An Apple digicam. Nice. Cool. It would be good for tech newbies. Nice. Cool. But lets look at the specs. Who would make the CCD? Who would make the lense assembly? Not Nikon. Not Zeiss(they're with Sony). Who?
If Apple did nothing more than make the camera's controls as simple as the iPod's it will sell like hotcakes. Even the nicest digital cameras out there have horribly difficult interfaces - you practcally need an engineering degree jsut to delete a pic from most camera's storage.
Then if you add integration with an iPod (think capture image direct to iPod via Firewire) you have a real winner. No expensve flash cards, memory sticks, etc. Just capture to the iPod and when you plug the iPod into the Mac, iPhoto automatically imports them for you.
Now I see why the called it "iPod".</strong><hr></blockquote>
Issues...
'Expensive cards" - CF Cards are WAY CHEAP these days.. (disclaimer I started buying them 3+ years ago)
'Save to iPod'
First the cam would either need to be tethered to the iPod via a FW cable or somehow the iPod would be 'married' INTO the cam...
- Tethered via FW Cable: BLECH!!!
- Married into the cam: iPods are now several different physical sizes so this wouldn't be too easy.
<strong>wow, what a lot of replies this thread has got
looks like Apple mucked-up and let the wrong people know about it.
I'd say it'll be announced in April, available in May just in time to make those priceless holiday snaps </strong><hr></blockquote>
Getting over the hype of this I still say this could VERY WELL be bullshit..
I've yet to see the FULL page...
Apple Learn and Earn is a Sales TRAINING Site right?
Well look back at the quoted text... It starts with the number 6 (as if 5 other choices were available)
Could this just be a multiple choice TEST? As in pick the best paragraph from the following:
1 - text
2 - text
3 - text
4 - text
5 - test
6 - text (the text we are seeing)
Also in the text it reads:
"one year long free digital treatment of photos with several large enterprises"
Remember that text is translated via google and a better translation just might be: "one year of free digital prints" (what else could 'digital treatment of photos' mean)
Hmmm near as I can tell Apple isn't going to offer ONE YEAR of free photo processing... It would KILL em.
<strong>Apple Learn and Earn is a Sales TRAINING Site right?
Well look back at the quoted text... It starts with the number 6 (as if 5 other choices were available)
Could this just be a multiple choice TEST? As in pick the best paragraph from the following:</strong><hr></blockquote>
Nice try Dave, but no. The Learn and Earn site doesn't put up tests, its just a site where sales people can get the latest dope on Apple products couched in salespeak.
And despite your resistance to the concept, it makes sense from a "digital hub" point of view. Apple needs to tightly integrate digitial hub products to the Mac in order to add value to the Mac for consumers, otherwise why buy a Mac?
Adding a camera that has features no other camera has (such as integration with the iPod) makes good business sense in terms of fulfilling the "digital hub" promise.
Nice try Dave, but no. The Learn and Earn site doesn't put up tests, its just a site where sales people can get the latest dope on Apple products couched in salespeak.
And despite your resistance to the concept, it makes sense from a "digital hub" point of view. Apple needs to tightly integrate digitial hub products to the Mac in order to add value to the Mac for consumers, otherwise why buy a Mac?
Adding a camera that has features no other camera has (such as integration with the iPod) makes good business sense in terms of fulfilling the "digital hub" promise.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Uh, Mr. Tomb, you are incorrect. Learn & Earn DOES have quizes. The site is for TRAINING afterall and the quizes are a way to evaluate what you have LEARNED so that you can EARN points towards being recognized as an Apple Product Specialist.
What if Apple cut a deal with Foveon to use their X3 image sensor technology instead of CCDs and more primitive CMOS variants?
I'm betting that we'll be seeing this X3 tech. being used in scanners and DV cameras in the not-so-distant future. Sigma is just about here. I'm sure Foveon would want to license this technology to MANY companies. Why not Apple? Sigma may be the "first" to market with their X3-tech offering, but *Apple* could be the *first* to bring the tech down to a prosumer/basic-user arena.
If what I've been reading about this new X3 tech. is true (as per Popular Science Magazine) then even at lesser pixel resolutions, cameras based on this tech. will trounce a lot of the cameras that are considered "higher" -end these days, and which cost a LOT more. This could be another "industry first" for Apple. They could literally *own* the low to midrange consumer/prosumer market in one swipe, just like they did with the iPOD. A high-quality digital-still camera with FireWire (or maybe even wireless?) connection and the legendary ease-of-use that Apple's known for and it just might work.
