Case maker fans iPhone nano rumors

[AppleInsider]

An iPhone and iPod case maker has added references to an "iPhone nano" to its website, presumably based on its own belief that Apple is about to unveiling a smaller version of its touchscreen handset.

You can catch the references over at the website of XSKN, the same company reportedly behind the iPhone nano casing that drew much attention last week when renderings of the supposed product were published by iDealsChina.

XSKN doesn't yet list any product offerings under its iPhone nano category, though the case maker was recognized earlier this year (1, 2) when it began selling protective holders for both the iPhone 3G and fourth-generation iPod nano before those two products were publicly unveiled by Apple.

It's unclear whether XSKN is privy to knowledge of Apple's future product plans.

Last week iDealsChina claimed that Apple would introduce an iPhone nano during next month's Macworld Expo, though the hype surrounding the rumor quickly fizzled when Apple announced that Steve Jobs would not be making his traditional keynote address at the conference.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[SpamSandwich]

I suppose it's possible that some factory workers talked to some other factory workers who would know about such a thing, but it's more likely some knockoff design only sold in China.

[BenRoethig]

I'm torn on this. Accessory makers are usually given advanced notification of a new device so there can be accessories available upon launch. However, this company doesn't seem to be be one of those Apple would trust.

[emulator]

got an ipod case from them ages ago, haven't been on their site for many years and it's still crap. one of the most unfriendly sites on the net.

[Booga]

I think the moral of this story is that if you're a case-maker and want to drum up business for your site, just put a dead link to a rumored Apple product on the page for a little awhile. Whether or not it's true, that company is probably making out well because of the posting.

[JavaCowboy]

Why would Apple do this? The smartphone market is lucrative, but the regular cellphone market is cutthroat and low-margin.

[icibaqu]

because there is a market that is not smart phone. i'm in it. my wife is in it. etc. and apple is master of the upsell.

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by icibaqu

because there is a market that is not smart phone. i'm in it. my wife is in it. etc. and apple is master of the upsell.

I agree. And it's completely in line with Apple's previous moves in the PMP market.

The only thing I can't see is how they are going to solve the keyboard problem on a phone that is even smaller than the iPhone. Voice maybe?

A lot of folks (myself included) don't really like talking to their devices.

[Marvin]

I fail to see how making a smaller one would make the device significantly cheaper.

If anything, wouldn't it make it more expensive?

Plus it makes touch interaction much more difficult as the buttons are presumably smaller.

Maybe it will have an ipod click wheel for dialling instead of touch like the old-fashioned phones. Basically an ipod nano with a phone component.

That might actually be quite cool now I think about it. I think they'd still need to add a camera as even basic phones have a camera but no web browsing and maps, just a phone + ipod.

Texting would be done by selecting letters on a rotary display. So rather than hitting letters multiple times, you simply scroll to the letter. It could have an acceleration to get to letters quickly.

[BuffyzDead]

IF this were to be true,
The ONLY thing that might make sense is an iPod that can make and receive phone calls.

[Pachomius]

they won't have a QWERTY keyboard - just the same texting style as all other phones that don't have a full keyboard. It'll be cheaper because it won't have 3G, maps, probably only WiFi, but you will be able to download all the apps in the world and you'll be able to play games and download your music.

The timing for this makes perfect sense to me-

The iPods are starting to lose market because almost every phone and its brother has at least some Mp3 capability and you don't need to pay any fancy data fees to put your music on your phone. I would never buy an iPod today since I can easily put music on my phone (sony) and listen to that whenever I need. I guess there's no docking station and no capability to put 1000+ songs on the thing, but you get my drift....

ALSO,
Since everyone is panicky about SJ, they let someone else into a stellar new product at the same time as the transition. perfect!

[StuBeck]

Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. A lot of people who are buying an iPhone right now aren't using the advanced features of it, so have a device at half the price that still works great for consumers and it should still sell well. Essentially think of an ipod nano versus an ipod touch. both play music, but the ipod tocuh has a lot of extras that a lot of people aren't interested in paying for.

[Delfoniq]

Originally Posted by Marvin

Texting would be done by selecting letters on a rotary display. So rather than hitting letters multiple times, you simply scroll to the letter. It could have an acceleration to get to letters quickly.

And how about emailing people or web browsing?? Texting using a rotary display will be extremely 'slow'. It won't be user friendly either and we all know Apple's obsession with UIs.


I love the full-featured QWERTY keyboard on my current iPhone. There is no way I'm going back.


IMHO I don't see this happening.

