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i wonder how its gonna work, with the tiny ipod screen and all....

I hope so. AT&T;is not good where I live. Wifi would be nice but not a deal breaker. If this is true my daughter will have a 5g and I get a new one!

MW: good-as in real good if true. Reports from Digitimes!

@ kennyyy921

What makes you think it will be the same screen size as an ipod video?

Good good. Whatever it takes to keep jacking up the price of AAPL then good.

Not sure if they would ship Widescreen iPods, before the iPhone has actually come out in Europe (which according to everyone may be at the earliest in November).

If they ship Widescreen iPods first, then I would likely buy the iPod, and pass on the iPhone until Version 2.0 comes out (with 3G, and possibly even GPS).

On the other hand, if the iPhone comes first, I'm buying the iPhone, just because of the video iPod inside.

So I think they're gonna delay any Widescreen iPods until the iPhone is available everywhere.

So in other words, you think that Apple is pretty much basing their decisions on your desires?

can someone please explain the big deal about gps? i got through the mountains just fine this weekend in the sequoias with google maps and no gps. just saw where i had to go and got there.

why do you need the coordinates? why is that so important? if you need gps, wouldn't you be better off just getting a regular ol' gps system somewhere? you think the battery is bad now on the iPhone, wait til there's another thing sucking it up. plus, what if you're out in the middle of nowhere and something bad happens? if you've been on the phone's gps all day and the battery is shot, who are you going to call when you get back to a spot for reception? Oh, no one.

Anyway, I would love to know the fascination with that feature. Someone explain it please.

@@ Midnight

Sure. I am after all the centre of the universe, and all shall bow to me!

Nah, seriously, of course not, but I wonder if maybe other people in Europe feel the same. If many do, it may cannibalize iPhone sales in Europe, once it does come out, and maybe Apple is thinking that way too.

If not, great. Waited long enough to finally get a new iPod.

4.5" screen?

There's plenty of demand for phone-less iPhone/iPod with an 80 or 100GB hard drive.

I'll sell you my 80GB 5.5G iPod cheap.

Cover-Flow on a big screen iPod would be fantastic. Yeah, I actually scan CD covers for all the music I rip for my iPod (mostly lossless, too!), so a bigger screen would be a nice thing. Apple has GOT to fix the crappy iPhone headphone jack, though.

@shawn

Okay I shall just assume that you know what GPS is, and that it is IMMENSELY practical, especially when driving. We're talking voice guidance here constantly updated according to your position, not turn based manual flicking of screen maps, which, if you take a wrong turn and lose track where you are, stop being of any help immediately.

You're completely right, I agree that GPS on the iPhone may kill any usable batterylife. A TomTom One GPS navigator for the car can AFAIK run for two hours on battery before it needs charging, and that thing is huge compared to the iPhone (although the TomTom's battery is probably much cheaper).

I think it all comes down to people wishing to have as many functions possible in as few devices possible. Every mobile phone these days has a camera, although most of the times it's crap quality, makes for thicker phones and probably affects battery life as well. People would be much better off having a seperate digital camera, but they choose not to, and the market has reacted to that.

Now GPS is turning up in more and more phones, and in spite of all the disadvantages you mentioned, it seems that soon it will be pretty much standard in high end phones, too.

Apple is entering a market of insanely fierce competition, much more so in Europe and Japan. It will have to adjust to what the other players offer, and then top it (like it did in the US), if it wants to carve out a niche.

I think it's all about

Hm. Yeah. Ignore the last unfinished sentence. Too much rambling already!

Does anybody care about what I want? Hum?

Ok then, the next-gen iPod will have all of the features of the iPhone except cellular, including Wi-Fi, and it will come with a slightly wider screen, and come in 30, 50 and 80GB models. And if black and white are our only two choices then I hope Apple goes with black.

