1. Shave off one or two more ounces from the regular iPod and the mini
2. Increase the buffer to 64MB for better playback of audio books
3. Increase battery life to 15-20 hours
4. Reduce cost and make an entry-level $150-$200 iPod
5. Larger capacity hard drives
6. Add a mic for use as a dictaphone
7. Higher quality inner-ear headphones
8. Support Ogg Vorbis playback
9. Launch an iPod SDK
10. OLED color screen
11. MPEG4 playback, H.264, with a mini s-video out port
12. Built-in Airport extreme with Rendezvous
13. AM/FM tuner
14. Bluetooth
Apple's grade:
12 or more -- A
9-11 -- B
6-8 -- C
3-5 -- D
less than 3 -- F
1. Agree
2. Not a priority...
3. Fuel cells?
4. Not very Apple-like. Maybe the HP iPod?
5. Toshiba's 60GB is on its way, but do you REALLY need a 60GB MP3 player??
6. That sounds like a 3rd-party thing
7. Why not
8. Waste of time : Ogg Vorbis is a codec mostly for geeks downloading weird stuff on the IRC
9. AGREE!!!! DEFINITELY!
10. No use, except for some funky vPod thing...
11. ...which is not gonna happen (yet) because that's more of a feature for pirates to watch their DivX on TV... remember that Jobs is also the CEO of Pixar?
Apple has done a fantastic job with establishing the iPod brand and image to the public.
However, I don't think they've done a very good job of conveying how cool/unmatched/unprecedented the whole Mac+iPod+iPod Dock+iTunes+iTMS is to people outside the Mac community. Something perfect for a ten minute demo at a conference, but much harder to condense down into a TV commercial length spot.
I was showing a friend who just got a new G5 around OS X last night. He's not a big music person, but he's knows all about the iPod and how good it is from all the commercials and press, but once I loaded up iTunes/iTMS and spent five minutes going over the whole iPod/iTunes/iTMS world he was absolutely blown away and was ready to buy iPods for his whole family.
I would like to see Apple get something at the 100 dollar range in the not to distant future. So far the iPod competitors have looked at lot like stuff built by a 1970s scifi fan in his garage, but someone is certainly going to be able to successfully clone a good enough knock off of the iPod.
I don't think they've done a very good job of conveying how cool/unmatched/unprecedented the whole Mac+iPod+iPod Dock+iTunes+iTMS is to people outside the Mac community. Something perfect for a ten minute demo at a conference, but much harder to condense down into a TV commercial length spot.
Exactly. I can't say all of the improvements listed above seem like a huge priority, and I'm really sure at least a few of them are not things Apple will do.
The thing that I would like to see happen is for Apple to keep developing the concept of "computers for the rest of us." The Digital Lifestyle. I don't think we've grasped the idea completely, but I would really like to see strides made in putting the iPod and devices like it at the center of my digital life. I really think Apple needs to put effort into communicating to people just how cool their stuff is for ordinary, non-geek people.
1. Shave off one or two more ounces from the regular iPod and the mini
2. Increase the buffer to 64MB for better playback of audio books
3. Increase battery life to 15-20 hours
4. Reduce cost and make an entry-level $150-$200 iPod
5. Larger capacity hard drives
6. Add a mic for use as a dictaphone
7. Higher quality inner-ear headphones
8. Support Ogg Vorbis playback
9. Launch an iPod SDK
10. OLED color screen
11. MPEG4 playback, H.264, with a mini s-video out port
12. Built-in Airport extreme with Rendezvous
13. AM/FM tuner
14. Bluetooth
Apple's grade:
12 or more -- A
9-11 -- B
6-8 -- C
3-5 -- D
less than 3 -- F
1. Agreed. Likely. Apple always doing this kind of thing. I love it.
2. Agreed. Suprised it didn't happen in the 3G iPod.
3. Would be great and tough. Other claiming this appear to be lying (basically).
4. They have an "entry level" device that they cannot make fast enough. This will happen...but not until 2005.
5. Likely...but one wonders what for? Music? Not for most people. the 40GB is starting to hit the top of where most people are for music I suspect.
