Analyst sees next-gen touchscreen iPods by Macworld

2

Comments

  • Reply 21 of 56
    eckingecking Posts: 1,588member
    Why would it run OSX if all it did was play music, that'd be a major waste of strength. It would have to at least have Wifi.
  • Reply 22 of 56
    cameronjcameronj Posts: 2,357member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Blah64 View Post


    Yeah, and you know that at least -some- people within Apple read the forums, so might as well spell it out here....



    I for one hope they don't - or at least that they don't take what they read seriously. These boards represent such a tiny, and non-average, part of Apple's user base that using our collective opinion/desires would result in some products that missed the marketable window quite badly.
  • Reply 23 of 56
    tbagginstbaggins Posts: 2,306member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Clive At Five View Post


    I realize this may be unlikely, but I agree that the iPod would be an iPhone minus the Phone. It'd be a blast browsing the net while listening to tunes, while sipping a latte at my local Caribou Coffee (mmm.......... Caribou......).



    We've all heard that the iPod is "all about the music" but more recently, the iPod has taken on more of a PMP (portable meadia player) stance rather than just an MP3 player. That being said, a device that played music, videos, browsed mobile YouTube, and surfed the web would be one KILLER PMP.



    Besides. If they're stuffing OS X into the thing, they better be using it for more than just CoverFlow and a few licks of Quartz rendering... What a waste that would be...





    Yeah, I'd agree that the PMP (Portable Media Player) route is the way to go... iPod + WiFi web surfing. Plus MultiTouch and an iPhonelike big screen... as a total 'iPhone without the phone' package, it'd be very nice to have.



    But also, if Apple DIDN'T do this, I'd be afraid of a competitor (Zune, SanDisk, etc.) going that route while Apple offers something that's 'just' an iPod. That would be giving the competition a major and positive point of differentiation from the iPod... something the Zune tried and failed to do ('the social', lol).



    Apple hopefully is not foolish enough to let that happen.



    Of course, some people may want 'just an iPod', and wouldn't want the web-surfing WiFi stuff adding cost and reducing battery life. So perhaps Apple may release two lines of touchscreen iPods, one that are PMPs (I so want to say 'P.I.M.P.S', lol), and one that are 'just' iPods, at a lower price point.



    Then everyone's happy. Except, of course, for the obstinate few who are never happy.



    .
  • Reply 24 of 56
    bsenkabsenka Posts: 799member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jtismee View Post


    100GB?? how many songs do you possibly have? You must think i'm crazy to own as my primary computer a 12" Powerbook with a total hard drive capacity of 80GB. I can understand if its video taking up that space but 100GB of songs?? i dont see a need for that..



    But i do want the WiFi internet browser, or at least a finder that lets you view and edit documents. However i do agree with the analyst with the idea that it would canibalize the iPhone if you just took out the phone capabilities and kept everything else in the iPod.



    My iTunes library has more than 80GB of music already. It's not possible to put everything on an existing iPod, so I don't even try. I just reload my 2GB Nano every so often, and gave the 30GB video iPod to my son. A 100GB iPod would serve me well now, but I'd still be in the same situation in a year or so as my collection continues to grow. Ideally, I'd like to see these miniature hard drives have capacities in the 200-250GB range. Then, taking an actual collection of videos/movies with you would actually be feasible.



    Some day. I still remember the days when a ONE GB hard drive was a distant pipe dream.
  • Reply 25 of 56
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Johnny Mozzarella View Post


    iPod 16GB = $399 (Multitouch iPod + WiFi + Safari + Mail + Camera)

    iPod 80GB = $299 (Multitouch iPod)



    I know I would camp out for that 16GB iPod, pretty much my dream iPod right now.
  • Reply 26 of 56
    pmjoepmjoe Posts: 565member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TBaggins View Post


    I don't think the iPhone was subsidized by ATT, though most phones are. You paid full price AND still were bound to a two-year contract.



    It was a source of some complaint, both on AI forums and elsewhere. But, hasn't seemed to hurt sales, not yet anyway.



    Yeah right, because Apple said to AT&T, go ahead and take this exclusive deal to offer the iPhone, all the new subscribers you'll get, and oh, while you're at it, you can keep the money you'd normally pay the phone manufacturer too.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pt123 View Post


    If you believe some of the reports of AT&T paying Apple for each subscriber, then the phones were subsidized, just not to the customer. From AT&T perspective, they paid to Apple instead of the you and I.



    Which means the cost of the phone is subsidized by your contract.
  • Reply 27 of 56
    tetzel1517tetzel1517 Posts: 204member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by reallynotnick View Post


    I know I would camp out for that 16GB iPod, pretty much my dream iPod right now.



