Handheld WiFi?

[MacRumors]

Agere Systems announced (http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=SVBIZINK8.story&STORY=/www/story/05-25-2004/0002181033&EDATE=TUE+May+25+2004,+08:03+AM) a "mini-module" providing 802.11g (WiFi) for handheld consumer electronic devices.

Thisembedded system-in-package (SiP) delivers 54 megabit-per-second (Mbit/s) speeds while balancing exceptional range and power savings for such wireless products as personal digital assistants (PDAs), media players, Smartphones, handheld video game devices, and digital cameras and camcorders.

The module measures only 20x29 millimeters and offers 100 meters of wireless connectivity coupled with low power consumption.

This technology could potentially be used by Apple to incorporate WiFi connectivity in future handheld devices such as the iPod.

Of related interest, recent specs (http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2004/05/20040512081929.shtml) for Wireless Firewire was also introduced in May, with more recent whispers that Apple is already looking into implementing this technology in future hardware.

[Abstract]

Sweet, I guess.

I really don't know how they would charge the iPod over FW if it worked wirelessly.

And now they can save space inside of laptops by using this new, small WiFi instead?

[Chip NoVaMac]

Yeah, wi-fi for the iPod! Bring it on. And maybe even better power management for the PB's.

[Windowlicker]

it sounds useful, but what could it actually be used for and what would it actually do? a wireless ipod? it'd still need a power cable.. wifi home entertainment system? it wouldn't need all this handheld stuff on it..

i'm confused, please do enlighten me.

[Hattig]

it sounds useful, but what could it actually be used for and what would it actually do? a wireless ipod? it'd still need a power cable.. wifi home entertainment system? it wouldn't need all this handheld stuff on it..

i'm confused, please do enlighten me.

Well Wireless sync would be quite neat, you wouldn't have to do that extremely arduous task of plugging in the cable ... except for power anyway. Oh, wait.

It would be handy if your music collection was larger than the capacity of the iPod and you couldn't be bothered to go upstairs to sync. Of course, this would need some "browse available music" facility on the iPod itself where you could choose music to sync onto the iPod via wireless on the iPod itself.

I expect in the end it will be used on some other device, not the iPod.

[amberashby]

WiFi has been built in to some Pocket PCs for years now. I don't see what the big deal is.

[davetrow1997]

Difference is that this is 802.11g... increases your ability to stream higher bandwith content.

[richard5mith]

That and it's specifically low power. Compact flash wifi modules and built in wifi for existing Pocket PC/other devices do tend to suck up the juice big time.

This module sounds exactly like the kind of thing Nintendo are putting in the DS and Sony in the PSP.

[neonart]

802.11g is still nowhere near the iPod Firewire transfer rates. It will be ok for contacts and getting one or two songs- but try to move GB's and you'll be there a while!

[appleface]

i think i speak for many when i say this:
bring on the faster, smaller, less wired hardware!

[killmoms]

I for one welcome our new, tiny, wireless music-playing overlords.

--Cless

[syco]

To get off the Mac topic, perhaps Nintendo might be using this for the DS.

[The Cheat]

iPod + WiFi = pointless

[Abstract]

So will this help Apple save space inside of laptops or what? If not, then I still don't see the usefulness of this unless Apple makes a Palm handheld, or maybe an OS X handheld. Either way, an iPod is going to need to be able to view the songs on your computer if song transfer is going to be possible, like some else mentioned already, so its useless for iPods.

How about streaming video to a television? To a computer?

(or what if it happens to be a technology announcement that isn't relevent to Apple products at all. This probably happens a lot. They can't use every technology, y'know!)

[nathanziarek]

iPod + WiFi = pointless

Well, maybe, maybe not. I don't know much about WiFi in the technical sense, but imagine this: What if the iPod no longer had a hard drive in it, or at least there was a version without one. The thing could just stream your music using Your entire iTunes Library. Now, to me WiFi is limited, but what if it was a wireless card that connected to the cell towers, giving you an _almost_ constant access to your home computer's music. It wouldn't work for everyone - we've all lost a cell phone signal - but as the technology gets better, this could be a serious implementation. Plus, think about how cheap and slim an iPod without a hard drive could be.

