“In February 2006, Think Secret first reported that Apple was hard at work on the ‘true’ video iPod, which will feature a 3.5-inch touch-sensitive display and a virtual track wheel interface. At the time, sources were expecting an announcement to arrive in late Spring, but unforeseen technical obstacles—the details of which were disclosed to Think Secret in confidence to protect the identities of the sources—pushed the release date back,” Ryan Katz reports for Think Secret.
“It is unlikely now that the new iPod will arrive in time for the holiday season, as recent information points to a release at Macworld Expo/San Francisco in January 2007. In the interim, sources say Apple is planning a smaller upgrade to the current 5G iPod, one that will likely encompass larger capacities and little more,” Katz reports.
“The delay of the video iPod has served to fuel the wide-ranging rumors about the music player’s future path. One recently published report, courtesy of Scotsman.com, said the next iPod would feature a talking interface— but Think Secret sources say that feature not in the cards,” Katz reports. “Meanwhile, The Inquirer said Wednesday it heard a “whisper” that Apple’s next iPods would sport organic light-emitting diode displays (OLED), but sources say Apple briefly explored and ruled out the display technology some time ago due to the limited life-span of OLED displays and poor performance in direct sunlight. Apple has used, and will continue to use, only LCD displays in its iPods.”
“Wireless capabilities also appear unlikely to happen anytime soon,” Katz reports. “Microsoft’s [Zune] device will feature Wi-Fi and Apple’s iPods will not… [Also] sources report that Apple has frozen development of its iPod phone, or iPhone, but may resume work on the device next year.”
Much more in the full article here.
Well now, those are some positive iPod rumors, huh? All of those who complained that Apple kept releasing new iPods and too quickly made models “obsolete” (we still use a 3rd generation 40GB iPod as our main music iPod, BTW), should be heartened. Remember, these are rumors and Apple does not usually comment on future product releases.
Related articles:
a href=”http://www.macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/10133/”>Analyst Wu: New iPod nano with ‘magnesium-based casing’ may debut in late September – July 10, 2006
Apple’s next-gen iPod nano may be housed in aluminum – July 10, 2006
Analyst: 6GB – 8GB 2nd-gen iPod nano to hit shelves in November rather than September – July 07, 2006
Analyst Wu: New iPods may face delays of as much as six months – June 28, 2006
Wow I guess it’s a good thing that Apple has those computer thingies to fall back on lol.
Rumor:
Video IPod may arrive before Xmas and it may have wi-fi
Hey… I wanna play!
“rumor… Apple will introduce an attachement for your iPod that will allow you to screen all calls from telemarketers on your cell phone automatically. In addition, the telemarkers will be forced to listen to Charo’s most recent CD as punishment for calling your number!”
MDN word is call, very strange
I’m perfectly happy with the iPod’s I have now.
For watching movies I have Powerbooks, and even that is a little too small.
I still just don’t think people want to watch full-length feature films on a tiny screen. It would be well-suited for people stuck on a train on their way to work, but how big of a market is that, really? (Maybe huge…I dunno)
I’d much rather see the iPod stay as primarily an audio device, and have Apple concentrate all of their efforts on a true HDTV strategy for movies (and please…don’t make me buy movies; I want to rent them).
Wi-Fi was a stupid idea anyway.
we want are products slim and long battery life. Wi-fi does not improve either of those demands.
Who the hell needs a song at the spur of the moment anyway? You are too bored!
Rumor mills. pjpjpzt.
In one article Katz dissed 4 rumors and created two of his own.
Apple will introduce what it will introduce. The lack of an upgrade isn’t going to impact sales.
Do you really think, at this early stage in the market, that someone is going to say, “Oh gee, Apple didn’t upgrade their iPod. I’m going to wait for the Zune”?
Get real, the iPod will continue to be the gift of choice for Christmas. 14,000 units? Wow, that was a lot, and would be hard to do again. But it isn’t out of the realm of possibility. After all, what’s out there that really competes with last year’s nano?
Then again, Katz’ “source” could be full of crap, and Apple may surprise us.
I have more faith on the latter, than I do on the headline. If “good ‘ol what’s his name, the Mac fan baiter” is good at stirring up the masses, the Mac centric web sites are masters. And nobody seems to care about how abysmally wrong they routinely are.
Questions to ponder:
1. How many iPod product lines does Apple have
Answer: 3 (each having multiple models/storage).
2. How many iPod lines will be rev’d this fall season?
Answer: 1,2, or 3.
