Apple event speculation: App Store fix, $150 iPod touch, more

[AppleInsider]

With Apple's annual iPod event imminent, Internet buzz, rumors and speculation have reached a fever pitch, as industry watchers wait to see what the hardware maker will debut Wednesday.

Predictions are varied, though most everyone agrees that Apple will reveal its long-expected new iPod line with cameras, alleged last-minute technical issues notwithstanding. In a brief preview, Forbes speculated Apple would bring a "mundane" yet "important" fix for iPhone and iPod touch users: a new-and-improved App Store.

"Now that that App Store is filled with 65,000 applications, the next step will be to make all those applications easier to find," the report said. "Apple said during its last investor call that it is working on the problem. September would seem to be a fine time to introduce Apple's solution."

Developer Marco Arment, creator of Instapaper and Tumblr, believes the event will feature a number of relatively minor changes to the iPod lineup. He has predicted that Apple will discontinue the iPod classic and unveil a number of new iPod touch models, with price and capacity ranging from $149/8GB to $349/64GB.

"Since very little of this is exciting enough to justify an entire event, I'm assuming that the main focus of the event will be a new version of iTunes and new content accessibility, such as iPhone TV rentals," he said.

At Fortune Brainstorm Tech, Philip Elmer-DeWitt said he isn't holding his breath for The Beatles catalog to appear on iTunes. However he said the fact that the band's digitally remastered album re-releases, as well as the debut of The Beatles: Rock band video game, makes the timing of the event "propitious."

Finally, TechCrunch's MG Siegler speculated that iTunes will inevitably be a cloud-based service. Citing the huge size of HD video offerings, the report suggests that Apple's media service could allow users to stream, rather than download. In this vision, Apple would allow users to purchase and delete locally saved content, and retain the ability to download it again in the future if the user wanted to access it on the go, via an iPod or iPhone. The report acknowledges the huge costs that would accompany such a change, but the transition would also make it much easier for users to maintain and access their library of content from multiple machines.

"Long term, the only viable model would seem to be Apple holding all of this content for us on its servers," Siegler said. "Streaming a huge collection of movies works beautifully right now for Netflix via its Watch Instantly service. Apple would need a download component to supplement its portable devices, but it likely can and will be done."



Previously, analysts have been divided on whether Apple co-founder Steve Jobs will appear at Wednesday's event. There are also rumors of a new version of iTunes that could bring social media support, as well as a new format designed to inspire sales of full albums, code-named "Cocktail." The Sept. 9 media event will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, and is scheduled to kick off at 10 a.m. Pacific Time (1 p.m. Eastern).

[gearhunter]

...yawn...yawn... ZZzzzzzz

[gigi]

And don't forget a totally new Appe TV yeahhhhhh

[wobegon]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Finally, TechCrunch's MG Siegler speculated that iTunes will inevitably be a cloud-based service.

Separately, Siegler suggests Ford will be releasing street-based cars.

I know what he's getting at but the iTunes Store has been 'cloud-based' since its inception. It doesn't have to be accessible via a web browser or stream music or movies to qualify (though I agree, the latter would be nice).

[Chintan100]

App Store fix is expected.

I have found that App Store was down about 3-4 times in the last month here in India when i tried to browse iTunes from 2-6 AM.

Maybe they took it offline to test it? and chose app store India as there is less traffic?

[MacTripper]

Yea, anal-ists are already pumping up Apple's stock to $200. But in my opinion, anything Apple announces if it doesn't seem to the public as saving them money in some fashion, it's going to very slow sales. People are looking hard at their bottom line lately and worried about their jobs. We are still experiencing deflation, meaning more job losses and more foreclosures and bank failures.


A large capacity iPod Touch to replace the hard drive based iPod Classic and watch the flood of orders come in.

Integrated VOIP functionality would be nice.


64 GB capacity would just be enough to hold all my music and a the few downloaded iTMS movies for trips.

$349? Screw that. This is NOT the real estate/loose credit bubble economy anymore. People are buying based upon value in this rough economy.