Just another quick thought, how 'bout WiFi headphones :) Everyone is always talking about BT headphones with its extremely limited bandwidth. 802.11g has plenty of bandwidth for a measly uncompressed song...

Just throwing it out there :)

nate

[baby duck monge]

802.11g is still nowhere near the iPod Firewire transfer rates. It will be ok for contacts and getting one or two songs- but try to move GB's and you'll be there a while!

this is where the FireWireless comes into play. no need to transfer at airport speeds when you can transfer wirelessly more on par with firewire.

[whooleytoo]

it sounds useful, but what could it actually be used for and what would it actually do? a wireless ipod? it'd still need a power cable.. wifi home entertainment system? it wouldn't need all this handheld stuff on it..

i'm confused, please do enlighten me.

There are various possibilities. Auto-syncing with your Mac/PC's iTunes when you come within range, without needing to carry or plug in a cable. Wireless home entertainment, where the iPod acts as portable storage, for a system like Roku's Soundbridge. Wireless remote control would be another.

[frem001]

So will this help Apple save space inside of laptops or what? If not, then I still don't see the usefulness of this unless Apple makes a Palm handheld, or maybe an OS X handheld. Either way, an iPod is going to need to be able to view the songs on your computer if song transfer is going to be possible, like some else mentioned already, so its useless for iPods.

How about streaming video to a television? To a computer?

(or what if it happens to be a technology announcement that isn't relevent to Apple products at all. This probably happens a lot. They can't use every technology, y'know!)

Go to www.oqo.com this is what Apple needs to do. This device was made by a couple of ex-employees from Apple and IBM. Looks like an Apple design. shame about the crappy os :D

[jackieonasses]

Go to www.oqo.com this is what Apple needs to do. This device was made by a couple of ex-employees from Apple and IBM. Looks like an Apple design. shame about the crappy os :D
i wish...but is seems that steve thinks we don't need one. :mad:

[broken_keyboard]

When you stand next to another iPod user, their playlist appears on your iPod. Just like iTunes finds other iTunes using Rendevous, iPod finds other iPod.

[newbie17]

Maybe I don't get it-- but wouldn't the point of wifi in an ipod be to download music from the itunes music store without a computer? Is the software (maybe with the home on ipod stuff) able to do that? Buying music at an internet cafe with no computer would be cool.

[Doctor Q]

When you stand next to another iPod user, their playlist appears on your iPod. Just like iTunes finds other iTunes using Rendevous, iPod finds other iPod.What a great idea. Of course, if that works, then you could buy five 40GB iPods, wear them all around your waist, with only one plugged into your ears, and listen to 200GB of music!

[dongmin]

this is where the FireWireless comes into play. no need to transfer at airport speeds when you can transfer wirelessly more on par with firewire. uh, no. Those are two different things. FW is 400 Mbps and up. This is 54 Mbps. 802.11g is not gonna magically give you more bandwidth by mixing the standards.

[dho]

802.11g is still nowhere near the iPod Firewire transfer rates. It will be ok for contacts and getting one or two songs- but try to move GB's and you'll be there a while!

You can leave that part up to the wireless firewire :)

Maybe this could be used to acquire the content that would be streamed to a tv.

Internet > Basestation > iPod > tv

Yeah that idea needs some work, but it would be cool

[whfsdude]

When you stand next to another iPod user, their playlist appears on your iPod. Just like iTunes finds other iTunes using Rendevous, iPod finds other iPod.

That's exactly what I want :D

[Freg3000]

When you stand next to another iPod user, their playlist appears on your iPod. Just like iTunes finds other iTunes using Rendevous, iPod finds other iPod.

Assuming that you would be allowed to turn this option off....when would anyone use it? Because it would eat up battery (although it says "low power") there would be no reason for me to leave it on. Why would I? So that some random stranger can listen to my songs? Unless I am feel especially generous one day, I don't think I'd want to sacrifice my battery life for someone else's benefit.

I like WiFI for other uses in the iPod, but I doubt that this implementation would be useful (although 200 GB of Music is interesting....)