[ncee]

Maybe they are going to make a small PHONE, an Apple PHONE, but still ONLY a PHONE. EVERY kid will want one, and millions will get one. And you are right, it's a great stepping stone to an iPhone.

A phone for talking on, no more, no less. Maybe a phone, that WILL have software upgrades giving it more functions with time. And after they get used to some cool features, they'll want a full fledge iPhone for all of the features. Hell who knows, maybe Apple will have some kind of "Trade-in" or Trade-up" program?

Get them hooked early, and keep them for life.

Now IF this PHONE becomes available EVERYWHERE, sit back and watch the million$ roll in. This maybe how they are going to get from under AT&T.

Skip

[Johnny Mozzarella]

When considering the capabilities of the iPhone nano, you have to look at what Apple wants it to and doesn't want it to cannablize.

Apple sees the iPod Touch and the iPhone as the platform of the future.
The traditional iPod is now obsolete technology that they want to cannablize.
So the iPhone nano will be designed to
- be a Phone
- play music
- play video
- SMS with landscape mode keyboard

- no web
- no email
- no apps
- no WiFi

The iPhone nano will kill traditional iPod sales but will not compete with iPod Touch and iPhone.

[ncee]

Originally Posted by Johnny Mozzarella

When considering the capabilities of the iPhone nano, you have to look at what Apple wants it to and doesn't want it to cannablize.

Apple sees the iPod Touch and the iPhone as the platform of the future.
The traditional iPod is now obsolete technology that they want to cannablize.
So the iPhone nano will be designed to
- be a Phone
- play music
- play video
- no web
- no email
- no apps
- no WiFi

The iPhone nano will kill traditional iPod sales but will not compete with iPod Touch and iPhone.

If it has enough memory … it will kill (they're intention) iPod sales. It won't in a since. What it will do, is get the 10's of millions of folks who own a current model iPod to consider purchasing a new itouchPhone. This will give Apple A LOT of new cash flow … did I say A LOT!

So a:

- 8 GB
- 16 GB
- 32 GB
- 64 GB … itouchPhones.

Skip

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by Delfoniq

And how about emailing people or web browsing?? ...

There wouldn't be emailing or web browsing on it as that would make it a regular smartphone, not a low-end phone as is envisioned by most.

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by Pachomius

they won't have a QWERTY keyboard - just the same texting style as all other phones that don't have a full keyboard. It'll be cheaper because it won't have 3G, maps, probably only WiFi, but you will be able to download all the apps in the world and you'll be able to play games and download your music. ...

This would only work if the nano iPhone is able to switch resolutions on the fly.

The games and apps require the original iPhone resolution and the supposition here is that the nano iPhone would be smaller having only a 3 by 3 icon screen and 3 icons across the bottom. The games and other apps would have to test for screen resolution at start up and switch to the right form factor so all previous games wouldn't work even if the iPhone itself was capable of switching resolutions.

I would bet it would be a closed device if it exists at all. We can only hope that Apple someday realises that the standard weather and clock widgets need some work before being showcased in this fashion.

[Booga]

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

This would only work if the nano iPhone is able to switch resolutions on the fly.

The games and apps require the original iPhone resolution and the supposition here is that the nano iPhone would be smaller having only a 3 by 3 icon screen and 3 icons across the bottom. The games and other apps would have to test for screen resolution at start up and switch to the right form factor so all previous games wouldn't work even if the iPhone itself was capable of switching resolutions.

I would bet it would be a closed device if it exists at all. We can only hope that Apple someday realises that the standard weather and clock widgets need some work before being showcased in this fashion.

The App Store already allows developers to specify what device their software runs on. Obviously, no one has currently selected "iPhone Nano", so no software would be available initially. However, I would imagine it wouldn't be rocket science to port a lot of it to the smaller screen and flip on that switch. That would enable a whole new set of buyers, and probably give previous purchasers free upgrades to the phoneNano-enabled versions.

Given Apple's marketing and positioning in the mobile games space lately, I would be surprised if it was a completely closed system.

[iVlad]

yay...for something new from Apple

[aaarrrgggh]

What the heck could Apple do to make "just a phone" better than many of the offerings out there? The "just a phone" market is a race to the bottom. As for upsell potential, how do you upsell someone to an Apple phone in the first place without it being special? I don't see heards of people having difficulty using a regular phone, and the simplicity is what drives them to that market.

The exception is if they went the MVNO route, where they could sell subscribers added features and focus on that route rather than the hardware route. Since they have picked their bed globally, that seems hard to pull off now.