You can check out these links to get a better idea of what the X3 brings to the table. It can only get better over time.
It ain't Apple to make an optical electronic device. They have done it, and they failed. White wouldn't look good on a camera. Aluminum would be nice, though.
i think that a camera is the next step for apple. there are so many options. some of you listed a few. the hard drive would make it more than just a still camera. if it stored movies in mpeg4 it would be sweet. and you would need a hdd for that. there is one out on the market right now that tries to use memory sticks the most you can get on it is an hour of video but that memory card would set you back almost $500. and i love the idea of being able to use it with ichat for video confrencing. one last thing. have you heard of the new archos player? the thing is and ugly contraption but, it has a color screen for pics and you can hook it to your tv and play movies from it...also the new rca lyra has this same capability...and a much nicer design...if it weren't usb2 i would almost want it...apple needs to get on the ball...enough players are coming out with so many more features that people are gonna start migrating away from the ipod...and that would be a sad day.
I would love this to be true because I believe this is a product Apple could make successful. Digital Camera's have reached a point now where image quality is high enough at 3 MegaPixels for the majority of users. The past 3-4 years have just been a CCD technology race which is now just about over in the consumer market. Now could be for Apple to come along and "Innovate" like they did with the iPod.
You can dream about what they could do:
Small, Alu case, major tech lust object
5Gb 1.8' HD or Memory Card
FireWire
Analogue Video Out for TV connection
MPEG4 Video Snapshot mode
iChat Video Conferencing
Maybe it could be an attachement for a new colour screen Video iPod2? Who knows... HOWEVER...
This info is from the "Learn and Earn" site and looks to be an answer to a multiple choice quiz question. The team there have a good sense of humour when it comes to stupid worng answers, I would need to see a full screen shot showing all the other answers before I could say this is a real "leak".
UPDATE: Blobby has confirmed it, it's L&E taking the piss in the answers, buggers, oh well dream on.
It's still very hard for me to believe that Apple could produce something for the digital camera market that giants like Fuji, Canon, Nikon, Kodak, etc., couldn't/haven't.
<strong>oh for ****'s sake, here's the translation:
Question No.6:
iLife is a completely integrated solution for digital media and contains _______
a) Applications from Apple for digital projects with digital music, digital photography, digital video editing and DVD production.
b) An iPod, an Apple iShot digital camera and the new Apple SuperDrive
c) The professional video applications from Apple as well as Adobe Photoshop.
d) One year of free digital photo editing at numerous large companies
I didn't think it would be so difficult to suss out but obviously some of you needed a translation.
This is NOT fake, as someone else said it's on the English version of the site as well.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Okay...
So it's NOT a 'fake' but it IS bullshit...
Question No.6:
iLife is a completely integrated solution for digital media and contains _______
The answer is "a) Applications from Apple for digital projects with digital music, digital photography, digital video editing and DVD production."
The rest of the answers are just bullshit answers that someone (not a Mac person but someone...) might choose as WRONG answers. The could as well have put the iNuke or iBrator...
Okay I'd say it's safe to close this topic...
Too bad cause I for one WOULD buy an Apple branded cam (and I'm in the markets since my 2.1MP Kodak 280 is showing it's age).
<strong>An Apple digicam. Nice. Cool. It would be good for tech newbies. Nice. Cool. But lets look at the specs. Who would make the CCD? Who would make the lense assembly? Not Nikon. Not Zeiss(they're with Sony). Who?</strong><hr></blockquote>
<strong>It's still very hard for me to believe that Apple could produce something for the digital camera market that giants like Fuji, Canon, Nikon, Kodak, etc., couldn't/haven't.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Any harder then beleiving that Sony, Panasonic et al couldn't get an iPod out despite the fairly elementary technology involved?
I know we think it is obvious what to do but you're comparing Steve 'I get what I want' Jobs to a bunch of cowardly, profit frightened execs. Steve can just say I want it and Apple do it, he doesn't have to go through the endless tedious route that most other majors do.
sorry about the spelling/typing, but i'm blitzed this afternoon!
