Snow Leopard, Apple’s latest OS X operating system for Macs, debuted in late August to wide acclaim. Much of the praise has stemmed from the fact that the system boasted “no new features,” according to Apple. Of course, Snow Leopard does have a few bells and whistles, but the system is defined, not by them, but by the fact that it’s smaller and faster than its predecessor, Leopard. Consequently, reviews have focused on how brave and visionary Apple is for keeping things simple.

On the other hand: Yesterday Apple announced a new line iPods, as it does every fall. The iPod Nano has about a million new features, some of which struck me as unnecessary feature creep. Aren’t iPods for music? Don’t you already have a video camera in your cellphone? And now the Nano’s a pedometer too? Both this year and last year, I was struck by how iPods are trying to do more and more, without adding features that anyone wants to use (remember last year’s shake-to-shuffle for the Nano?). Here’s a gadget that’s known for being minimalist in a company that just based an entire operating system on the notion that “less is more.”

Sense a contradiction here? Follow the Continue link to read more about Apple’s split personality.