For such a long time, iPod touches have been the crippled (and cheaper) alternative to an iPhone — bringing the iPhone experience (minus a few things) to those of us not willing to fork over the dough for a cellular plan. Now this is where things get interesting… Sprint is planning to create a “case” that brings 3G capability to the iPod touch.

Manufactured by ZTE, the case is called the “Peel,” and it’s essentially a MiFi-ish hotspot that grips to your iPod touch, giving it a network connection wherever you can get a Sprint 3G signal. I really don’t see a downside to this, as the iPod touch is already just as capable as the iPhone 4 for everyday things (and fun) but the “Peel” is really going to boost it’s value, and most likely increase sales.

Also, don’t worry about it hurting your battery life as the Peel sports its own 3.4Whr lithium ion battery to keep you wiggling internets without draining your juice. Sprint hasn’t disclosed the actual “usage-time” battery life, but it’s understood that the “Peel” will have a standby time of 40 hours. Also, we just have to mention that the name is absolutely genius — the “Peel”… get it? Apple iPod touch with a Peel? [T3ch H3lp]