Newer iPod Speculation
What's up everyone.
Just wondering. What is the likelihood of Apple releasing an iPod w/ touch screen capabilities by years end? Do you believe that will be a reality... or possibly next year ... a couple years.
Obviously you can't read the future but if you know the companies patterns then maybe you can tell.
I want to go ahead & get an 8GB Nano, but what's usually the case with me is I buy something and the next day Version 2.badass comes out.
If they start producing iPod's w/ iPhone features soon, I could wait.
Or... will I be waiting a very long time
Anyway, thx for any insights/comments.
Just wondering. What is the likelihood of Apple releasing an iPod w/ touch screen capabilities by years end? Do you believe that will be a reality... or possibly next year ... a couple years.
Obviously you can't read the future but if you know the companies patterns then maybe you can tell.
I want to go ahead & get an 8GB Nano, but what's usually the case with me is I buy something and the next day Version 2.badass comes out.
If they start producing iPod's w/ iPhone features soon, I could wait.
Or... will I be waiting a very long time
Anyway, thx for any insights/comments.
Comments
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-...rce-192158.php
For what its worth...
"Apple's upcoming iPod will make its debut this November and will definitely feature a touchscreen, Gizmodo has learned. Let's just say that we have a couple of people fairly high up the Apple food chain who have made it known that the iPod's touchscreen is truly the bee's knees. Apple is also apparently working its tail off to make sure that the planned November launch of the new iPod will still happen."
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-...rce-192158.php
For what its worth...
Ahem.. Did you look at the date, Aug 4 2006. That was the iPhone.
but... it would seem plausible that with the release of the iPhone they're working on the next round of iPods.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/m...ces/55488.html
What's up everyone.
Just wondering. What is the likelihood of Apple releasing an iPod w/ touch screen capabilities by years end? Do you believe that will be a reality... or possibly next year ... a couple years.
Obviously you can't read the future but if you know the companies patterns then maybe you can tell.
I want to go ahead & get an 8GB Nano, but what's usually the case with me is I buy something and the next day Version 2.badass comes out.
If they start producing iPod's w/ iPhone features soon, I could wait.
Or... will I be waiting a very long time
Anyway, thx for any insights/comments.
First the history of the iPod:
iPod:
1Gen - Oct 2001
2Gen - Jul 2002
3Gen - Apr 2003
4Gen - Jul 2004
5Gen - Oct 2005
5.5Gen - Sep 2006
Mini / Nano:
1Gen - Jan 2004
2Gen - Feb 2005
1Gen - Sep 2005
2Gen - Sep 2006
Shuffle:
1Gen - Jan 2005
2Gen - Sep 2006
Notice that the iPod was initially updated fairly quickly. This is likely due to the fact that, being a new product, there was a lot of tinkering to do to get the product just right. Another reason is the introduction of a second product line. Obviously the Mini / Nano development stole resources (people) from the iPod updating (for instance, the click-wheel was introduced on the Mini and only on the iPod six months later, perhaps to give the Mini a chance to gain appeal).
It is clear that from the introduction of this second product line, the iPod has not been updated as often. The 5.5Gen revision wasn't really a big one, so it could easily be argued that the iPod hasn't seen a revision in 18 months, however, it was refreshed merely 8 months ago.
On the other hand, the Mini / Nano line has been updated about once per year (other than the second revision of the Mini, which was obviously a stop-gap in the product because the Nano wasn't ready to be introduced and Jobs decided that 20 months was too long to wait between revisions.
The evolution of the shuffle, in my opinion, doesn't impact the other two lines, so I will merely ignore its existance for my discussion.
Now, we turn to what is coming. The first piece is obvious: the iPhone in June. It is evident that the iPhone represents much of what the 6Gen iPod will be. From the introduction of the new tech in the Mini (click wheel), we know that Apple will not add multi-touch to the iPod in advance of the iPhone (because Jobs wants, similarly to the Mini, to give the iPhone a chance to establish itself). And from this history, we also get a good clue about when that tech may find its way into the iPod: six months was the delay for the click-wheel to move from the Mini to the iPod. Is it reasonable to guess that the same will follow this time? I don't think so. Six months from June is December, which is too late to take advantage of Christmas shopping. I would, thus expect to see the 6Gen iPod before Black Friday (November).
Where does the Nano fit into this? On this point, I'm with Ireland, who believes that we will see an "iPhone Nano" within a year of the launch of the iPhone. Could we see this as soon as MWSF08? -- perhaps! But, if this product is coming (which is a big "if" at the moment, and probably depends a lot on the success of the iPhone, which would actually indicate that there will be a considerable lag between the iPhone and any such "iPhone Nano"). If this product is coming, then you will not see multi-touch in the iPod Nano until after the iPhone Nano is debuted; and again, there will be up to a six month delay between this tech being found in any "iPhone Nano" and its finding its way into the iPod Nano.
All of this suggests to me that the next major revision of the iPod Nano is more than a year in the future. Because the iPod Nano cannot go 18-20 months without a refresh (eight months in the past and ten to twelve months to come), there will be a minor refresh, perhaps in September (it's been September the past two years for the Nano). This ought to be a similar update as was seen with the 2Gen Mini, and the 5.5Gen iPod when new products were in the works (the iPod Nano, and the iPhone, respectively): larger storage, perhaps slightly better battery (though 24 hours of charge is fine), even a few new features (like searching and the first character showing when scanning). This will be a 2.5Gen Nano, and it will be, cosmetically, identical to the 2Gen Nano.