ipodfun.de actually RTFM and found, oh, nothing much more than some instructions and an OFFICIAL APPLE MENTION OF A TOUCH-SCREEN IPOD!!!
All other Notes feature capabilities described in this document are supported for iPod models with display screens, beginning with the touch-screen models.
From Apple’s “iPod Notes Feature Guide,” dated October 20, 2006:
The guide in full is here (touch-screen iPod mentioned on page 10): http://macdailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/ipodnotesfeatureguidecb.pdf
The ipodfun.de report (in German) here.
What do you think? Real confirmation? A copywriter-in-the-know’s Freudian slip? A typo? Something else?
[UPDATED: November 3, 12:34am EST: The developer document has now been changed: “All other Notes feature capabilities described in this document are supported for iPod models beginning with third-generation iPod (dock connector) models with touch wheel.”
Related articles:
Apple files major chameleonic iPod touch display patent – October 26, 2006
RUMOR: Apple to debut touchscreen iPod this December – October 18, 2006
Apple’s ‘touchless’ touchscreen iPod revealed – July 25, 2006
More info surfaces regarding Apple’s latest iPod touch-screen patent filing – July 21, 2006
Hon Hai Chairman: Apple about to unveil next-gen iPod using a ‘none-touch’ concept – June 15, 2006
This is AMAZING – if true…
iPod Notes will be interactive presentations … as in going to a museum..download the tour as you go in.
Mindblowing stuff here.
And the touch-screen iPoid reference is incidental, we know its coming.
on page ten of the pdf apple metions compatibility with a touch screen ipod
wouldnt a touch screen ipod be able to simply change its screen to be a cell phone interface for the purpose of making a call?
We are used to 3 or so soft buttons on our current cell phones, but what if the whole screen were a soft button?
“You can use the iPod Notes feature with your custom content to easily transform any iPod with a
dock connector into an automated personal tutor or a self-paced electronic tour guide.”
This is why Apple is the innovator of the 21st century. And this is going to be HUGE.
The ability for developers to create custom menues for the interface will be a huge plus for driving supply of content.
However, I don’t see any indication that you can squirt to your friends.
I believe!
Nope it’s a misprint. Read the document and it doesn’t make sense.
Video and audio is supported only in 5th gen iPod. All others features (i.e. except video and audio linking) are supported in all other iPods.
If there was a touch screen iPod I would expect it to have more not less features than the 5th gen iPod…
Agree?
MDN Magic Word: Early (enough said!)
The original german article clarifies that it was most probably just a typo: It probably should have said “touch wheel“ since the introduction of the touch wheel as used by more modern iPods also marked the introduction of the note feature in the iPod (I didn’t check, but it seems more than plausible and makes more sense than “touch-screen” in the context of the document).
The note feature is most certainly not limited to potential future iPods with touch-screens as any owner of a semi-recent model can attest. And the red bar to the left of the respective paragraph in the Apple document (clipped away in the screen shot above) would indicate that some proof-reader has already recognized and marked the error.
Sorry!
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However… it would not be entirely out of the question that the author suffered from a freudian slip when writing this text, knowing of such a future model and erroneously confusing items there…
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I came, I read, I closed the page with a weird look on my face.
Museums have used iPod-based tours for years, although this is a nice upgrade to Notes.
But wow, that’s a great find. I am totally convinced it’s coming soon, too, based on the pricing structure.
My prediction, it will fit into the new package design, so that all three iPod types are sold in the same type of box. Apple redesigned 2 our of the of the packaging and that never seemed right, to have the 5G iPods be in the old-style boxes.
I think the tradish-iPod will be around for another quarter or so, maybe as a “classic”, until people are seen to be comfortable with an all-touch-screen iPod.
Sorry, that’s: Apple redesigned 2 out of 3 of the packages and that never seemed right, to have the 5G iPods be in the old-style boxes.
I had some real problems with this … thought STOP! and ping had found some glaring errors in it, or not. Well … it does seem like a “typo”. Some features limited to 5G, others to anything with a Touch-Wheel, that makes more sense.