VOIP enabled iPod Touches would be worth $349.

[xwiredtva]

Originally Posted by MacTripper

Yea, anal-ists are already pumping up Apple's stock to $200.


A large capacity iPod Touch to replace the hard drive based iPod Classic and watch the flood of orders come in.

Integrated VOIP functionality would be nice.

I think there already is a VOIP app... Isn't there? Apple might not like the Google app but some of the open source apps can easily be cross compiled, modify the UI and then dropped on the iDevice OS.... Maybe...

You thinking 64gb Flash based itouch? Or would it hurt to predict an iTouch with an hard drive?

[UnseenLlama]

Originally Posted by xwiredtva

I think there already is a VOIP app... Isn't there? Apple might not like the Google app but some of the open source apps can easily be cross compiled, modify the UI and then dropped on the iDevice OS.... Maybe...

You thinking 64gb Flash based itouch? Or would it hurt to predict an iTouch with an hard drive?

The Google Voice app is not VOIP. It's basically a call forwarding service with some bolted on extras such as SMS and voicemail.

[LuisDias]

Originally Posted by xwiredtva

Or would it hurt to predict an iTouch with an hard drive?

It would be the most stupid thing I would ever saw Apple doing: investing in a dying technology like "hard drives"...

Apple does not think backwards, always forward.

[Galley]

How about an iTunes Server option?

[Chintan100]

Originally Posted by LuisDias

It would be the most stupid thing I would ever saw Apple doing: investing in a dying technology like "hard drives"...

Apple does not think backwards, always forward.

+1 on that...

[umijin]

Yeah, I know this has already been shot down.

But...

The Beatles catalogue has been released on newly remastered CD's just now. People that want the CDs have probably purchased, so why not on iTunes too?

Frankly, this is much bigger than crappy cameras on an iPod touch.

[camroidv27]

Originally Posted by gigi

And don't forget a totally new Appe TV yeahhhhhh

As much as a new AppleTV would pique my interest, I honestly do not think a new one would be released. Then again, Apple could surprise me. If it releases a "new" AppleTV, its most likely this: 160gb version and a 320gb version, as well as new aTV software. But even all that is unlikely.

[Albebaubles]

Originally Posted by umijin

Yeah, I know this has already been shot down.

But...

The Beatles catalogue has been released on newly remastered CD's just now. People that want the CDs have probably purchased, so why not on iTunes too?

Frankly, this is much bigger than crappy cameras on an iPod touch.

To you, maybe. Don't even try and speak for the rest of us.

[MacTripper]

Originally Posted by xwiredtva

I think there already is a VOIP app... Isn't there? Apple might not like the Google app but some of the open source apps can easily be cross compiled, modify the UI and then dropped on the iDevice OS.... Maybe...

You thinking 64gb Flash based itouch? Or would it hurt to predict an iTouch with an hard drive?

I'll take a hard drive based iPod Touch if it means a lower price and thus more sales for Apple.

Integrated VOIP, so the mechanical components are all there already.

Apple (and other high end retailers) usually forces new, unproven, expensive and sometimes unwanted technologies down the public's throat, thus I don't see a hard drive based iPod touch coming.

Apple would do well to introduce higher capacity iPod Touches, and if they can't get the price down to something reasonable with memory, then use the more fragile hard drives.

Then let people decide how well they take care of them, if they do well, they won't have to repurchase. If they don't Apple sells twice as many.

[walshbj]

In 2007 the event was the same week as Labor Day - so they had it on a Wednesday. I don't expect Apple to be on the Beatles bandwagon tomorrow.

It would be cool to see totally new iPod form-factors, something to accelerate holiday sales.

Wifi sync? I'd like it but assume Apple will hold it back until all other upgrades are exhausted.

[ApplePi]

Originally Posted by umijin

The Beatles catalogue has been released on newly remastered CD's just now. People that want the CDs have probably purchased, so why not on iTunes too?

