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iPhone could be best preview of new iPod

T

The new member

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 22, 2007
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Read this ;)

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/business/16605123.htm

iPhone could be best preview of new iPod

Apple's next-generation MP3 player overdue. Touch screen, FM tuner among likely upgrades

By Eric Benderoff, Chicago Tribune

If you want to know what the next iPod will look like, go to Apple.com and watch the demo for the coming iPhone.

Since Apple executive Steve Jobs earlier this month introduced the iPhone, which goes on sale in June from Cingular Wireless, much has been said and written about how revolutionary it will be. That's all well and good, but one aspect has been overlooked: How will this affect the iPod?

The answer is, quite a bit. Already, Apple executives are calling the iPhone the best iPod the company has built. Do you think all that really cool technology, particularly the touch screen, only will be used on a phone that starts at $500?

Hardly. Put me on the record as saying you'll see a touch-screen iPod this fall, a few months after the buzz of the iPhone launch settles and a few months before the key holiday sales season kicks in.

Apple does not talk about new products before they are introduced, and it is no different when people at the company are asked what a new iPod could look like. But Apple cares about being an innovator, as well as protecting its bread-and-butter product line, so it would behoove Jobs to include iPhone's nifty new features in his top-of-the-line video-playing iPod.

What's at stake for Apple? Just continued market dominance.

In the quarter ending Dec. 30, iPod sales jumped by 50 percent, and Apple shipped 21 million of its digital music players. Since 2001, when the iPod was introduced, Apple has sold about 90 million iPods. By comparison, Microsoft hopes it will sell 1 million of its Zune MP3 players, launched in November, in its first year.

The iPod is overdue for a change. By fall, it will be two years since Apple introduced the so-called fifth-generation iPod. That's the one that plays videos and was slightly upgraded last year with more storage and a marginally bigger screen. Call it the fifth-generation ``A'' version, if you like.

But the sixth generation is coming, and it will make millions of people feel better about not shelling out $500 for an iPhone. That iPhone will have 4 gigabytes of storage, while a $600 version will have 8 gb.

By comparison, a new iPod will have at least 80 gb of music, video and photo storage capability, like the current top model, and be priced at about $350. Historically, Apple has kept the price of its top product in that range, even as it provides more capabilities. The new iPod should be no different.

``I think it will be a more compelling product than the iPhone,'' said Rob Enderle, a technology analyst who agrees the next iPod is on the way. ``There are a lot of things where a touch screen on a phone doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense, but on an iPod it could be absolutely stunning.''

The touch-screen controls have wowed people who have seen demonstrations of the iPhone. Instead of using a scroll wheel to navigate through your songs, videos and photos, you just touch the screen. Use your finger for scrolling, then tap on the artist you want to hear. A list of songs and albums pop up.

Choose a song, and while it plays, the album art shows, just like on the fifth-generation iPods. But the iPhone takes it up a notch: Turned horizontally, that album art becomes part of ``cover flow,'' where you can scroll through all the album art stored on your device.

Cover flow is borrowed from the recent iTunes software upgrade. It makes the music experience more visual, as if you are sifting through a collection of albums in a box. It is a far more interesting feature on a hand-held device than on a computer.

What else will be on the new iPod?

Some things could be borrowed from Zune, like a built-in FM tuner, wireless capability for sharing music and, my favorite Zune touch, a background picture you can change, a simple feature common on mobile phones.

Another nice addition would be Bluetooth connectivity, so you can use wireless headphones with your iPod. That will be included in the iPhone for hands-free driving and listening to music.

With Bluetooth on an iPod, tech writers like this one will have to stop using phrases like ``those ubiquitous white cords dangling from everyone's ears.'' Rather, we'll have to talk about how you can spot the cool kids with the new iPods because there are no more dangling cords.

The best feature, though, will be the screen. Before introducing the iPhone, speculation was rampant that Apple was working on a wide-screen version of the iPod, with touch controls. The speculation was right, but the product was wrong: That's what the iPhone looks like.