[hob]

I want an iPod Music Store :D

[hob]

it would eat up battery (although it says "low power") there would be no reason for me to leave it on. Why would I? So that some random stranger can listen to my songs? Unless I am feel especially generous one day, I don't think I'd want to sacrifice my battery life for someone else's benefit.

I think iPod IV will have a much better battery... or else :P

[dsspence3]

uh, no. Those are two different things. FW is 400 Mbps and up. This is 54 Mbps. 802.11g is not gonna magically give you more bandwidth by mixing the standards.

Actually he is talking about the wireless standard for firewire that just got approved a while ago. It will be firewire type speeds but without the wires so it will be significantly faster than wifi and suitable for transferring music than wifi. 400mb/s compared to 54mb/s, wifi might be suitable for other things like browsing and online catalog of music and being able to purchase a song or album then when in range of a computer with wireless firewire capabilities it would transfer it and you wouldn't even know.

[d.f]

When you stand next to another iPod user, their playlist appears on your iPod. Just like iTunes finds other iTunes using Rendevous, iPod finds other iPod.

nice idea. but DRM will stop this typre of "sharing".

it could be for wireless headphones, simple syncing, maybe send your emails to he i-pod if you're in a rush, and read them on the bus on the way to work.

[Windowlicker]

i think i speak for many when i say this:
bring on the faster, smaller, less wired hardware!

you have a point there. i for one would like to have my midi keyboard, scanner and printer all wireless. that's because now I have to have them in specific places. with this wifi stuff I could have them anywhere i want them to be.

...though here again just a plain wifi system would be enough because the appliances listen to ac/dc.

[Omad0n]

I think the problem with having the iPod auto sync is that each time ou come into contact wit ha mac it would do just taht so if you were at a friends you'd kill all your data. Wait, just had a though i'm sure they could impliment some way of having the iPod only autp sync with a certain computer os something. Giving it a tag so only iTunes with the proper tag could auto sync.

[AoWolf]

In any case this means cheaper wifi. Cheaper wifi is a good thing.

[Windowlicker]

When you stand next to another iPod user, their playlist appears on your iPod. Just like iTunes finds other iTunes using Rendevous, iPod finds other iPod.

that. sounds. so. cool! this is actually what i've kinda wanted.. to be able to check out what someone else is listening.. and just not by asking, because then i'd probably get a somewhat useless answer like "pretty much everything..".

this would be a pretty cool feature. i can see it in my eyes: as i listen to my favorite track my ipod gives me a beep to let me know another ipod's in reach. i check out the list and it's all britney spears. the next thing is i'll go to the little girl listening to her crappy music and slap her on face.

WHAT?! it wasn't supposed to go that way.. hmm i might be a child molested even though I don't know it. just like MJ. NOT. anyway it'd be cool.

[jwhitnah]

iPod + WiFi = pointless
It's just a silly idea.

[nsb3000]

Assuming that there you would be allowed to turn this option off....when would anyone use it? Because it would eat up battery (although it says "low power") there would be no reason for me to leave it on. Why would I? So that some random stranger can listen to my songs? Unless I am feel especially generous one day, I don't think I'd want to sacrifice my battery life for someone else's benefit.


Wow, you take a selfish view of the world! :rolleyes:

I think lots of people would use it. I live on College campus, and nobody has to share there music, let alone share it with out a password, but many, many people do, because everyone benefits. I have found lots of great music by listing to other peoples playlists...taking this feature to the ipod would make it all that much cooler. I am sure lots of people would use it, despite the potential drain the battery.

[rog]

I guess this pretty much proves the G5s are coming out on Tuesday.