Frankly, this is much bigger than crappy cameras on an iPod touch.

What? Who gives a crap about the Beatles. Why all the focus on the Beatles? I mean yeah they were a decent band, but there are so many other good bands out there too. They aren't a big deal anymore. Just go buy the CD's if you don't already have them.

I'd rather have the camera on the ipods.

[Porchland]

Originally Posted by Galley

How about an iTunes Server option?

I would love to see Apple offer a setup for iTunes where you can sync downloads across multiple devices that would take care of at least the following two situations: (1) automatically syncing a song downloaded on Mac 1 to Mac 2, and (2) automatically downloading a song to Mac 1 AND Mac 2 if I buy it on the iPhone.

I'm sure there's a geek way to do this now, but I'm looking for something more like a automated set-it-and-forget-it setup.

[MacTripper]

Originally Posted by umijin

Yeah, I know this has already been shot down.

But...

The Beatles uncatalogued has been released on newly remastered CD's just now. People that want the CDs have probably purchased, so why not on iTunes too?

Frankly, this is much bigger than crappy cameras on an iPod touch.

I think the Apple sign said something about a Rolling Stones song, so perhaps Apple is going to promote them along with their new iPod devices.

Most likely what they did with U2, sell a iPod with all the Rolling Stones music on it.

The Beatles got the jump in the press, that's all, knowing Apple and RS is coming today.


Apple Records feels it's in competition with Apple Computer or they feel Steve Jobs stole their marketing techniques or something. Thus the years of lawsuits and no Beatles on iTMS.


I see my wallet being opened admist the lust of another must have iPod device, the bonus of getting all Rolling Stone music included.

But I already have all the Rolling Stone music...

[brucep]

Originally Posted by umijin

Yeah, I know this has already been shot down.

But...

The Beatles catalogue has been released on newly remastered CD's just now. People that want the CDs have probably purchased, so why not on iTunes too?

Frankly, this is much bigger than crappy cameras on an iPod touch.

BEATLES
Will open a whole new world to all the under 16 crowd

9

[LuisDias]

Originally Posted by MacTripper

I'll take a hard drive based iPod Touch if it means a lower price and thus more sales for Apple.

Integrated VOIP, so the mechanical components are all there already.

Apple (and other high end retailers) usually forces new, unproven, expensive and sometimes unwanted technologies down the public's throat, thus I don't see a hard drive based iPod touch coming.

If you don't "want it", don't "buy it". Jeesh. The reason why these companies are always getting the newer technologies is because they don't want to be left behind. If it were for you we were still dealing with diskettes, which are oh so nicer than CDs, you know, because hey we can recopy diskettes without issues, not so much with that lousy tech called "CDs".

This is the opposite mentality. I don't think Apple will launch a hard drive solution for the Touch for a variety of reasons:

1- Had to invest real money figuring out how to put a hard drive in there without fattening the product
2- They don't want to create the notion that they are in for the cheap, trading excellence for cheap, fat and loudy. They can't cheapen the trademark.
3- They don't want also to create the notion that they are investing in the past
4- They rather invest big time in flash, promising their dealers a lot of clients and because of this being able to reduce costs a lot
5- Hard drives in 2009 sucks man!

The only reason why Apple would launch such a device would be to get to the sweet spot of 150 dollars. But I don't think that this is sufficient reason against the cons I outlined.

Apple would do well to introduce higher capacity iPod Touches, and if they can't get the price down to something reasonable with memory, then use the more fragile hard drives.

It may do well for niche markets, but Apple is not a niche market product designer no more. You'll simply have to wait for Flash to come down in prices.

Then let people decide how well they take care of them, if they do well, they won't have to repurchase. If they don't Apple sells twice as many.

Yeah and cheapen the brand with it. Gawd.

[milkmage]

Originally Posted by wobegon

Separately, Siegler suggests Ford will be releasing street-based cars.