[JavaCowboy]

The regular cell phone market is cutthroat. The margins are simply too small. The market is too mature and there are too many competitors. It would be like Apple selling a $200 PC. It's just not going to happen.

The only arguments I've heard from people on here is about how *they* would buy that phone. The only way Apple will do this is if they decide they'll make money. Apple is a high margin company, and the only time I remember them selling a low-margin mass-market product was the iPod Shuffle.

It makes absolutely no sense for them to do this. The iPod wouldn't be that much cheaper that the full iPhone to make up for the cheaper cost.

The smartphone market is new, the margins are high, and it's still growing. That's why they launched the iPhone.

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by BOOGA

The App Store already allows developers to specify what device their software runs on. Obviously, no one has currently selected "iPhone Nano", so no software would be available initially. However, I would imagine it wouldn't be rocket science to port a lot of it to the smaller screen and flip on that switch. That would enable a whole new set of buyers, and probably give previous purchasers free upgrades to the phoneNano-enabled versions.

Didn't know that (not a developer) but it's encouraging news. Still seems to me there would have to be (mostly) separate versions of the programs for the device just like the iPod nano.

Originally Posted by aaarrrgggh

What the heck could Apple do to make "just a phone" better than many of the offerings out there? ...

Even if there were no games or programs for it because it's too small, the fact that it had the iTunes store on it would make it better than every other regular flip phone out there. If only Apple (or anyone) could convince the stupid cell carriers to let us use the iTunes store over the cell network!!!!

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by Marvin

I fail to see how making a smaller one would make the device significantly cheaper.

If anything, wouldn't it make it more expensive?

Plus it makes touch interaction much more difficult as the buttons are presumably smaller.

Maybe it will have an ipod click wheel for dialling instead of touch like the old-fashioned phones. Basically an ipod nano with a phone component.

That might actually be quite cool now I think about it. I think they'd still need to add a camera as even basic phones have a camera but no web browsing and maps, just a phone + ipod.

Texting would be done by selecting letters on a rotary display. So rather than hitting letters multiple times, you simply scroll to the letter. It could have an acceleration to get to letters quickly.

By the way, are you aware of Microsoft's "nano Touch"? Nice swipe, MS.

Also here.

...and on an unrelated note, here's a purported pic of the new Mac mini, but it smells like a stinkin' fake to me.

[robb01]

Originally Posted by iVlad

yay...for something new from Apple

______________

[Lafe]

Originally Posted by Booga

I think the moral of this story is that if you're a case-maker and want to drum up business for your site, just put a dead link to a rumored Apple product on the page for a little awhile. Whether or not it's true, that company is probably making out well because of the posting.

Bingo. This is about as true as that Mac-Pro-Mini-Nano rumor I heard. It's got all the
power of a Quad-core Mac Pro, but in a form factor the size of your pinkie fingernail.
Of course, it has the term "mini" in it, so there's no keyboard, mouse, or display. It will
be announced at MacWorld, when that "other guy" finishes his keynote, and then says,
"Oh. There's one more thing . . ." and Steve comes out wearing one.

[bloggerblog]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

...and on an unrelated note, here's a purported pic of the new Mac mini, but it smells like a stinkin' fake to me.

I don't know, it looks legit to me. The top is in line with the new MacBook designs, the trim around the top might be for access and/or ventilation.
Also why would anyone fake a photo that well and print out a large banner just to publish a rumor?

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by bloggerblog

I don't know, it looks legit to me. The top is in line with the new MacBook designs, the trim around the top might be for access and/or ventilation.
Also why would anyone fake a photo that well and print out a large banner just to publish a rumor?

The lengths that some Apple fanatics will go to just to get some web click traffic is endless!

Also, the kerning of the headline looks off. You'd think the designers would know how to adjust the tracking between the apostrophe and "s" in the word "world's". That is a rank amateur mistake.

[sflocal]

Originally Posted by JavaCowboy

The regular cell phone market is cutthroat. The margins are simply too small. The market is too mature and there are too many competitors. It would be like Apple selling a $200 PC. It's just not going to happen.

Everyone was saying how the phone arena was glutted and cutthroat before Apple came into the arena. Apple had them eating crow showing just how a device - regardless of how crowded the market is - can overtake the industry.

I take this article with a grain of salt. However, I would never dismiss that Apple may in fact have something being forged from deep within the Skunkworks labs.

[Marvin]

Originally Posted by Delfoniq

And how about emailing people or web browsing?? Texting using a rotary display will be extremely 'slow'. It won't be user friendly either and we all know Apple's obsession with UIs.

