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Jul 10, 09 - 12:40 pm Comment from: Tiger

How about an accessory that would turn an iPod touch into an cell phone? One way to get around the exclusive iPhone deal with AT$T.

Jul 10, 09 - 12:40 pm Comment from: Mormegil

Hmmm, barely even use my iPod, except for yard work, ever since I bought my iPhone. Interesting . . .

Jul 10, 09 - 12:40 pm Comment from: Wade Smith

As with most patent discoveries like this, if Apple were to pursue this sort of add-on, it would much more elegantly designed, but this looks like the sort of thing any third-party accessory supplier, like Belkin, could do, which they already sorta have with the TuneBase and -Stage.

Jul 10, 09 - 03:33 pm Comment from: BC Kelly

Whoa, imagine the possibilities ...

Hook iPod, in some fashion, to iPhone which hooks to "whatever"

The whole then becomes MUCH more than sum of parts


Believe it Folks, as the years go by

Apple going to pull some serious rabbits out of the iPhone hat


Change The World™


BC

Jul 10, 09 - 04:20 pm Comment from: ken1w

So, iPod touch = new (old) Handspring Visor

It had a cell phone module, mp3 player module, GPS/maps module, flash card reader module, games module, camera module, etc. Granted, most of that (and more) is built into an iPhone, but can Apple get a patent on something that is conceptually similar? I don't know if Handspring had any patents on its "Springboard," but if they did, does Palm own those patents now?

...or perhaps this slot also would accept an SD card, which would explain the SD card slot in the new MacBook Pro models.

Jul 10, 09 - 06:51 pm Comment from: alansky

I want an iPod that turns into a tractor.

Jul 10, 09 - 07:41 pm Comment from: GregoriusM

What BC Kelly said!

The market that exists now for add-on devices for the iPhone, touch, and the other iPods will be dwarfed by what is coming in the next year, or two or three. iPhone OS 3.0 only just allowed the ability for the iPhone and touch to have software components to control add-on devices.

The possibilities are endless!

I don't think people quite grasp what Apple has in their hands with the iPhone and touch.

Jul 11, 09 - 08:55 pm Comment from: Cubert

I'm chiming in with GregoriusM and BC Kelly. When I watched the last keynote about third party add-on accessories - especially the blood pressure cuff and glucose meter - it was like a light was turned on in my brain. The iPhone/iPod is going to not only be a hand-held computer but a jack of all trades.

I still laugh (OK, to myself - I know I'm weird) when I think back a few years when Steve Jobs spoke against convergence in devices. He was totally misleading the competition - just like when he said no one wanted to watch video on a small screen like the iPod's. That crazy card, him!

I think only the diehard Apple freaks really understand the potential for what is coming and how things will be in 5 years from now.

Jul 12, 09 - 12:31 am Comment from: GregoriusM

Crazy card indeed! lol