iPhone nano rumors resurface alongside case renderings
Renderings of a protective case for a device that resembles a smaller iPhone have been published online, rekindling speculation that Apple may be planning to introduce a new low-end handset sometime in the near future.
The images were published by iDealsChina, a publication with a mixed track record that includes accurate leaks of Griffin's iPhone 3G casing design, but inaccurate reports on the design of the fourth-generation iPod nano and plans to include GPS in the second-generation iPod touch.
Its latest report claims the new casing design is for an iPhone nano that will be "targeted at the people who couldn?t afford an iPhone" and sold at discount shops such as Wal-Mart.
Pictured to be both shorter (the same height as the 4G iPod nano) and fatter than the iPhone 3G, the handset would reportedly include the same sensors and camera, but feature a smaller touchscreen and lack 3G connectivity.
Naturally, iDealsChina predicts that Apple will formally introduce the device early next month at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, adding that manufacturing of the handsets will begin on Saturday, December 20th at a daily run rate of 60,000 to 80,000 units.
The publication appears high in its convictions and goes on to say that Apple may also announce a new version of the iPod shuffle at the conference. It encourages visitors to return to its website around the 20th, when it expects that actual photos of the new iPhone and iPod shuffle will be leaked.
Given its mixed track record and a lack of other reports making similar predictions, readers may want to treat the claims from iDealsChina with a degree of skepticism. There are also some uncertainties regarding the affect a smaller iPhone screen would have on a device's ability to run the wealth of existing iPhone applications.
Speaking during a recent conference call, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said his company's strategy has been to treat the iPhone as a software platform based on a consistent hardware design that does not complicate matters for developers.
"I think that the traditional game in the phone market has been to produce a voice phone in a hundred different varieties," he said. "But as software starts to become the differentiating technology of this product category, I think that people are going to find that a hundred variations presented to a software developer is not very enticing."
Jobs was responding to a questions about why Apple hasn't broadened its iPhone line to include more than one model design and what other opportunities he may see within the market.
"I wasn't alive then, but from everything I've heard, Babe Ruth only had one home run," he quipped. "He just kept hitting it over and over again."
That said, a report from earlier this year noted that Apple was experimenting with smaller iPhone touch-screens, specifically 2.8-inch and 3.2-inch varieties. It's unclear whether the screens were being evaluated for use in an iPod or iPhone, but their design is somewhat consistent with the renderings of the iPhone nano device published this week.
The images were published by iDealsChina, a publication with a mixed track record that includes accurate leaks of Griffin's iPhone 3G casing design, but inaccurate reports on the design of the fourth-generation iPod nano and plans to include GPS in the second-generation iPod touch.
Its latest report claims the new casing design is for an iPhone nano that will be "targeted at the people who couldn?t afford an iPhone" and sold at discount shops such as Wal-Mart.
Pictured to be both shorter (the same height as the 4G iPod nano) and fatter than the iPhone 3G, the handset would reportedly include the same sensors and camera, but feature a smaller touchscreen and lack 3G connectivity.
Naturally, iDealsChina predicts that Apple will formally introduce the device early next month at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, adding that manufacturing of the handsets will begin on Saturday, December 20th at a daily run rate of 60,000 to 80,000 units.
The publication appears high in its convictions and goes on to say that Apple may also announce a new version of the iPod shuffle at the conference. It encourages visitors to return to its website around the 20th, when it expects that actual photos of the new iPhone and iPod shuffle will be leaked.
Given its mixed track record and a lack of other reports making similar predictions, readers may want to treat the claims from iDealsChina with a degree of skepticism. There are also some uncertainties regarding the affect a smaller iPhone screen would have on a device's ability to run the wealth of existing iPhone applications.
Speaking during a recent conference call, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said his company's strategy has been to treat the iPhone as a software platform based on a consistent hardware design that does not complicate matters for developers.
"I think that the traditional game in the phone market has been to produce a voice phone in a hundred different varieties," he said. "But as software starts to become the differentiating technology of this product category, I think that people are going to find that a hundred variations presented to a software developer is not very enticing."
Jobs was responding to a questions about why Apple hasn't broadened its iPhone line to include more than one model design and what other opportunities he may see within the market.
"I wasn't alive then, but from everything I've heard, Babe Ruth only had one home run," he quipped. "He just kept hitting it over and over again."