I don't think it would be much slower than normal texting. Like I say, you'd know which letter you were wanting so if you were on the letter 'a' but wanted 's', you'd give a quick swipe so it would accelerate quickly to around the qprstuv range and then just slow down to accurately hit 's'. It's nowhere near as quick as a full keyboard but I doubt it's much slower than the multi-press texting.

Originally Posted by Delfoniq

I love the full-featured QWERTY keyboard on my current iPhone. There is no way I'm going back.

Since you already have an iphone, you don't need to buy this though. It's for people who want into the ipod/phone world without spending a huge amount of money. Imagine the iphone is like the Mac Pro, this would be the xPhone.

The kind of device that people are used to and it's competitively priced. It can't be touch-based because you'd be bordering on ipod touch pricing as a starting point. Add phone components and you just get an iphone.

Currently, you can get a decent Nokia with a 2MPixel camera for £80. The cheapest iphone is £350. Current ipod Nano is £110. ipod Touch is £165.

I'm not entirely sure why the iphone is so much more when it seems to only have a microphone, the phone components and GPS. Surely they could manage a phone based on the ipod touch for £199.

Still, for market penetration, something around the £100-150 mark would be attractive to people who are fed up having an ipod and a phone. My guess for this market would be teenage high school girls.

Originally Posted by Delfoniq

IMHO I don't see this happening.

Me neither to be honest but I didn't think Apple would make a phone at all and they've done a few crazy things.

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

Here's a purported pic of the new Mac mini, but it smells like a stinkin' fake to me.

It has to be as the components just wouldn't fit. The wifi and bluetooth could go in the bit at the top. The hard drive and motherboard couldn't go at the bottom though unless it was a shrunk down board like the MBA. Uh oh.

The MBA has an Nvidia chipset in it. It also supports 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo chips as well as 128GB drives.

The reason this could be an option is the amount of press this little machine got:

http://www.cherrypal.com/

Mainly because it was believed to be vaporware. If this was the route they were going, I doubt they'd bother with the internal optical drive though.

The thing is, although it sounds like a really crappy slow computer, if the Mini was that size with Nvidia 9400M (16 cores) and a 1.83-2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, up to 4GB Ram and an option for a 128GB SSD, it would still be a good bit faster using Snow Leopard than the current Mini while being about half the size.

[NasserAE]

This is why Apple won't participate in future Macworld.

[halfyearsun]

i would get a big kick out of if apple tried an iphone nano

you'd have the complaints start rolling in

"I don't see why, for $100, they couldn't throw in _____________ (whatever feature is important to that individual.)"

ad nauseum until the complaints collectively recreate the iphone.

from a marketing perspective, the people who want the iphone nano want all the features but they don't want to pay the price. granted, not every individual wants every feature, but as a whole, they want every feature.

therefore, just wait until the people want it bad enough to pay the money. catering to the individual just doesn't work.

[teckstud]

Just please- no AT&T.
Anything but.

[Dunks]

Originally Posted by ncee

Get them hooked early, and keep them for life.

Spooky. Sounds like Apple is selling crack cocaine.

[mrtotes]

Originally Posted by ncee

Maybe they are going to make a small PHONE, an Apple PHONE, but still ONLY a PHONE. EVERY kid will want one, and millions will get one. And you are right, it's a great stepping stone to an iPhone.
Skip

I suppose before the Shuffle I'd have stuggled to imagine how they'd shrink the iPod Mini. The genius is in what they leave out.....

Originally Posted by Marvin

Currently, you can get a decent Nokia with a 2MPixel camera for £80. The cheapest iphone is £350. Current ipod Nano is £110. ipod Touch is £165.

I'm not entirely sure why the iphone is so much more when it seems to only have a microphone, the phone components and GPS. Surely they could manage a phone based on the ipod touch for £199.

Remember that the £350 gets you 12mths of WiFi & 3G data too (which retails seperately at £120 (£10pm)), so they aren't massively off your £200 figure. The problem for Apple is that in the UK/Europe consumers just aren't used to laying out these large upfront costs for mobiles so any way Apple can drive that down is going to help.


As to this case rumour - and as others have said - well it's just upping their site traffic isn't it?

[Dunks]

Originally Posted by Marvin

I don't think it would be much slower than normal texting. Like I say, you'd know which letter you were wanting so if you were on the letter 'a' but wanted 's', you'd give a quick swipe so it would accelerate quickly to around the qprstuv range and then just slow down to accurately hit 's'. It's nowhere near as quick as a full keyboard but I doubt it's much slower than the multi-press texting.