6. Seems possible/likely. I can't imagine using mine this way though. Apple might see it this way and leave it to the 3rd parties.
7. Agreed.
8. Magic 8-Ball says: "Outlook not so good"
9. YES! Make iPod a "platform" for developers!
10. Seem likely. Don't know much of the technology...but seems like a proper match.
11. Hmmm...I think yes...many others think no. I like the idea...especially as the HD gets bigger...how much music? What about photos, slide shows and video?
12. Also seems likely to happen given Airport Express.
to that add a gsm/gprs phone capability because cellphones and portable music devices are converging rapidly
Wooaaaa Sport! Slow down here. How about a toaster...with an upsell for bagel toasting. iPod does music. I am (personally) mixed on the video stuff...but I can see that happening. Why do I want a GPS in my iPod?
Wooaaaa Sport! Slow down here. How about a toaster...with an upsell for bagel toasting. iPod does music. I am (personally) mixed on the video stuff...but I can see that happening. Why do I want a GPS in my iPod?
You already do have a gps in your cell phone if you have gsm coverage. It is part (in the US) of the enhanced 911 system This allows law enforcement to find the phone in an emergency. This feature has been in effect for several years now. Privacy concerns asside, It can make for location based information streaming more usefull.
the chipset is small and uses very low power. Currently a cell phone manufacturer can buy a chipset with bluetooth, gsm/gprs and will operate worldwide on gsm networks.
Apple could market a 4g iphone with music features in the mini case.
You already do have a gps in your cell phone if you have gsm coverage. It is part (in the US) of the enhanced 911 system This allows law enforcement to find the phone in an emergency. This feature has been in effect for several years now. Privacy concerns asside, It can make for location based information streaming more usefull.
I'm not sure about the GPS in the phones. I went round and round with a friend on this because I assumed the same. They need to be able to locate you...but I don't think it is actually using GPS.
Quote:
the chipset is small and uses very low power. Currently a cell phone manufacturer can buy a chipset with bluetooth, gsm/gprs and will operate worldwide on gsm networks.
But, it still uses power...and for a feature whose value I question. I guess I am wary of the "Swiss Army Knife" tendency that "feature creep" creates.
Quote:
Apple could market a 4g iphone with music features in the mini case.
They have already said they are not doing a phone...much as we might like them to.
I know that apple said they are not doing a phone. I am pointing out that phones and mp3 players are converging. Soon enough apple's prime competitors will be phones with mp3 players.
If you look at the ipod logic it is fitting into cars seamlessly. If you ipod/iphone your bmw then the steering wheel control will be all the more usefull. Add to the functionality a bluetooth wireless mic and it could work. Apple likes the car because that's a good place to listen to your music. Video I think is out for now from the ipod until the new quicktime codec comes out.
I think that feature creap is something that all appliances get anyway. With this logic we all would still be on
apple II+'s and the command line interface.
The ipod must evolve. Yes it commands a huge part of the market but that is where it is today. Tomorrow's ipod should be able to do more or another well designed unit will.
1. Shave off one or two more ounces from the regular iPod and the mini
2. Increase the buffer to 64MB for better playback of audio books
3. Increase battery life to 15-20 hours
4. Reduce cost and make an entry-level $150-$200 iPod
5. Larger capacity hard drives
6. Add a mic for use as a dictaphone
7. Higher quality inner-ear headphones
8. Support Ogg Vorbis playback
9. Launch an iPod SDK
10. OLED color screen
11. MPEG4 playback, H.264, with a mini s-video out port
12. Built-in Airport extreme with Rendezvous
13. AM/FM tuner
14. Bluetooth
1. The iPod, sure. The mini? That thing already feels almost insubstantial to me.
2. Yes.
3. Would be great, but this opposes most of your other requests.
4. Steve has gone on record saying that Apple is looking for ways to make the iPod less expensive. That'll become an issue when they they find that they can make them fast enough. Also, note that a lot of your other suggestions require more expensive components.
5. For what? The survey's in, and most people consider 1,000 songs to be perfectly OK. 60GB of audio will appeal to a relatively small group of people, so if the HDDs are going to get bigger, new uses have to be found for them. Also, bear in mind that high-capacity hard drives tend to be thicker and heavier, like the 40GB drive in the top-end (and larger, heavier) iPod.