The media seems highly focused on the replacement to the video iPod, due to MS chasing this product.
If Apple is late with that product, they will simply roll out their rev’d nano and push it to the hilt.
Anyone notice Nano rumors are fairly sparse to non-existent? I have heard it will arrive late fall and that’s it.
Lastly, for Apple to launch a new iPod at MWSF – not likely, as that is Leopard time… However, if Apple feels MS “Zune” launch will make a huge impact, Apple may be compelled to counterstrike with the video iPod at MWSF, garning much attention and setting Apple on solid ground for the next 6 months.
Apple secretely preparing “Zune Killer”
Apple is playing it’s cards close to its chest.
Obviously Apple is working on a MS’ “Argo Killer”
Whatever Apple’s spies know beleaguered Microsoft is building into its Argo (“Zune”) mp3 player — wma more prrecisely — Apple is going to do better, smaller, better designed, and cheaper in their forthcoming, secret Zune Killer next-generation Apple.
Microsoft’s Zune isn’t even out yet, and Apple already has it killed with its new secret iPod.
Apple is about to announce a new member of the iPod family in conjunction with the Spiderman 3 movie coming out in early 2007 (I think February). I have an inside track on this one and will post a couple photo links next week if anyone is interested. My inside guy told me to expect MORE than just an iPod, and that he would get me photos of radically different iPod and a JPG of the promo ad that will be in magazines.
Yeah and it will shoot webs out of it!!!
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid
Sheesh, the amount of bandwidth wasted on baseless Apple speculation …
Well this is just GREAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaattttt!!!
F-CKING WONderful! G-DDAMN MOTHERF-CKING SONOFAB-TCHIN” NO GOOD &#%#$())@!*$ $&@#^!#&*(!^#!)($!$ !$_*!^$()&!(&#*(_$#)%&$*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HELLO $40 AAPL.
AGFudgepacker, I am serious.
And so am I!
We have so many credible sources that never seem to hit the mark – but you are different. You’ve got the scoop.
Ask your source if he can snag some pictures of spiderman while he’s on it. Oh and bigfoot, elvis, and . . . . . . um . . . . . Osama.
That’s all.
We’re all on the edge of our chairs.
Wow a product that doesn’t exist, hasn’t been announced, but we know it is going to ship late.
The sky is falling, The sky is falling…….. F-cking Analyst driving my stock down over things they don’t know..
Keep spewing hate, fudgepacker. It is really productive. On your third cup of coffee already? BTW, I used to work for the company that did all of the printed packaging for Apple (iPod, WebObjects, OS X, etc.).
But you go right ahead and bitch and moan if it makes you feel good..
Will Apple be under $50 before the day is over?
Thank you Steve.
rasterbator… I’m interested.
what you call hate I call being rational. E-v-i-d-e-n-c-e – Ok?
Don’t whine cause i’m raining on your rumor parade. Since when was swinging around the rumor mill productive? There are other ways to buoy your confidence.
Try fat chicks and microsoft bashing – it seems to be sustaining popularity.
The article is more negative than MDN cuts and pastes:
” Daily Mail recently ran the attention-grabbing headline that Apple and Microsoft are in a “race to launch wireless iPod”. There is no such race, however; rather, Microsoft’s device will feature Wi-Fi and Apple’s iPods will not.”
“Lastly, sources report that Apple has frozen development of its iPod phone, or iPhone…”
It seems like R&D has taken a back seat at Apple…which probably means that Apple sees a definite maturing or tapping out of the iPod market (as in that just about everyone that has one has one and the market is not going to grow much more.)
Not good.
And I´m still going with the theory that Steve is more chronic sick than we all know and his vision and leadership is felt less and less at Apple.
(When was the last time Jobs made a public appearance or did a live interview?)
ohhhhh, cute – rastorbater has a monkey.
“(When was the last time Jobs made a public appearance or did a live interview?)”
Um, maybe try the opening of the new York Apple store which was less than two months ago.
http://ifostore.cachefly.net/fifth_avenue/index.html
Satisfied?
Great, it’s you again! Dude, you knew if you kept bugging me I would get pissed off, aka Professor Honeydew aka Tom-Cruise-Name-Stealer aka Alfred Chase aka rchaser4@gmail.com
The last time we emailed you said you never post under other names, but here you are at it again.
Very funny, Fudgepacker.
If it shoots webs out of it, I’ll take it!
Seriously, raster – DON’T leak it or we’ll never see it. Refer to case file: Asteroid. :p