Nokia tried this once on one of their phones and apple already use a similar system on the ipod nano for searching teh ipod library. it is very slow. multi press texting is still too slow to use for a whole message. Better to use a predictive texting system if you have a brain like mine and can commit weird stuff to memory like the number of times you have to tap the star key to get the correct nokian to display for a given combination of key strokes.

i think it would be better to use a pseudo-qwerty keyboard like the iphone but with two letters represented per button to double the hitbox for each button. a predictive dictionary could assume the word you were trying to type and for tricky words there could be a "hold button & tap a second finger to the correct side" gesture to force the dictionary to lock onto one the two letters.

[ncee]

Originally Posted by Dunks

Spooky. Sounds like Apple is selling crack cocaine.

An addiction is an addiction. Some are not as bad for you as others, but it's still an addiction.

Addiction in the sense that Apple gets you wanting more, the latest, the greatest. We're all part of this addiction, at least I know I am.

I had a G3, I wanted a G4, the a G5 … all of which I purchased.

I had a 24" monitor, I then wanted the 30", and will buy a 36", 40", 42" or whatever they come out with next.

I had an original iPod, and have since purchased a shuffle, Nano I, and Nano II, and now the other day the Nano III, I also purchased a iPod Touch.

I look at purchasing an iphone, but I use a PHONE as a PHONE and didn't see the value in the iPhone. A my wife and family members said "Holy Shiet" "thats a first, skippy didn't buy the latest and newest toy from Apple" "the world must be coming to an end"!

And I know, I am not the only one who is like this, which is why I said "Get them hooked early" "Keep them for life".

Skip

[Marvin]

Originally Posted by mrtotes

Remember that the £350 gets you 12mths of WiFi & 3G data too (which retails seperately at £120 (£10pm)), so they aren't massively off your £200 figure. The problem for Apple is that in the UK/Europe consumers just aren't used to laying out these large upfront costs for mobiles so any way Apple can drive that down is going to help.

That's right, they probably factor in the data charge. If they could spread that cost out, people may be more inclined to go for it. I don't think the contract phone is expensive at all but shelling out £350 at once is a bit much , especially if it's a Christmas gift.

Simply charging by data usage should work as long as it always leaves enough credit for call-time. Say have a £5 minimum that can be left on the phone before topping up. They could charge £1 per day for data access up to a maximum of £10 per month.

Originally Posted by Dunks

Nokia tried this once on one of their phones and apple already use a similar system on the ipod nano for searching teh ipod library. it is very slow. multi press texting is still too slow to use for a whole message. Better to use a predictive texting system if you have a brain like mine and can commit weird stuff to memory like the number of times you have to tap the star key to get the correct nokian to display for a given combination of key strokes.

Every time someone mentions predictive text, I think of this:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Fiwl2V_lric

I like the way Apple use predictive text on the iphone so it should help a great deal. I absolutely can't stand texting on a normal phone. It takes me so long to type basic things and it's because I often overshoot the letter I want. If I can remember the combo for the letter I need, it would probably be much faster.

One technology Apple was looking into for the ipod was Thumbscript:

http://www.ipoding.com/node/1668

It uses a series of presses to represent characters and numbers. There's a demo on their site:

http://www.thumbscript.com/tsdemo/TSDemo.html

I can get the numbers fine - you just press the middle button followed by the outside ones. Letters seem a bit tricky though.

Maybe if they just had a grid on screen of 6 x 6 and you just used the click wheel to move up/down/left/right, center to select. You would need at most 4 presses to get to any character + 1 to select but at least you could see the choices all at once. The screen on the nano might be a bit small to fit all the characters and your message on at once though.

[JCC]

Anyone think that this manufacturer could be making a case for one of their Chinese knock-offs? The Chinese COULD be making a Nano iPhone?

[mstone]

Originally Posted by Marvin

I can get the numbers fine - you just press the middle button followed by the outside ones. Letters seem a bit tricky though.

Maybe if they just had a grid on screen of 6 x 6 and you just used the click wheel to move up/down/left/right, center to select. You would need at most 4 presses to get to any character + 1 to select but at least you could see the choices all at once. The screen on the nano might be a bit small to fit all the characters and your message on at once though.

The new Cupcake version of Android has a cool technique for selecting characters where by you swipe across the on-screen keys and the letters preview - sort of like hovering. When you release, the character is set. My fat fingers are always hitting the wrong key on my iPhone.