6. Sure. I know people who'd love that.
7. Please. I trashed my original ones and bought a pair of Sony earbuds to tide me over until I could reorder a new set of the Apple buds. That was two months ago. I've never reordered.
8. The iPod apparently can't muster the horsepower to decode Ogg Vorbis. There've been Ogg fans working on this for a while, and they haven't gotten it to go yet. So this requires newer, more powerful guts — a substantial revision. The odds that Apple will do this to support Ogg Vorbis are essentially nil, but if they do it for some other reason with more mainstream appeal, I'm sure they'll throw in support as well.
9. Meh. Not yet.
10. Meh. Just remember that they're still trying to keep those from degrading after a few thousand hours.
11. See 8. Would be nice, but you're talking about computational heavy lifting that the current iPod couldn't even hope to attempt. Also, playback through a cable (probably through the dock connector) I can see; playback on the iPod's screen is just about pointless.
12. And you want the batteries to last how long again? You want the iPod running a networking stack and daemons while it's streaming H.264 and decoding Ogg Vorbis? It'll get there eventually (meaning: years), but that would represent a tremendous leap in the sophistication of the device.
13. Meh. The iPod replaces radio.
14. Sure, although again expect to pay a price in battery life.
I'm not sure about the GPS in the phones. I went round and round with a friend on this because I assumed the same. They need to be able to locate you...but I don't think it is actually using GPS.
That would be because it isn't. It uses your signal to separate signal towers to triangulate your position. This has also been available to the security organisations since well before September 11 too.
I don't know about you guys, but sometimes I get tired of talking about what Apple needs to do. I'd be more interested in figuring out what they're going to do.
One thing it seems everyone has forgotten (or maybe it was proved incorrect, I don't know) is the Home on iPod feature. Many people seem to expect the iPod to continue developing as a platform, meaning that the iPod itself will become more and more like a small computer.
But, as many other people are quick to point out, the battery life and display size are inadequate for this purpose, and no talk of OLED and fuel cell batteries will persuade me that this is going to change soon.
I think it's more likely (at this point in the discussion) that Apple will develop the iPod into something more closely resembling an extensible storage device than a stand-alone platform. Remember this ?
I think Apple will be giving us something sort of like that. Except that in the case of the iPod, the processing power, USB, Firewire, etc. will not be part of the package. The iPod will only be providing storage. You'll have to find yourself a docking station (i.e. your computer or your friend's computer, or the computer in the lab at school) before you can start sharing and using your photos, videos, music, documents... whatever.
Remember... Apple is making the computer for the rest of your life. Phones and PDAs are already covered in the boring, hum-drum business world by *competent* people like Dell -- people who crank out a solid business machine without imagination for users who have none.
As much as I love looking at that girl on oqo's site, I think oqo is sooo overrated and not worthy of the attention (oddly it gets little real attention outside of MacPDA drool circles.
Huge frigging step back from the Newton 2100 although oqo has a buzzword checklist that should "make" it cool. But it's not, IMO.
Huge frigging step back from the Newton 2100 although oqo has a buzzword checklist that should "make" it cool. But it's not, IMO.
I totally agree the thing is overrated (although I've not been around long enough to make Newton comparisons). I was thinking of the portability. I don't think anyone wants a dockable video editor in their pocket, but a dockable file server is something I know I'd be interested in.
To me battery life is the biggest problem with the current iPod and the only thing that really has to be fixed. Longer life is a must.
Lower price would help it sell better but Apple has never been one for competing on price. I don't expect to see any changes here (Won't stop me wishing for it though).
Personally I would love an 80GB drive (to fit all my CDs in lossless format) but these aren't available yet and considering the demand for the iPod mini, it's not something most consumers seem to care about. A 60GB iPod on the top of the range soon though sounds highly likely to me but I don't see Apple focusing on high capacity iPods.