That said, a report from earlier this year noted that Apple was experimenting with smaller iPhone touch-screens, specifically 2.8-inch and 3.2-inch varieties. It's unclear whether the screens were being evaluated for use in an iPod or iPhone, but their design is somewhat consistent with the renderings of the iPhone nano device published this week.
Comments
Even I predicted this one, on 4th July '07:
If there is any truth to this I would bet that it will have the same resolution as the bigger iPhone but with a higher density screen (and therefore smaller). It may forgo some features like GPS and camera but otherwise be similar to the iPhone's basic functioning.
And how do you go about keeping the keyboard from becoming more frustrating to use?
And how do you go about keeping the keyboard from becoming more frustrating to use?
And that is the million dollar question!
And how do you go about keeping the keyboard from becoming more frustrating to use?
nano fingers
Seriously though, the market for this device is people who want an iphone but balk at the $30 a month for data.
I suspect they will offer this at $99 with a $10-20 data package.
I would think the target market for an iPhone nano would primarily consist of teenagers who are more adaptable than old people(like you)
Apple's presence in phones is supposed to imply smartphones and real software. I'm not sure why they would go into dumb phones (they would probably sell a ton of them anyway). Apple has an art for tactfully eating their message, though.
And if it is somehow the same thing but smaller, that's pretty lame for developers. The one-platform-for-all is exciting (and can I think improving the specs over time can be managed if they take it slow).
It's neat (impressive) that shrinking the display on this device would bring with it so many infrastructural decisions/issues.
I say there will be variants but the 3.5" screen is here for a while.
why is there no headphone jack hole in the case renderings?
Probably because it's not real. If it *is* a phone, Macworld is a preannouncement ahead of FCC filings isn't it?
I don't think the case makers needed to know about iPhone until Macworld 2007. They had months to put something together before it was actually available in a store.
Very dumb. If this rumor does come true, everyone claiming how cool it sounds will immediately complain that it doesn't have 3G, doesn't have a camera, and doesn't have GPS. I don't think they need a smaller iPhone. If it is too small, it will be harder to use. Look what happened to the original Nano. It had a very small screen, difficult to see. Now the Nano has a larger screen. They learned that smaller isn't always better. You'll also lose battery life because it will need a smaller battery. That won't be good either. Also, without 3G, who would waste their time with that phone?
If they could get this on Verizon, I know of a ton of people that would be all over this. The functionality of the Touch, with regular ol' phone service on Verizon. Everyone I know (stuck with Verizon) would be on it.
nano fingers
Seriously though, the market for this device is people who want an iphone but balk at the $30 a month for data.
I suspect they will offer this at $99 with a $10-20 data package.
I would think the target market for an iPhone nano would primarily consist of teenagers who are more adaptable than old people(like you)
I've been a big supporter of the nano iPhone in the past, but I am not so sure this makes any sense.
Like most I have to use the $30 data package because it's all that's offered even though I only use the tiniest fraction of the 6GB limit per month. I haven't even got to spending an entire GB of data yet and I've had my iPhone for three months! The point is if a lower rate for data became available a lot of folks on the "regular" iPhone would avail themselves of it. Tying the cost of data to the size of the phone makes no sense and is not a factor in the decision of which phone to get.
The thing I don't quite understand about a proposed nano form factor is that the functionality would have to be limited and exactly where *that* line is drawn, and why is the defining issue IMO. A nano phone (unless it's just smaller all around for small handed people but otherwise identical), would have a hard time even hosting a keyboard which would seem to leave out all of the "smart" applications like email, text, web, etc. It might squeeze a horizontal only keyboard in there or one of those horrible abominations known as the T9 keyboards, but that doesn't sound like anything Apple would do.
If this thing exists at all though, I can only see it with the limited functionality of the average flip phone (aside from a few widgets) and that means it will have to be basically given away with the contract.
Probably because it's not real. If it *is* a phone, Macworld is a preannouncement ahead of FCC filings isn't it?
I don't think the case makers needed to know about iPhone until Macworld 2007. They had months to put something together before it was actually available in a store.
if you think about it, the jack may be on the bottom like the iPod Touch.
If you lower the price of the phone, you have to lower the price of the service plan proportionately to increase sales. The phone companies have no incentive to sell an Apple branded phone that will have a $50/month service plan before subsidies.
That's one of the most wildly inaccurate statements I've read here in a long time.
! ! !F A K E! ! !
other than that, ... ummm your all idiots its ACTUALLY an Apple TV remote!
see... now the thread is complete