But so will the next iPod. And I would expect a bigger screen that will be sharper than the iPhone.

Keep in mind that while Apple is preparing to dip its toe into the phone business, it already is shoulder deep in the music business. By the time 2007 ends, you can bet Apple will sell more new iPods than iPhones.
Click to expand...
 
A real 6th gen iPod displaying a faked picture ;)

image_517_.jpg


361425462_912138ee17_o.jpg
 
This was on engadget or Gizmodo a few weeks ago as a google device. Anyway this is definatly not the full screen ipod
 
I wouldn't be surprised if Apple releases an iPod with touch screen earlier then fall, just to get people used to such an UI.
 
everybody think iPhone is next iPod's prototype, problem is when? I bet at the end of 07 or beginning of 08.
 
Wouldn't it be funny if an FM tuner was built in, just to shut up everyone else about the iPod having no built-in FM? :p
 
Full-screen touch control makes sense for a phone device, not so much so for an iPod mp3 player. I'll eat my fuzzy slippers and say a full-screen touch iPod will not be released by Apple.

Apple will be moving to all nano-sized mp3 players for their entire line-up once flash memory is cheap enough to come in 60GB flavours. At that size, it doesn't make any sense to have a touch screen. And your regular-sized iPod will be a thing of the past.

Wake up from dreamland everyone!
 
spicyapple said:
Full-screen touch control makes sense for a phone device, not so much so for an iPod mp3 player. I'll eat my fuzzy slippers and say a full-screen touch iPod will not be released by Apple.

Apple will be moving to all nano-sized mp3 players for their entire line-up once flash memory is cheap enough to come in 60GB flavours. At that size, it doesn't make any sense to have a touch screen. And your regular-sized iPod will be a thing of the past.

Wake up from dreamland everyone!
Click to expand...

no, i think most ppl probably talking about video iPod, which, will have a larger screen with touch screen tech.
 
clevin said:
no, i think most ppl probably talking about video iPod, which, will have a larger screen with touch screen tech.
Click to expand...

I dont think everybody would appreciate nano sized ipods either. I know I wouldn't: when the time comes for flash to be cheap at 60 gigs, imagine how big and cheap hard drives will be: 160 gigs maybe? 200?

I would prefer a big touch screen ipod to watch movies and be more of a multiuse portable device than just an mp3 player.

I'd rather get the iphone anyhow though :D
 
spicyapple said:
Full-screen touch control makes sense for a phone device, not so much so for an iPod mp3 player. I'll eat my fuzzy slippers and say a full-screen touch iPod will not be released by Apple.
Click to expand...

I highly doubt that we'll see a Multitouch iPod replace the scroll wheel iPod, but I bet by Christmas we will see a high-end iPod with Multitouch.
 
spicyapple said:
Full-screen touch control makes sense for a phone device, not so much so for an iPod mp3 player. I'll eat my fuzzy slippers and say a full-screen touch iPod will not be released by Apple.

Apple will be moving to all nano-sized mp3 players for their entire line-up once flash memory is cheap enough to come in 60GB flavours. At that size, it doesn't make any sense to have a touch screen. And your regular-sized iPod will be a thing of the past.

Wake up from dreamland everyone!
Click to expand...

They also have a fledgling movie business. And movies take up a lot more space, and require a larger screen. And the iphone is no where near tackling that. They've clearly already adopted and embraced that format by making a video ipod already. they're not going to retreat from that at this point. And 60gb flash sticks are really nowhere near being affordable. Do you really think that they will wait 2-3 years without a true video ipod? Anyway it's a mute point, because there real reason this is an issue isn't hard drive space, or screen real estate. It is and always has been battery life. So until there is a breakthrough in recargable battery technology, that allows you to watch movies for 20 hrs if you wanted, no one will have a decent portable video player.
 
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