I expect to see some kind of wireless in the iPod in the future, especially considering the new Airport Express. Not sure if the technology will be good/cheap/low power enough to make the next iPod revision though. Bluetooth is right out...has anyone ever tried uploading a MP3 to a cellphone via Bluetooth?...far, far too slow. Music sharing concerns may also may make Apple hold back on wireless.
Firewire 800. I haven't seen anyone mention this but I expect the next high end models to support the faster firewire standard.
Ogg support? Maybe. It would be nice simply for another tick box on the consumer's checklist but I don't feel it's really hurting iPod sales at the moment. I'm sure Apple could get the current iPod to decode Ogg if they wanted despite processing power limitations.
Built in Radio? I can't see this happening. Does anyone really care about radio anymore? I don't know what things are like where everyone else here lives but nobody in my circle of friends listens to the radio anymore. A lack of radio doesn't seem to have hurt CD players over the years either.
Sound recording/encoding ability. I'd like to see this but I don't know if the demand is there. If I had to pick, I'd guess Apple won't do it. Still hope they do though.
Video features? Not next revision anyway that I can see.
yeah but before ipod 4g comes out, it might help if the ipod mini is actually widely availible in all of the major channels....i mean best buy doesn't even have them?!?!?!?!
Comments
1. Shave off one or two more ounces from the regular iPod and the mini
2. Increase the buffer to 64MB for better playback of audio books
3. Increase battery life to 15-20 hours
4. Reduce cost and make an entry-level $150-$200 iPod
5. Larger capacity hard drives
6. Add a mic for use as a dictaphone
7. Higher quality inner-ear headphones
8. Support Ogg Vorbis playback
9. Launch an iPod SDK
10. OLED color screen
11. MPEG4 playback, H.264, with a mini s-video out port
12. Built-in Airport extreme with Rendezvous
13. AM/FM tuner
14. Bluetooth
Apple's grade:
12 or more -- A
9-11 -- B
6-8 -- C
3-5 -- D
less than 3 -- F
Originally posted by Existence
To keep the iPod on the top, Apple needs to:
1. Shave off one or two more ounces from the regular iPod and the mini
2. Increase the buffer to 64MB for better playback of audio books
3. Increase battery life to 15-20 hours
4. Reduce cost and make an entry-level $150-$200 iPod
5. Larger capacity hard drives
6. Add a mic for use as a dictaphone
7. Higher quality inner-ear headphones
8. Support Ogg Vorbis playback
9. Launch an iPod SDK
10. OLED color screen
11. MPEG4 playback, H.264, with a mini s-video out port
12. Built-in Airport extreme with Rendezvous
13. AM/FM tuner
14. Bluetooth
Apple's grade:
12 or more -- A
9-11 -- B
6-8 -- C
3-5 -- D
less than 3 -- F
1. Agree
2. Not a priority...
3. Fuel cells?
4. Not very Apple-like. Maybe the HP iPod?
5. Toshiba's 60GB is on its way, but do you REALLY need a 60GB MP3 player??
6. That sounds like a 3rd-party thing
7. Why not
8. Waste of time : Ogg Vorbis is a codec mostly for geeks downloading weird stuff on the IRC
9. AGREE!!!! DEFINITELY!
10. No use, except for some funky vPod thing...
11. ...which is not gonna happen (yet) because that's more of a feature for pirates to watch their DivX on TV... remember that Jobs is also the CEO of Pixar?
12. That means price up and weight up...
13. 3rd party
14. Bluetooth AND Airport? No way
However, I don't think they've done a very good job of conveying how cool/unmatched/unprecedented the whole Mac+iPod+iPod Dock+iTunes+iTMS is to people outside the Mac community. Something perfect for a ten minute demo at a conference, but much harder to condense down into a TV commercial length spot.
I was showing a friend who just got a new G5 around OS X last night. He's not a big music person, but he's knows all about the iPod and how good it is from all the commercials and press, but once I loaded up iTunes/iTMS and spent five minutes going over the whole iPod/iTunes/iTMS world he was absolutely blown away and was ready to buy iPods for his whole family.
I would like to see Apple get something at the 100 dollar range in the not to distant future. So far the iPod competitors have looked at lot like stuff built by a 1970s scifi fan in his garage, but someone is certainly going to be able to successfully clone a good enough knock off of the iPod.