MW=justice - As in, that would be justice for not having ATT service where I live, and that would be justice for making a video capable iPhone with only 8GB of non-upgradeable memory. And can you imagine where an iPhone-looking iPod would leave the Zune? Ha! It would be the first time in history that a piece of crap would become a downright tragedy.

the fact that people are willing to buy an iPhone and hack it to basically be an 8 gig widescreen iPod with WiFi shows that there is a demand. i don't think people will stop buying the phone just because it exists either, they are two separate markets in many ways....

the other rumor was, what, macworld? interesting time change.

if apple can follow up their iPod/iPhone success with a true video touch screen iPod with WiFi, products like the zune look even more pathetic than they already are. if they follow that with some kind of incredible notebook announcement....

Apple could find themselves on the fast track to 25-30% market share if they aren't careful.

MW: "suddenly" the cult of mac is losing its elitist appeal.

The iPhone IS the new iPod.

The new Nokia smartphone has GPS and when it's switched on the thing has 2 hours of battery life!!

Not so smart, eh?

Apple made the right decision leaving it out until it's more juice-economical.

"You're completely right, I agree that GPS on the iPhone may kill any usable batterylife."

This is true, but then, I would think Apple could build a switch into the GPS system that would, say, only turn on the chip if the iPhone was plugged in to a car charger or something. Make it a simple pref like on any laptop. That way the GPS would be on when I needed it (in the car) and off when I was unplugged. If you *wanted* it to run on battery power, for the last few dozen yards between your car and the GeoCache, you could turn it on manually. That would be very cool and (I would think) stone simple to do.

-c

MW: 'range' (Finder)

@Shawn, I'm sure it was good & hope you enjoyed the surrounding! Although has Midnight pointed out GPS... true gps systems just cannot be out done especial on the open seas. I'm sure & confidant the Apple & Google will bring a tremendous leap of tech & "software" to make it easy functional for a slim phone!! Maybe another 2y's for the hard tech, but there are some places that just not mapped for instance Trinidad & Tobago! Anyway this is more good news for iPod, now wether they would release world-wid same time is another question I think so.

thank you for that explanation midnight. i understand the "more features, less devices" thing. i can safely say though that the google maps app in iPhone works great. it gives you directions and everything. voice directions are obviously better than looking down at a screen periodically, but if you're checking at stop lights or something, not so bad. plus, if the phone is in an area where reception is non-existent, your phone is pretty much rendered useless so, no more directions! that would be the only benefit I can see - relying on a satellite as opposed to a cell network. oh well, to each his own i guess. i don't go many places where i'd need gps, which is why i haven't bought one for my FJ. to me it just seems like a bit much, but since the market is, as you said, very competitive, apple needs to keep up with certain aspects of it.

An 80 to 120 gig touchscreen video iPod with WiFi would be pretty cool. Say $350 for the 80 gigger and $450 for the 120 gigger.

@CH1

Another thing they could do is turn off the GPS whenever no movement was sensed after a few minutes.

A few years ago I designed a GPS tracking device for attaching to an albatross, and it would power up for a second or so every minute to snatch a coordinate. The battery was the same general type used in cellphones and it would last around 10 days. GPS power isn't really that much of a battery killer.

Wintek Inc. Has officially denied about this rumor.

This may seem like a stupid question, but do you have to pay subscription to use GPS? If so, I know I wouldn't use it even if Apple did include it in the iPhone.

@Philip

I know that on the Nokia N95 you can use GPS without a subscription - but if you wish for VOICE directions, you need to pay up!

MDN MW: "filled" - as in, filling Nokia's pockets with your money.

GPS is pretty much irrelevant for me. I use this cool new technology I found at gas stations and from AAA. They call them maps. They are difficult to refold but they do work.

I don't see how exactly this is going to work. A touch screen video ipod, possibly with Wifi, is too similiar to the iPhone. Apple does not release products so similiar that they compete directly with one another.

I think the bigger question is how the new iPod will distinguish itself from the iPhone.

Phillip: If you live in the US, yes you do have to pay, and whether you use GPS or not. The GPS system is paid for by your tax dollars.