[SiliconAddict]

If done right WIFI can work in the iPod...if done right. You need software\firmware with the iPod that is smart. Similar to how Intel's mobile CPU's can dynamically scale their frequency depending on if its using external power and how much load is on it. Likewise a WIFI adapter needs to be smart enough to stream audio only on demand similar to how the iPod caches a certain amount of music to RAM from the hard drive before it plays. In this case it would cache the same amount to RAM but instead of nabbing it from the HD it could do the same from a iPod WIFI connection. The WIFI card would go to sleep and wake up only once every few 5,10,15,30 seconds or so, sniff the air looking for the system that was previously connected to it who wants more music. The only time you'd have full tilt WIFI on is when powered with external power. That or my manually setting it to "always on" on the iPod.
As for what functionality this could provide. Use your imagination. Streaming audio to remote satellite speakers. Imagine in a party situation you have 3 or 4 sets of speakers all playing the same music from around the room? How about remote access to the iTMS? You pop into a Starbucks or some other WIFI enabled place, whip out your iPod and start browsing the store via a browser type interface like the one found on iTunes. Or how about streaming pictures to an outside video source? Hmm how about a Keynote plugin that resides on your iPod to allow you to play Keynote speeches off your iPod via WIFI? Keep the iPod in your hand and simply hit the action button to move to the next slide or use the scroll wheel to move around your presentation.

Finally as for battery life. Even some of the worst battery life on PDA's equipped with 802.11B get around 2 hours off of a single charge and some of the best get around 4 or more hours. Note that this is always on activity. If Apple plays it smart I can see 5-6 hours on a charge. But again that is with WIFI enabled. By default it would stay asleep until called on to stream something.

Again its do-able if done right.

[Sharewaredemon]

I think it would be a great idea if you could access the iTunes store from your iPod and dl music on the go and when ever you connect to your computer it would put it into your iTunes.

[SiliconAddict]

I guess this pretty much proves the G5s are coming out on Tuesday.


Yes but which G5's?!?! PowerBook or PowerMac? Oh wait. Silly me. Apple is going to do both. :)

[SiliconAddict]

It's just a silly idea.

Better be careful. That's the same attitude that Palm took with sound and color when the first Pocket PC came out. At the time they had a 90% market lockup. Last I heard they are in a dead heat with the various PPC OEMs now.

Never say a tech is silly or useless. Just because you, or I don't have the imagination to use such a tech in a unique way doesn't mean Apple can't blow us all away with something spectacular.

*shrugs* then again lately Apple hasn’t been doing anything revolutionary more evolutionary then anything else.

[ianion]

iPod + WiFi = pointless

i have to disagree... i for one welcome the idea of having an iPod integrated into my wireless network. Where I could access my ENTIRE iTunes library from out in my living room or even while i'm out in my yard. All it would take is a simple browser configuration.

~Scott

[Freg3000]

Wow, you take a selfish view of the world! :rolleyes:

I think lots of people would use it. I live on College campus, and nobody has to share there music, let alone share it with out a password, but many, many people do, because everyone benefits. I have found lots of great music by listing to other peoples playlists...taking this feature to the ipod would make it all that much cooler. I am sure lots of people would use it, despite the potential drain the battery.

Yeah I know it is a little selfish.....but I only would take this point of view when there are pretty significant negative impacts on me.

I let iTunes share my music because it does nothing to hurt me, and people can enjoy themselves while the listen to my music. There is no battery life for iTunes to be using up on my desktop, and my Internet connection is up and running anyway, so why not.

But with the iPod's biggest drawback seeming to be battery life, it's a different story.

[SiliconAddict]

802.11g is still nowhere near the iPod Firewire transfer rates. It will be ok for contacts and getting one or two songs- but try to move GB's and you'll be there a while!

And who cares? Seriously. I don't understand why people are so hung up over speeds. When you first sync your iPod to iTunes it would be when you remove it from the packaging. That fist initial sync is going to take a while. (Understatement in my case since I have 38GBs of songs.) After that 802.11G is more then fast enough to handle syncing. Sure if you are talking a DIVX 700MB movie file that you want to lug around with you on your iPod that would take about 15 minutes to transfer but let’s be serious here. The iPod's primary use IS music. Anything above that is gravy.

[virividox]

thats a cool idea i wouldnt mind using wifi on a hand held but i think hand helds need to improve first, i mean to use effectively the speeds wifi gives u need more memory and processing power (for video audio etc)

[ClimbingTheLog]

When you stand next to another iPod user, their playlist appears on your iPod. Just like iTunes finds other iTunes using Rendevous, iPod finds other iPod.

People do this today with headphones, aka jacking. Seen on mass transit, etc. OK, so wireless has fewer of the sexual overtones which might be the whole point anyway...