Comments
<strong>iShot
If Apple did nothing more than make the camera's controls as simple as the iPod's it will sell like hotcakes. Even the nicest digital cameras out there have horribly difficult interfaces - you practcally need an engineering degree jsut to delete a pic from most camera's storage.
Then if you add integration with an iPod (think capture image direct to iPod via Firewire) you have a real winner. No expensve flash cards, memory sticks, etc. Just capture to the iPod and when you plug the iPod into the Mac, iPhoto automatically imports them for you.
Now I see why the called it "iPod".</strong><hr></blockquote>
Issues...
'Expensive cards" - CF Cards are WAY CHEAP these days.. (disclaimer I started buying them 3+ years ago)
'Save to iPod'
First the cam would either need to be tethered to the iPod via a FW cable or somehow the iPod would be 'married' INTO the cam...
- Tethered via FW Cable: BLECH!!!
- Married into the cam: iPods are now several different physical sizes so this wouldn't be too easy.
Dave
looks like Apple mucked-up and let the wrong people know about it.
I'd say it'll be announced in April, available in May just in time to make those priceless holiday snaps
<strong>wow, what a lot of replies this thread has got
looks like Apple mucked-up and let the wrong people know about it.
I'd say it'll be announced in April, available in May just in time to make those priceless holiday snaps
Getting over the hype of this I still say this could VERY WELL be bullshit..
I've yet to see the FULL page...
Apple Learn and Earn is a Sales TRAINING Site right?
Well look back at the quoted text... It starts with the number 6 (as if 5 other choices were available)
Could this just be a multiple choice TEST? As in pick the best paragraph from the following:
1 - text
2 - text
3 - text
4 - text
5 - test
6 - text (the text we are seeing)
Also in the text it reads:
"one year long free digital treatment of photos with several large enterprises"
Remember that text is translated via google and a better translation just might be: "one year of free digital prints" (what else could 'digital treatment of photos' mean)
Hmmm near as I can tell Apple isn't going to offer ONE YEAR of free photo processing... It would KILL em.
Something just doesn't smell right...
Dave
<strong>Apple Learn and Earn is a Sales TRAINING Site right?
Well look back at the quoted text... It starts with the number 6 (as if 5 other choices were available)
Could this just be a multiple choice TEST? As in pick the best paragraph from the following:</strong><hr></blockquote>
Nice try Dave, but no. The Learn and Earn site doesn't put up tests, its just a site where sales people can get the latest dope on Apple products couched in salespeak.
And despite your resistance to the concept, it makes sense from a "digital hub" point of view. Apple needs to tightly integrate digitial hub products to the Mac in order to add value to the Mac for consumers, otherwise why buy a Mac?
Adding a camera that has features no other camera has (such as integration with the iPod) makes good business sense in terms of fulfilling the "digital hub" promise.
<strong>
Nice try Dave, but no. The Learn and Earn site doesn't put up tests, its just a site where sales people can get the latest dope on Apple products couched in salespeak.
And despite your resistance to the concept, it makes sense from a "digital hub" point of view. Apple needs to tightly integrate digitial hub products to the Mac in order to add value to the Mac for consumers, otherwise why buy a Mac?
Adding a camera that has features no other camera has (such as integration with the iPod) makes good business sense in terms of fulfilling the "digital hub" promise.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Uh, Mr. Tomb, you are incorrect. Learn & Earn DOES have quizes. The site is for TRAINING afterall and the quizes are a way to evaluate what you have LEARNED so that you can EARN points towards being recognized as an Apple Product Specialist.
I'm betting that we'll be seeing this X3 tech. being used in scanners and DV cameras in the not-so-distant future. Sigma is just about here. I'm sure Foveon would want to license this technology to MANY companies. Why not Apple? Sigma may be the "first" to market with their X3-tech offering, but *Apple* could be the *first* to bring the tech down to a prosumer/basic-user arena.
If what I've been reading about this new X3 tech. is true (as per Popular Science Magazine) then even at lesser pixel resolutions, cameras based on this tech. will trounce a lot of the cameras that are considered "higher" -end these days, and which cost a LOT more. This could be another "industry first" for Apple. They could literally *own* the low to midrange consumer/prosumer market in one swipe, just like they did with the iPOD. A high-quality digital-still camera with FireWire (or maybe even wireless?) connection and the legendary ease-of-use that Apple's known for and it just might work.