Originally posted by Tuttle
I don't think they've done a very good job of conveying how cool/unmatched/unprecedented the whole Mac+iPod+iPod Dock+iTunes+iTMS is to people outside the Mac community. Something perfect for a ten minute demo at a conference, but much harder to condense down into a TV commercial length spot.
Exactly. I can't say all of the improvements listed above seem like a huge priority, and I'm really sure at least a few of them are not things Apple will do.
The thing that I would like to see happen is for Apple to keep developing the concept of "computers for the rest of us." The Digital Lifestyle. I don't think we've grasped the idea completely, but I would really like to see strides made in putting the iPod and devices like it at the center of my digital life. I really think Apple needs to put effort into communicating to people just how cool their stuff is for ordinary, non-geek people.
Originally posted by Existence
To keep the iPod on the top, Apple needs to:
1. Shave off one or two more ounces from the regular iPod and the mini
2. Increase the buffer to 64MB for better playback of audio books
3. Increase battery life to 15-20 hours
4. Reduce cost and make an entry-level $150-$200 iPod
5. Larger capacity hard drives
6. Add a mic for use as a dictaphone
7. Higher quality inner-ear headphones
8. Support Ogg Vorbis playback
9. Launch an iPod SDK
10. OLED color screen
11. MPEG4 playback, H.264, with a mini s-video out port
12. Built-in Airport extreme with Rendezvous
13. AM/FM tuner
14. Bluetooth
to that add a gsm/gprs phone capability because cellphones and portable music devices are converging rapidly
for an idea of this look here! This is where the ipod should head.
http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?...=pp1&pid=10140
http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-5254146.html
Apple needs to update the iPod to draw attention away from the iMac debacle.
Originally posted by Existence
To keep the iPod on the top, Apple needs to:
1. Shave off one or two more ounces from the regular iPod and the mini
2. Increase the buffer to 64MB for better playback of audio books
3. Increase battery life to 15-20 hours
4. Reduce cost and make an entry-level $150-$200 iPod
5. Larger capacity hard drives
6. Add a mic for use as a dictaphone
7. Higher quality inner-ear headphones
8. Support Ogg Vorbis playback
9. Launch an iPod SDK
10. OLED color screen
11. MPEG4 playback, H.264, with a mini s-video out port
12. Built-in Airport extreme with Rendezvous
13. AM/FM tuner
14. Bluetooth
Apple's grade:
12 or more -- A
9-11 -- B
6-8 -- C
3-5 -- D
less than 3 -- F
1. Agreed. Likely. Apple always doing this kind of thing. I love it.
2. Agreed. Suprised it didn't happen in the 3G iPod.
3. Would be great and tough. Other claiming this appear to be lying (basically).
4. They have an "entry level" device that they cannot make fast enough. This will happen...but not until 2005.
5. Likely...but one wonders what for? Music? Not for most people. the 40GB is starting to hit the top of where most people are for music I suspect.
6. Seems possible/likely. I can't imagine using mine this way though. Apple might see it this way and leave it to the 3rd parties.
7. Agreed.
8. Magic 8-Ball says: "Outlook not so good"
9. YES! Make iPod a "platform" for developers!
10. Seem likely. Don't know much of the technology...but seems like a proper match.
11. Hmmm...I think yes...many others think no. I like the idea...especially as the HD gets bigger...how much music? What about photos, slide shows and video?
12. Also seems likely to happen given Airport Express.
13. Magic 8-Ball says: "Outlook not so good"
14. WiFi more likely.
Originally posted by TednDi
to that add a gsm/gprs phone capability because cellphones and portable music devices are converging rapidly
Wooaaaa Sport! Slow down here. How about a toaster...with an upsell for bagel toasting. iPod does music. I am (personally) mixed on the video stuff...but I can see that happening. Why do I want a GPS in my iPod?
Originally posted by Chris Cuilla
Wooaaaa Sport! Slow down here. How about a toaster...with an upsell for bagel toasting. iPod does music. I am (personally) mixed on the video stuff...but I can see that happening. Why do I want a GPS in my iPod?