[neonart]

And who cares? Seriously. I don't understand why people are so hung up over speeds. When you first sync your iPod to iTunes it would be when you remove it from the packaging. That fist initial sync is going to take a while. (Understatement in my case since I have 38GBs of songs.) After that 802.11G is more then fast enough to handle syncing. Sure if you are talking a DIVX 700MB movie file that you want to lug around with you on your iPod that would take about 15 minutes to transfer but let’s be serious here. The iPod's primary use IS music. Anything above that is gravy.


If you have 38GB of music you surely rip quite a few at a time. Say you ripped 4 or 5 CD's the last couple of days and want to pop them in an iPod before you go out the door tomorrow morning. You want to do it at WiFi speed or at Firewire speed?

Ex: Try to transfer some 45 or 60 songs via Airport from one machine to another. Then try to transfer those songs to an iPod via 1394. You'll figure out the way you'd like to be doing it most of the time real quick.

So WiFi is cool, but not a replacement for Firewire unless that new wireless Firewire really works well.

[ClimbingTheLog]

nice idea. but DRM will stop this typre of "sharing".

it could be for wireless headphones, simple syncing, maybe send your emails to he i-pod if you're in a rush, and read them on the bus on the way to work.

This might be feasible for proximity-based connections. After all, a pair of speakers allows this type of "sharing". FairPlay sucks, but it's still clear that it's the best Apple could do for the consumer given the situation; they're on our side.

[k2k koos]

802.11G is indeed 54Mb/sec

Firewire as we know it 400 and 800 respectively.

Perhaps wireless firewire uses the same protocols as its faster established parents, but instead operates on 54.. OR Apple has some inovating trick up its sleeve.

As for practicality, 802.11G speed is still fast enough for a few songs
faster than my internet connection, thus faster than buying a song.... I have no complaints....

[ClimbingTheLog]

The press release keeps calling it low-power but doesn't provide specs. The pertinent question is whether this chipset uses less power than a bluetooth chipset. If the answer is Yes, I'd expect to see many of the Bluetooth protocols reworked to communicate over 802.11 in the near future. Then we can have real Bluetooth headphones for the iPod and such.

Of course, since they don't provide numbers the answer is probably, 'no'.

[jbembe]

What a great idea. Of course, if that works, then you could buy five 40GB iPods, wear them all around your waist, with only one plugged into your ears, and listen to 200GB of music!


One of those snooty fashion bags for the iPod has a capacity for 40 iPods. Imagine the gigage...

iHump is coming!!!!! :eek:

[ingenious]

When you stand next to another iPod user, their playlist appears on your iPod. Just like iTunes finds other iTunes using Rendevous, iPod finds other iPod.


That would be awesome! Or what if you could listen to the shared music off of computers that were in range?!?!

[ingenious]

nice idea. but DRM will stop this typre of "sharing".

it could be for wireless headphones, simple syncing, maybe send your emails to he i-pod if you're in a rush, and read them on the bus on the way to work.


Not necessarily. Ripped songs don't have a DRM.

[dongmin]

802.11G is indeed 54Mb/sec

Firewire as we know it 400 and 800 respectively.

Perhaps wireless firewire uses the same protocols as its faster established parents, but instead operates on 54.. OR Apple has some inovating trick up its sleeve.

As for practicality, 802.11G speed is still fast enough for a few songs
faster than my internet connection, thus faster than buying a song.... I have no complaints....

The article is misleading for making a connection between the two bits of news. First, this new 802.11g module has nothing specifically to do with Apple, that we know of. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there have been no solid rumors on any kind of wireless (airport or bluetooth) coming to the iPod. It's simply one of many in a laundry list of features that people have been wishing for a while now.

Secondly, the wireless firewire will utilize a totally different wireless protocol, if and when it is put to actual use. As quoted in the Macrumors article: The new Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) for IEEE 1394 over IEEE 802.15.3 was approved Monday. In a statement, the trade association said: The PAL is designed as a standard convergence layer between the 802.15.3 MAC and applications developed for wired 1394. It builds upon the 1394 infrastructure--for example, data formats, connection-management schemes, and time synchronization procedures--and takes advantage of the excellent quality of service available in 802.15.3.Of course, these different wireless standards may be compatible, in which case I take everything back. From what I've read, 802.15.3 is a bit like Bluetooth in that it's targeted for communication between devices, 'ad hoc peer-to-peer networking' (http://www.ieee802.org/15/pub/TG3.html), but much faster. So unless Agere is developing a 802.15.3 module, let's leave the wireless firewire out of it, for the sake of clarity.