I know what he's getting at but the iTunes Store has been 'cloud-based' since its inception. It doesn't have to be accessible via a web browser or stream music or movies to qualify (though I agree, the latter would be nice).

I would argue that it does (have to stream) to qualify as cloud based. To me, cloud based means no local storage. Just because you access something over TCP/IP doesn't qualify.

[steviet02]

Originally Posted by brucep

BEATLES
Will open a whole new world to all the under 16 crowd

9

No it won't, it will be passed by those people.

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by gigi

And don't forget a totally new Appe TV yeahhhhhh

It's an iPod event, deal with it.

[teckstud]

AT&T is going to go for iPhone TV rentals via iTunes over their lame network? Don't hold your breath.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by Ireland

It's an iPod event, deal with it.

The ATV is an iPod for the living room with the exception of easy iPod searching features.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by brucep

BEATLES
Will open a whole new world to all the under 16 crowd

9

The hip hop nation? I don't think so.
This is equivalent to reissuing Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Glenn Miller or Guy Lombardo to the original rock generation.
They could have cared less.

[iCarbon]

anyone think maybe there'll be a beatles rockband app for the touch/phone crowd?

group up over wifi?

not entirely sure how it would work, but might be nifty.

[milkmage]

Originally Posted by Porchland

I would love to see Apple offer a setup for iTunes where you can sync downloads across multiple devices that would take care of at least the following two situations: (1) automatically syncing a song downloaded on Mac 1 to Mac 2, and (2) automatically downloading a song to Mac 1 AND Mac 2 if I buy it on the iPhone.

I'm sure there's a geek way to do this now, but I'm looking for something more like a automated set-it-and-forget-it setup.

you can share the library from one mac to another.. which solves problem one and saves the disk space on the other macs (I can't afford to use 50 of the 80GB drive in my laptop for music)

problem 2 means iTunes would have to "listen" for updates from the phone, and automatically authenticate. bad. idea. period.

killer functions for me would be to be able to
1) sync the playlists (not the content) create one on the remote machine and the local machine, and the new playlists end up on both machines. it can't be too difficult, the library file is just XML.

2) robust playlist creation on the phone/touch (on the go just doesn't cut it). let me name it myself, and create as many as I want.

3) let me define the shuffle/repeat settings on a per playlist basis.. those are global settings, now, no?

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by teckstud

The ATV is an iPod for the living room with the exception of easy iPod searching features.

It's an iPod event. If we see an Apple TV I'll be highly surprised.

[Johnny Mozzarella]

Originally Posted by MacTripper

Yea, anal-ists are already pumping up Apple's stock to $200. But in my opinion, anything Apple announces if it doesn't seem to the public as saving them money in some fashion, it's going to very slow sales. People are looking hard at their bottom line lately and worried about their jobs. We are still experiencing deflation, meaning more job losses and more foreclosures and bank failures.

Have you walked into an Apple retail store lately?
While the rest of the mall looks like a ghost town at times, the Apple store is bustling with activity!

[Johnny Mozzarella]

Originally Posted by Ireland

It's an iPod event. If we see an Apple TV I'll be highly surprised.

While Steve refers to it as a separate leg in reality the AppleTV = an iPod for your TV.

[Johnny Mozzarella]

Originally Posted by MacTripper

I'll take a hard drive based iPod Touch if it means a lower price and thus more sales for Apple.

Integrated VOIP, so the mechanical components are all there already.

Apple (and other high end retailers) usually forces new, unproven, expensive and sometimes unwanted technologies down the public's throat, thus I don't see a hard drive based iPod touch coming.

Apple would do well to introduce higher capacity iPod Touches, and if they can't get the price down to something reasonable with memory, then use the more fragile hard drives.

Then let people decide how well they take care of them, if they do well, they won't have to repurchase. If they don't Apple sells twice as many.