You already do have a gps in your cell phone if you have gsm coverage. It is part (in the US) of the enhanced 911 system This allows law enforcement to find the phone in an emergency. This feature has been in effect for several years now. Privacy concerns asside, It can make for location based information streaming more usefull.
the chipset is small and uses very low power. Currently a cell phone manufacturer can buy a chipset with bluetooth, gsm/gprs and will operate worldwide on gsm networks.
Apple could market a 4g iphone with music features in the mini case.
Originally posted by TednDi
You already do have a gps in your cell phone if you have gsm coverage. It is part (in the US) of the enhanced 911 system This allows law enforcement to find the phone in an emergency. This feature has been in effect for several years now. Privacy concerns asside, It can make for location based information streaming more usefull.
I'm not sure about the GPS in the phones. I went round and round with a friend on this because I assumed the same. They need to be able to locate you...but I don't think it is actually using GPS.
the chipset is small and uses very low power. Currently a cell phone manufacturer can buy a chipset with bluetooth, gsm/gprs and will operate worldwide on gsm networks.
But, it still uses power...and for a feature whose value I question. I guess I am wary of the "Swiss Army Knife" tendency that "feature creep" creates.
Apple could market a 4g iphone with music features in the mini case.
They have already said they are not doing a phone...much as we might like them to.
If you look at the ipod logic it is fitting into cars seamlessly. If you ipod/iphone your bmw then the steering wheel control will be all the more usefull. Add to the functionality a bluetooth wireless mic and it could work. Apple likes the car because that's a good place to listen to your music. Video I think is out for now from the ipod until the new quicktime codec comes out.
I think that feature creap is something that all appliances get anyway. With this logic we all would still be on
apple II+'s and the command line interface.
The ipod must evolve. Yes it commands a huge part of the market but that is where it is today. Tomorrow's ipod should be able to do more or another well designed unit will.
Originally posted by Existence
To keep the iPod on the top, Apple needs to:
1. Shave off one or two more ounces from the regular iPod and the mini
2. Increase the buffer to 64MB for better playback of audio books
3. Increase battery life to 15-20 hours
4. Reduce cost and make an entry-level $150-$200 iPod
5. Larger capacity hard drives
6. Add a mic for use as a dictaphone
7. Higher quality inner-ear headphones
8. Support Ogg Vorbis playback
9. Launch an iPod SDK
10. OLED color screen
11. MPEG4 playback, H.264, with a mini s-video out port
12. Built-in Airport extreme with Rendezvous
13. AM/FM tuner
14. Bluetooth
1. The iPod, sure. The mini? That thing already feels almost insubstantial to me.
2. Yes.
3. Would be great, but this opposes most of your other requests.
4. Steve has gone on record saying that Apple is looking for ways to make the iPod less expensive. That'll become an issue when they they find that they can make them fast enough.
5. For what? The survey's in, and most people consider 1,000 songs to be perfectly OK. 60GB of audio will appeal to a relatively small group of people, so if the HDDs are going to get bigger, new uses have to be found for them. Also, bear in mind that high-capacity hard drives tend to be thicker and heavier, like the 40GB drive in the top-end (and larger, heavier) iPod.
6. Sure. I know people who'd love that.
7. Please. I trashed my original ones and bought a pair of Sony earbuds to tide me over until I could reorder a new set of the Apple buds. That was two months ago. I've never reordered.
8. The iPod apparently can't muster the horsepower to decode Ogg Vorbis. There've been Ogg fans working on this for a while, and they haven't gotten it to go yet. So this requires newer, more powerful guts — a substantial revision. The odds that Apple will do this to support Ogg Vorbis are essentially nil, but if they do it for some other reason with more mainstream appeal, I'm sure they'll throw in support as well.
9. Meh. Not yet.
10. Meh. Just remember that they're still trying to keep those from degrading after a few thousand hours.
11. See 8. Would be nice, but you're talking about computational heavy lifting that the current iPod couldn't even hope to attempt. Also, playback through a cable (probably through the dock connector) I can see; playback on the iPod's screen is just about pointless.