    I don't know... 16 gb seems like an odd amount. Someone who's going to buy that kind of device will probably want/need more than 16 gb capacity.



    My ideal iPod is 80 gb, widescreen, touchscreen, and has WiFi, but only for the purpose of getting music from the iTunes Store. I think the iPod should remain a media player at its core. Let the iPhone be the 3-in-1 device.
  • Reply 28 of 56
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tetzel1517 View Post


    I don't know... 16 gb seems like an odd amount. Someone who's going to buy that kind of device will probably want/need more than 16 gb capacity.



    My ideal iPod is 80 gb, widescreen, touchscreen, and has WiFi, but only for the purpose of getting music from the iTunes Store. I think the iPod should remain a media player at its core. Let the iPhone be the 3-in-1 device.



    See I want an iPhone, but I simply can't have one because we don't have AT&T here so I have no choice. I want a convergence device. Too me 16GB is exactly what I want right now, I have just a little over a 1GB of music but then I would love to have a large collection of videos on it too. I think I rather have a slimmer device with longer battery and no moving parts over a huge HDD.



    I understand that some people want a large HDD though, not sure how to balance that in.
  • Reply 29 of 56
    tbagginstbaggins Posts: 2,306member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pmjoe View Post


    Yeah right, because Apple said to AT&T, go ahead and take this exclusive deal to offer the iPhone, all the new subscribers you'll get, and oh, while you're at it, you can keep the money you'd normally pay the phone manufacturer too.



    Sure, why not? Considering



    1) That Apple is still getting the money that they'd normally be getting from the carrier subsidy. Its just coming from the customer now, at the time of the iPhone's sale.



    2) ATT is paying Apple a portion of the monthly service fees. Which, over the long haul, adds up to a lot, and is not a deal that handset makers usually (if ever) get.



    It's smart, actually. If ATT was subsidizing the iPhone at all, ATT could use that as an argument to NOT pay Apple a cut of the monthly service fees, or at least to reduce the cut. It'd be like, "Hey, we ALREADY paid you, Apple! WTH do you want, the world?!?"



    But with the customer paying full price up front for the phone AND Apple getting a cut of the service plan fees, Apple's making out great on both ends of the deal.



    Jobs is masterful, to the point of being almost scary.



    .
  • Reply 30 of 56
    capiendocapiendo Posts: 22member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kolchak View Post


    But it's got to have the WiFi! I wouldn't even care if it was just 802.11b rather than g or n, and I could live without Bluetooth. Take the damn phone portion, but give me wireless. (Skype wouldn't hurt, either.) They can take the cheap, zoomless camera, too.



    Papa needs a new iPod!



    want a iPod with wifi? get a PSP! and it plays games! and it's way cheaper!!



    but seriously, i agree. i'd much rather have a wiPod; web surfing on the PSP doesn't compare to Safari on the iPhone. gaming on the PSP is pretty sweet tho. maybe i'll get both.
  • Reply 31 of 56
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,310moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by capiendo View Post


    want a iPod with wifi? get a PSP! and it plays games! and it's way cheaper!!



    but seriously, i agree. i'd much rather have a wiPod; web surfing on the PSP doesn't compare to Safari on the iPhone. gaming on the PSP is pretty sweet tho. maybe i'll get both.



    In theory gaming on the PSP is good but the game selection is so small. Also, wifi really sucks on the PSP. It's very slow in my experience and it screws up a lot of web page rendering almost to the point of being unusable.



    The odd few games it has are quite good but overall, I don't think it's worth it, especially taking into consideration the price of the games. The thumb stick is also not very nice. What I'd probably do is get a PS2 + an ipod with wifi if it was available. Large selection of cheap games, great ipod and great wifi.
  • Reply 32 of 56
    My hand has been on my wallet ever since the iPhone was announced.



    I CANNOT WAIT for an iPod that I can load ALL my DVD's onto, and watch them in crisp resolution on a 3.5" or 4" screen.



    I'm buying one the day they come out.
  • Reply 33 of 56
    tbagginstbaggins Posts: 2,306member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    In theory gaming on the PSP is good but the game selection is so small. Also, wifi really sucks on the PSP. It's very slow in my experience and it screws up a lot of web page rendering almost to the point of being unusable.



    The odd few games it has are quite good but overall, I don't think it's worth it, especially taking into consideration the price of the games. The thumb stick is also not very nice. What I'd probably do is get a PS2 + an ipod with wifi if it was available. Large selection of cheap games, great ipod and great wifi.



    If you care about portable gaming, you should also consider the Nintendo DS.