Not going to happen.
Apple is moving in the other direction.
I expect the iPod Classic to be "redesigned" with flash memory.
This way Apple can standardize on all iPods having the same memory type.
It will also push customers toward the iPod Touch(what Apple wants you to buy).
The name "Classic" refers primarily to the scroll wheel input method not the storage technology.

[tmizerek]

Anyone seen Paul or Ringo around Cupertino today?

[Johnny Mozzarella]

Originally Posted by MacTripper

I think the Apple sign said something about a Rolling Stones song, so perhaps Apple is going to promote them along with their new iPod devices.

Most likely what they did with U2, sell a iPod with all the Rolling Stones music on it.

The Beatles got the jump in the press, that's all, knowing Apple and RS is coming today.


Apple Records feels it's in competition with Apple Computer or they feel Steve Jobs stole their marketing techniques or something. Thus the years of lawsuits and no Beatles on iTMS.


I see my wallet being opened admist the lust of another must have iPod device, the bonus of getting all Rolling Stone music included.

But I already have all the Rolling Stone music...

Absolutely not! The tag line on the invite card is not a secret message.
Apple is the largest seller of music in the USA...They are a computer company that sells a metric buttload of music! Hence...It's only rock and roll, but we like it.

NO BEATLES. NO ROLLING STONES. NO U2.

The Beatles need Apple. Apple doesn't need The Beatles.

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by MacTripper

Yea, anal-ists are already pumping up Apple's stock to $200. But in my opinion, anything Apple announces if it doesn't seem to the public as saving them money in some fashion, it's going to very slow sales. People are looking hard at their bottom line lately and worried about their jobs. We are still experiencing deflation, meaning more job losses and more foreclosures and bank failures.


A large capacity iPod Touch to replace the hard drive based iPod Classic and watch the flood of orders come in.

Integrated VOIP functionality would be nice.


64 GB capacity would just be enough to hold all my music and a the few downloaded iTMS movies for trips.

$349? Screw that. This is NOT the real estate/loose credit bubble economy anymore. People are buying based upon value in this rough economy.

VOIP enabled iPod Touches would be worth $349.

An iPod touch that acts like a VOIP phone, IOW if it has the exact same functionality as the iPhone but initiates dialing over WiFi, would be worth it. Current offerings across the board in the home VOIP phone category are just junk.

[joelsalt]

Originally Posted by teckstud

The hip hop nation? I don't think so.
This is equivalent to reissuing Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Glenn Miller or Guy Lombardo to the original rock generation.
They could have cared less.

Well my girlfriend's grade 4 music class asked her to play the Beatles the other day.

I was also 16 (about 6 years ago) when I discovered the Beatles.

You don't sell 600+ Million albums to one generation.

[michellec]

Apple has approved some streaming apps so ATT doesn't have the last word in everything.

However even if they didn't, it would still be useful as a wifi-only service. look at slingmedia for instance.

As for Apple keeping all the content in the cloud, I don't think they would do that, more like you would be apple to stream to your phone similar to the way itunes streaming works with appleTV.

I would be surprised if they released a new apple tv, I think it is possible though they could release an appleTV upgrade that replaced the current streaming with the new http streaming. That would actually improve throughput and maybe decrease overall bandwidth.

I am hoping our streaming application will make it through the approval process, we plan to release it in another month or two, and are not sure if we will just release it as wi-fi only or make an attempt for 3g and see if it gets rejected and than we have to resubmit.

In any case it allows streaming from external media servers , yes I'm hearing the yawns... but differnece between our application and similar ones in the itunes store is this one will really work. And have some very intuitive search and bookmarking tools.

here's a link..

http://sol3.typepad.com/tagalong_dev...ediashare.html

[justinmw]

I hope that Apple makes it possible for developers to offer support and/or respond to people who take the time to review an application in the App Store.

[steviet02]

Originally Posted by joelsalt

You don't sell 600+ Million albums to one generation.

Actually, you do sell that many to one generation when they live through 3 types of media changes and remastering.