You can check out these links to get a better idea of what the X3 brings to the table. It can only get better over time.
<a href="http://www.dpreview.com/news/0209/02092001sigmasd9price.asp"; target="_blank">Foveon and Sigma</a>
<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1040-833960.html"; target="_blank">Firms says new chip will sharpen photos</a>
<a href="http://www.foveon.com/"; target="_blank">Foveon Website</a>
--
Ed M.
Question No.6:
iLife is a completely integrated solution for digital media and contains _______
a) Applications from Apple for digital projects with digital music, digital photography, digital video editing and DVD production.
b) An iPod, an Apple iShot digital camera and the new Apple SuperDrive
c) The professional video applications from Apple as well as Adobe Photoshop.
d) One year of free digital photo editing at numerous large companies
I didn't think it would be so difficult to suss out but obviously some of you needed a translation.
This is NOT fake, as someone else said it's on the English version of the site as well.
[ 02-27-2003: Message edited by: blobby blob blah ]</p>
You can dream about what they could do:
Small, Alu case, major tech lust object
5Gb 1.8' HD or Memory Card
FireWire
Analogue Video Out for TV connection
MPEG4 Video Snapshot mode
iChat Video Conferencing
Maybe it could be an attachement for a new colour screen Video iPod2? Who knows... HOWEVER...
This info is from the "Learn and Earn" site and looks to be an answer to a multiple choice quiz question. The team there have a good sense of humour when it comes to stupid worng answers, I would need to see a full screen shot showing all the other answers before I could say this is a real "leak".
UPDATE: Blobby has confirmed it, it's L&E taking the piss in the answers, buggers, oh well dream on.
[ 02-27-2003: Message edited by: Riddler ]</p>
<strong>oh for ****'s sake, here's the translation:
Question No.6:
iLife is a completely integrated solution for digital media and contains _______
a) Applications from Apple for digital projects with digital music, digital photography, digital video editing and DVD production.
b) An iPod, an Apple iShot digital camera and the new Apple SuperDrive
c) The professional video applications from Apple as well as Adobe Photoshop.
d) One year of free digital photo editing at numerous large companies
I didn't think it would be so difficult to suss out but obviously some of you needed a translation.
This is NOT fake, as someone else said it's on the English version of the site as well.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Okay...
So it's NOT a 'fake' but it IS bullshit...
Question No.6:
iLife is a completely integrated solution for digital media and contains _______
The answer is "a) Applications from Apple for digital projects with digital music, digital photography, digital video editing and DVD production."
The rest of the answers are just bullshit answers that someone (not a Mac person but someone...) might choose as WRONG answers. The could as well have put the iNuke or iBrator...
Okay I'd say it's safe to close this topic...
Too bad cause I for one WOULD buy an Apple branded cam (and I'm in the markets since my 2.1MP Kodak 280 is showing it's age).
Dave
<a href="http://www.digistar.com/~steve/ilife.gif"; target="_blank">http://www.digistar.com/~steve/ilife.gif</a>;
It's a bogus answer thrown in a multiple-choice quiz. Let's not all rush out to buy one, ok?
<strong>An Apple digicam. Nice. Cool. It would be good for tech newbies. Nice. Cool. But lets look at the specs. Who would make the CCD? Who would make the lense assembly? Not Nikon. Not Zeiss(they're with Sony). Who?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Leica
<strong>It's still very hard for me to believe that Apple could produce something for the digital camera market that giants like Fuji, Canon, Nikon, Kodak, etc., couldn't/haven't.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Any harder then beleiving that Sony, Panasonic et al couldn't get an iPod out despite the fairly elementary technology involved?
I know we think it is obvious what to do but you're comparing Steve 'I get what I want' Jobs to a bunch of cowardly, profit frightened execs. Steve can just say I want it and Apple do it, he doesn't have to go through the endless tedious route that most other majors do.
sorry about the spelling/typing, but i'm blitzed this afternoon!
-hot hot hotter than hell!
[ 02-27-2003: Message edited by: robster ]</p>
<strong>
Leica</strong><hr></blockquote>
The lens on the Leica digital camera (the same hardware as a Panasonic model) is easily the best lens on any sub ?2000 camera.
<strong>A Leica digital camera...man, I'd want one.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I've got one <img src="graemlins/cancer.gif" border="0" alt="[cancer]" />