No *IT ISN'T*

The iPhone is a totally different product for a different market. If you think that Apple's not coming out with a new stand alone iPod you are high. For the foreseeable future the iPhone and iPod will be two different devices--and rightfully so

cant wait.. the first ipod that runs osx.

wireless?

call it an iphone -cellular +hard drive

maybe not.. it will be interesting to see how apple plays this one.. maybe keep it simple A/V only?? we'll see

MDN magic word: 'hot' thats what paris said when she got her diamond encrusted iphone

Is it just me or is everything supposed to come out in August? Frankly, I would rather see some COMPUTERS (whether that be Macbooks or iMacs, or heck, even a Mini) from Apple than more iPods.

Mr. Peabody says: "Ok then, the next-gen iPod will have all of the features of the iPhone except cellular, including Wi-Fi, and it will come with a slightly wider screen, and come in 30, 50 and 80GB models. And if black and white are our only two choices then I hope Apple goes with black."

Mr. Peabody, I'm with you. I'm sure Apple folks read MDN everyday, so Apple, Mr. Peabody and I, along with millions of friends, want the phone-less iPhone with greater storage capacity. It would be a tremendous seller.

the iPod line is in its final year(s). With so much overlap in form and function, they will be cannibalising each other's sales until iPod is finally (and rightfully) killed of. I could perhaps see some screenless models remaining on the market, as they would pose no real threat to the iPhone (sub- $80 shuffle); but nano and full-size iPods will be rendered superfluous by the phone.

With the whole planed already carrying cellphones in their pockets, it would make absolutely no sense to cater to some marginal market that absolutely wants another (somewhat large) device, just for music and video.

Chipset prices are coming down. Just like the iPod (which started at $500 for 5GB of space!), iPhone will come down. The market is totally comfortable with paying $200 for 4GB. Add another $50 to $100 for phone functionality and you have a cheap iPhone without the need for the iPod. In a year or two (max) iPod with screen will be history.

@ Predrag

People need an iPod with a real hard drive. The whole appeal of the iPod is having all of your music into a compact portable device. For many people, the iPhone is not a viable choice because their music collections will never come close to 8 gigabytes.

Why don't people LISTEN?

Steve has said more than once that Apple has 4 legs to its business:
1) Mac
2) iPod+iTunes
3) iPhone
4) AppleTV (eventually)

iPhone and iPod are different markets. Steve used the example of someone who buys a smartphone, then nano. The iPhone is that in one device.

It IS the best iPod they have ever made, and you can almost be certain that they will use most if not all of that tech in the next iPod. Steve also said Apple isnt worried about cannibalisation if people are choosing another Apple product (ie. i wont buy a nano because i want an iPhone).

Z

Why am I only one who sees this? There is absolutely nothing that iPod has, that iPhone won't have. They're not killing the iPod next week. However, it WILL die in a year or two. For Traveller concerns, iPhone is the first version. Next ones will undoubdtedly have 30, 60 or 80GB. For those with Trios or BlueBerries, there is always the Shuffle, if they desperately need and iPod next to their MP3-enabled smartphone. The idea is to get them to switch to the iPhone anyway.

MP3 player as a consumer electronic device is becoming a commodity, much like a portable CD player ($20 device). Very soon, Apple's profit margins of 30% won't be sustainable on the iPod line. It will be (deservedly) retired and folded into the iPhone, perhaps with the exceptioin of a screenless version of Shuffle.

Apple is NOT getting rid of the iPod anytime soon, and if you believe that than you are on something. The iPod made Apple Inc what it is today, the worlds leader in portable music players. Where would Apple be without the iPod? The iPhone is stuck on AT&T;for the next five years. So you think Apple with scrap the iPod and go after just the 50 to 60 million AT&T;subscribers? Instead of the 6 billion people they can sell an iPod to? You are on something! I just hope they release a huge iPod! 100 to 200GB version. I'm getting sick of taking crap off of my iPod to fit new stuff on there.