Which in no way means that the Touch-Screen isn’t right around the corner. Apple’s patents, the obvious market for an “iPhone” and the obvious market for a “vPod” all scream “Coming Soon to a Pocket Near You”. Add in the re-invigorated push for games and PDA-like software on a system not currently well-suited to game-play or desk-like organization? And then there’s the potential thrill of watching as MS gets to eat tens of thousands of Zunes!
I’m not sure if this is going to explode on the scene around Thanksgiving (end of this month, for non-US) or wait for MWSF. The Zune threat is real, even if a close examination of Zune vs iPod shows its only advantage being a few dollars and a lot of FUD. Sort of like Vista vs Tiger – so Apple should release ‘Leopard’ before the suitably ‘brown’ box gains any traction.
MW = design … where Apple excels.
what you mean like this:
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/benqsiemens-black-box-concept-phone-204284.php
do you think this is why Apple went public with its patents recently ?
Long live the Newton!!!
(I still own two of them)
People, this feeding frenzy is ridiculous.
The tech writer made a simple mistake – this document is referring to a touch sensitive click-wheel or touch-wheel models. As you all know, the original iPod’s mechanical wheel was replaced with a touch-sensitive click wheel some years back.
The entire document has exactly zero – nada, zilch, nothing – other references to a “touch-screen iPod”.
Apple may or may not be working on a touch-screen iPod, but this document is not evidence for it or against it.
To Not what it seems,
I agree. Enougn already.
Geee, the new iPod mind reading edition. Just think about your favorite song and it plays!!! LOL
New ‘Holograpghic” screen iPod. projects an image in HD up to 52 inches in any atmosphere. LOL
Aggggggghhhhh.
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N.
I’ve downloaded the Ipod Notes PDF and it clearly says “beginning with third-generation iPod (dock connector) models with touch wheel.”
So either Apple just corrected the mistake, or someone is pulling a prank.
I’ve downloaded the Ipod Notes PDF and it clearly says “beginning with third-generation iPod (dock connector) models with touch wheel.”
So either Apple just corrected the mistake, or someone is pulling a prank.
They’ve indeed replaced the document within the past hours.
The document I downloaded earlier (and which is the source of the screenshot above) has the date 2006-10-20 on the cover page and the mistake complete with red marker, the new document has the date 2006-11-02 on the cover page with the change you quoted.
Looks like an innocent mistake. Maybe the author had been “infected” with the persistent rumours about a touch-screen iPod which have been circulating for many months by now… maybe just another MDN reader…!
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“this was a mistake but it is true.”
touch-screen ipod is coming.
They are gonna have to keep selling the click wheel iPod if the screen is as soft as an LCD screen,
I wonder, is the screen going to be a hard screen surface, almost like the screens of current iPods only U toach it to navigate.
Also like the toach screen of CRT monitors.
Forget the “touch screen” nonsense. What about the other stuff that article claims you can do?
Link notes to video and audio content?
Create customized menu trees for notes?
Lock down notes into a “kiosk” mode?
This is describing enhancements to iPod Notes that allow them to effectively function as a mini HTML-like or PowerPoint-like interface.
Does anyone else not find this significant?
“I wonder, is the screen going to be a hard screen surface, almost like the screens of current iPods only U toach it to navigate.”
Like the MacBook mouse pad, I suspect…but clear.
Speaking for iPodfun.de against the confusion a missing translation has left:
We posted the story this morning saying that is clearly seems to be a typo. The headline “Keine neuen iPods mehr vor 2007” means “No new iPods before 2007”.
The lead is about Apples Greg Joswiak saying:”The new iPod shuffle completes our all-new lineup of iPods for this holiday season and beyond” when announcing the availability of the new iPod shuffles this week. Talking on the not coming touch-screen iPods we mentioned the Apple pdf file and made clear it has to be a ‘freudian’ typo.
Cheers
Chris
The document has been fixed and updated today. Touch-screen has been replaced with touch-wheel. And in the revisions area…
2006-11-01 Updated to clarify supported models and to fix minor graphics and text errors.
One of the ‘text errors’ they didn’t fix was the chart that lists 640×480 as a Frame Rate!! on page 38.
Looks like time for one more revision fellas.