.2 and iPod touch 2.2 software updates. One of the features that came to iPhone and iPod touch users via this update is the ability to download podcasts directly. While this is a nice new feature, I'd say there is a more important aspect to this that has yet to be mentioned.

My business partner, Kevin Gilbert, pointed out to me that you can also stream most podcasts to your iPhone or iPod touch while accessing them in the iTunes directory. This is really a big deal for the podcast. Many have said that the podcast is dead. While I'm not totally buying into the death of the podcast, I must agree that we are entering a season where the podcast is losing dominance in the realm of delivering audio and video content to subscribers.

Why is this the case? Because for content creators and subscribers alike, it's less expensive and simpler to let companies like YouTube and Vimeo host their content. Couple that with the fact that nearly every phone manufactured today is web enabled and the argument becomes even stronger. Essentially, anyone can set up a free blog account, a free YouTube account, and deliver audio or video content to all of their subscribers. No investment in storage space is required.

So how does this help the podcast? Simple. Because iTunes is the largest podcast directory in the world, it's where people go to find out if there is a podcast about "fill in the blank". Bottom line, I think this brings some favor back to the podcast, at least with the podcast consumer. Access to the world's largest podcast directory and now, the ability to consume those podcasts directly on an iPhone or iPod touch without having to actually download them. This will be a big hit with a lot of folks.

What do you think?