12. And you want the batteries to last how long again? You want the iPod running a networking stack and daemons while it's streaming H.264 and decoding Ogg Vorbis? It'll get there eventually (meaning: years), but that would represent a tremendous leap in the sophistication of the device.
13. Meh. The iPod replaces radio.
14. Sure, although again expect to pay a price in battery life.
Originally posted by Chris Cuilla
I'm not sure about the GPS in the phones. I went round and round with a friend on this because I assumed the same. They need to be able to locate you...but I don't think it is actually using GPS.
That would be because it isn't. It uses your signal to separate signal towers to triangulate your position. This has also been available to the security organisations since well before September 11 too.
One thing it seems everyone has forgotten (or maybe it was proved incorrect, I don't know) is the Home on iPod feature. Many people seem to expect the iPod to continue developing as a platform, meaning that the iPod itself will become more and more like a small computer.
But, as many other people are quick to point out, the battery life and display size are inadequate for this purpose, and no talk of OLED and fuel cell batteries will persuade me that this is going to change soon.
I think it's more likely (at this point in the discussion) that Apple will develop the iPod into something more closely resembling an extensible storage device than a stand-alone platform. Remember this ?
I think Apple will be giving us something sort of like that. Except that in the case of the iPod, the processing power, USB, Firewire, etc. will not be part of the package. The iPod will only be providing storage. You'll have to find yourself a docking station (i.e. your computer or your friend's computer, or the computer in the lab at school) before you can start sharing and using your photos, videos, music, documents... whatever.
Remember... Apple is making the computer for the rest of your life. Phones and PDAs are already covered in the boring, hum-drum business world by *competent* people like Dell -- people who crank out a solid business machine without imagination for users who have none.
What say you?
Huge frigging step back from the Newton 2100 although oqo has a buzzword checklist that should "make" it cool. But it's not, IMO.
Originally posted by johnq
Huge frigging step back from the Newton 2100 although oqo has a buzzword checklist that should "make" it cool. But it's not, IMO.
I totally agree the thing is overrated (although I've not been around long enough to make Newton comparisons). I was thinking of the portability. I don't think anyone wants a dockable video editor in their pocket, but a dockable file server is something I know I'd be interested in.
Lower price would help it sell better but Apple has never been one for competing on price. I don't expect to see any changes here (Won't stop me wishing for it though).
Personally I would love an 80GB drive (to fit all my CDs in lossless format) but these aren't available yet and considering the demand for the iPod mini, it's not something most consumers seem to care about. A 60GB iPod on the top of the range soon though sounds highly likely to me but I don't see Apple focusing on high capacity iPods.
I expect to see some kind of wireless in the iPod in the future, especially considering the new Airport Express. Not sure if the technology will be good/cheap/low power enough to make the next iPod revision though. Bluetooth is right out...has anyone ever tried uploading a MP3 to a cellphone via Bluetooth?...far, far too slow. Music sharing concerns may also may make Apple hold back on wireless.
Firewire 800. I haven't seen anyone mention this but I expect the next high end models to support the faster firewire standard.
Ogg support? Maybe. It would be nice simply for another tick box on the consumer's checklist but I don't feel it's really hurting iPod sales at the moment. I'm sure Apple could get the current iPod to decode Ogg if they wanted despite processing power limitations.
Built in Radio? I can't see this happening. Does anyone really care about radio anymore? I don't know what things are like where everyone else here lives but nobody in my circle of friends listens to the radio anymore. A lack of radio doesn't seem to have hurt CD players over the years either.
Sound recording/encoding ability. I'd like to see this but I don't know if the demand is there. If I had to pick, I'd guess Apple won't do it. Still hope they do though.
Video features? Not next revision anyway that I can see.
Originally posted by Chris Cuilla
4. They have an "entry level" device that they cannot make fast enough. This will happen...but not until 2005.
Last I checked they already have this.... its called the iPod Mini.
MacAddict16
Firewire 800. I haven't seen anyone mention this but I expect the next high end models to support the faster firewire standard.
Theres no need for firewire 800.
Right now the limiting factor in transfer speeds is the hard drive itself. Its not fast enough.
Besides, very few people have firewire 800 on their computers.