[Freg3000]

nice idea. but DRM will stop this typre of "sharing".

it could be for wireless headphones, simple syncing, maybe send your emails to he i-pod if you're in a rush, and read them on the bus on the way to work.

Hmmm.....when you said that I immediatly thought of Steve during the keynote introducing the iTMS...

"Unlimited CD burns (up to 10 in a row of the same playlist), up to 3 computers, and an unlimited number of iPods, past present and future models."

Maybe DRM won't be an issue at all?

[tjwett]

it sounds useful, but what could it actually be used for and what would it actually do? a wireless ipod? it'd still need a power cable.. wifi home entertainment system? it wouldn't need all this handheld stuff on it..

i'm confused, please do enlighten me.

for me the huge thing would be to be able to hear streams from iTunes in my pod.

[a_iver]

Do it Apple, Do it! Listening to cliqhop radio would totally rock if I could do it anywhere in campus.

[SiliconAddict]

If you have 38GB of music you surely rip quite a few at a time. Say you ripped 4 or 5 CD's the last couple of days and want to pop them in an iPod before you go out the door tomorrow morning. You want to do it at WiFi speed or at Firewire speed?

Ex: Try to transfer some 45 or 60 songs via Airport from one machine to another. Then try to transfer those songs to an iPod via 1394. You'll figure out the way you'd like to be doing it most of the time real quick.

So WiFi is cool, but not a replacement for Firewire unless that new wireless Firewire really works well.


No I ripped everything all at once and when/if I get an iPod (Which really is no longer an option since the iPod is the only player that does AAC.) I will transfer everything via firewire initially but after that transfering 256MB of files takes aprox 5 minutes max on G. A standard CD is around 128MB-150MB in size unless you go nuts with an insane bit rates a rip here a download there isn't going to take all that long.

My point being is that unless you go weeks between syncs or download half a GB of songs there is no reason why G isn't good enough to handle day to day transfers. As for wireless firewire. Heh. If you think 802.11 is a battery hog I can't wait to see what wireless firewire is like.

[KC9AIC]

If iPods can get an internet connection, internet radio listening is a possibility.

[Porchland]

Maybe I don't get it-- but wouldn't the point of wifi in an ipod be to download music from the itunes music store without a computer? Is the software (maybe with the home on ipod stuff) able to do that? Buying music at an internet cafe with no computer would be cool.

I could see this working well with the new Starbucks plan to have "music baristas" making and selling mix discs. But then you'd have that nasty sync-back-to-home-base problem.

I like the idea of an iPod as a home base and not as a mirror drive that you sync to your "home base" computer, which frees you up to buy tracks and build new track lists anywhere you can get IP.

[~Shard~]

Why stop at WiFi - let's go straight to WiMax! :cool:

[jackieonasses]

802.11G is indeed 54Mb/sec

Firewire as we know it 400 and 800 respectively.

Perhaps wireless firewire uses the same protocols as its faster established parents, but instead operates on 54.. OR Apple has some inovating trick up its sleeve.

As for practicality, 802.11G speed is still fast enough for a few songs
faster than my internet connection, thus faster than buying a song.... I have no complaints....
again it is only 54 mb/sec THEORETICALLY

[h'biki]

The module measures only 20x29 millimeters and offers 100 meters of wireless connectivity coupled with low power consumption.

This technology could potentially be used by Apple to incorporate WiFi connectivity in future handheld devices such as the iPod.


Why is everyone so fixated on the options for the iPod? I think WiFi creates possibilities for NEW kinds of handheld devices.

In particular, I'd dig an Apple Improved tablet style iBook with WiFi. So I could use rendezvous to show friends photos froma small device, or to control my desktop remotely, or to check my mail from the couch. I can do that from my powerbook... but it is big (15").