    The DS-specfic games are innovative and fun, and the device is also backwards-compatible with GameBoy Advance games, so you end up with a HUGE library of games to choose from.



    Also, its quite cheap, at $129.



    The PSP has its winning points too, such as the huge screen and better graphics, but as you say, its still a bit lacking in the games department, even after all this time. \ And why they didn't go with dual thumbsticks on that thing is beyond me... would've made portable SOCOM and like MUCH better.



    Guess it really comes down to what you prefer... graphics or gameplay.





    Btw, I'd love it if Apple did a deal with Nintendo to have Game Boy Advance games on the iPhone and touchscreen iPods... you could have touchscreen virtual GBA controls, would be neat.



    .
  • Reply 34 of 56
    Damn it I can't wait till these things are released!!!
  • Reply 35 of 56
    If the thing runs OSX, it'd be killing me if Apple didnt' allow it to run Safari on wifi at home or on free wifi cyber places so common in big cities nowadays. Probably not Skype cause then it would definitely make no sense to own an IPhone, but wifi, yeah yeah yeah ! So that we could download songs on the road and have a true "IPod on the go".
  • Reply 36 of 56
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by biggulpmark View Post


    I don't have any need for many of the iPhone features in an iPod. I don't want to surf the web via an iPod. I have a laptop for that.



    What I would love is this: (posted in order of importance)

    ? Front Row-ish interface for when docked to a TV (i want the ability to navigate the iPod via the remote)

    ? Widescreen Multi-Touch (a must post-iPhone era)

    ? The iPhone iPod interface (cover flow)

    ? The iPhone Photo interface (zoom and rotate)

    ? 100GB (not that I've ever filled my 60GB with music, but I carry a lot of files with me and often run out of space)



    Could do without(but would be nice)

    ? Wifi for file access (not web, widgets might be cool though)

    ? Bluetooth (for headphones, remote, other accessories)



    LIKE THIS:





    That's pretty much it... Not to much to ask is it? All I really want is the Front Row-ish feature. This seems like a pretty big oversight to have not added this to the Video iPod in the first place. I think that could have been done with the current iPod Video hardware.



    That is nice consept, but I think that this should be more of the function of universal dock than the iPod feature.
  • Reply 37 of 56
    sactoman01sactoman01 Posts: 209member
    ...The following models:



    1) iPod shuffle--new 1 GB and 2GB models with a minimal LCD display. It will "dock" in the same fashion as the current shuffle model.



    2) iPod nano--no hardware changes, but 2 GB model dropped, 4 GB low end model in silver only, 8 GB "mainstream" model in up to 10 different color cases, and new 16 GB model in black and red case only.



    3) iPod video--new model with full touchscreen display that can switch between iPhone-style navigation or Click Wheel navigation. Hard drive choices are 60 and 100 GB hard drives. The device will have physical length, width and depth of current 80 GB 5.5G iPod video to maintain compatibility with current iPod docks.



    Sorry, no WiFi or any web-surfing capabilities, since the players are designed specifically for media playback only.
  • Reply 38 of 56
    vox barbaravox barbara Posts: 2,021member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kolchak View Post


    But it's got to have the WiFi! I wouldn't even care if it was just 802.11b rather than g or n, and I could live without Bluetooth. Take the damn phone portion, but give me wireless. (Skype wouldn't hurt, either.) They can take the cheap, zoomless camera, too.



    Papa needs a new iPod!



    You nailed it entirely, the Papa line notwithstanding.



    iPod with current iPhone form factor, same user interface (without the phone part),

    WiFi, mountable on Macs, can serve as an Apple TV mobile, deal in an eye glimpse.

    Make me.
  • Reply 39 of 56
    There is really no point to this thing without WiFi. It should have a microphone as well, for recording. What should (and probably has to) be taken out are what I would call "personal communications" features, such as phone, voicemail, e-mail, and so forth. Obviously Skype could not be supported.



    You could do e-mail via Web mail, but this would be uncomfortable for frequent use, with all the zooming and so forth; if anything it would push some people towards the iPhone if they became iPod e-mail dependent.



    So, basically an iPhone with no phone or e-mail. The camera can go too, but that's really not important from a cost standpoint.



    This device would allow you to browse the Web, watch a movie, or hear music without worrying about being left without communications if your battery goes dead, since you would have a separate phone.



    Meanwhile, the iPhone should get a replaceable battery (and this would help differentiate from the iPod X). A real phone needs this.
  • Reply 40 of 56
    All I want is a high resolution widescreen display, and enough capacity to hold my 40 or so DVD's.



    That is ALL I want. A portable movie player.



    I think i'm the easiest of us to satisfy!
Sign In or Register to comment.