I'm also thinking Apple PVR using WiFi to stream audio, photos, and video from your home network.

This offers options for digital cameras too (like the Nikon with wifi)

[areyouwishing]

My big question is how it competes with bluetooth. Initially bluetooth was supposed to be really inexpensive, but yet its not... at least not now... we need low cost wireless to replace USB altogether.

Im a firm believer in all types of wireless, the best use for this I can see is the PDA market... not large transfers... I also see it for the printer and digital camera market... I REALLY want a wireless printer.

For now, i settle with my bluetooth mouse and keyboard i guess.

[jeff.macaddict]

iPod + WiFi = pointless

Well, yes and no.
When I buy my iPod when I get around to it, I will use its dock to connect to my PowerMac, to charge it and move over 3500 songs to my iPod. However, if i decide to take my PowerBook somewhere, and not lug around my wired dock, then it would come in very handy to wirelessly transfer the one or two songs I just bought.

Of course you wouldnt use WIFI to transfer your whole library, but, just think of not carrying a dock anywhere you may want to plug in your iPod to transfer music/files.

I say it makes it easier for me to use my iPods second most important feature, HD space, now its like having a wireless flash drive.

[urbangrind]

Go to www.oqo.com this is what Apple needs to do. This device was made by a couple of ex-employees from Apple and IBM. Looks like an Apple design. shame about the crappy os :D

This shows that it is possible. Apple could do just this but smaller and more powerful, they might even call it a newton.

[iLilana]

sounds like an sd card. way cool

[jackieonasses]

This shows that it is possible. Apple could do just this but smaller and more powerful, they might even call it a newton.
steve said as long as he was CEO he would not produce a PDA. he hates pda's.

[ClimbingTheLog]

steve said as long as he was CEO he would not produce a PDA. he hates pda's.

Yet the current iPod has many features of a PDA. And we have iSync for supporting PDA's (that's what modern phones are).

Oh, and last year was the year of the notebook. :)

If Apple can make a killing, Steve won't introduce a PDA - he'll introduce a new iPod or iPhone or iBook Mini or something else that looks like a PDA and quacks like a PDA but isn't a Newton. It's important to remember that Apple is a company that does not compete on margins. It might not be this year but sometime soon a Dell Jukebox is going to be nearly as good as an iPod and Apple's isn't going to give up the King's throne* - they'll have to compete with features, and phone/pda is the one they're best positioned for.

Remember, there are 80 out of 200 sessions at WWDC that are still unannounced - Apple's introducing something major in less than a month.

BTW folks, I did a web search on OQO and found an article on linuxdevices, suggesting OQO will definately ship by end of 2002. They do have a lovely quicktime, though. I might even buy one for a linux handheld if they actually ship, but I'm not betting the farm on ever seeing it.

---
* Make the argument that Windows XP is inferior to System 6

[mrsebastian]

bring it on :D

[Moonlight]

Think about a new device, not adding it onto something....what could a new device be using this ???

[VillageIdiot]

Does todays anouncement make this look any more of a possibility?

When I first heard this, thought it would be useless, now, I really want one

[TednDi]

If yesterday's announcement of the airport express appliance is part of a larger strategy on the part of Apple here is my $.02.

What if apple embraced the idea of Voice over IP and the new wireless firewire thingy. Released the killer app the Apple phone with PDA like features in the ipod 4g the size of the mini. This phone would come unlocked enabling anyone with a gsm chip to use the phone even allowing for multiple chips (for the overseas travelers). This phone would then synch up with the voice over IP device when in range allowing for cheap telephone at home service. When away from the base it could forward all calls to the device. Synch up contacts etc. whenever in range and perhaps use the .mac service as a remote answering machine/contacts storage space/music server.

If Apple then decided to push into the car audio market (as it looks by the flirting that they are doing) then the phone would then send the audio to the car via wirelessfirewire or bluetooth. Your ipod/iphone would then replace your current phone/pda/ipod/homephone. Apple then dominates several markets with integration using the .mac service and begins the long climb back to killing windows.

please don't mind the poor grammar, spelling etc.

Thanks all,

fold on! :)