iPod Did I see an iPod AV?

I was in the Regent Street store in London on Wednesday, and a guy passed me on the stairs with a device in his hand that I had never seen. It was similar in size to a current video iPod, but just a tiny bit more square. I saw what must have been the back, but it was not steel. It was dark, like an unlit video screen, but as it had a white Apple right in the center, it could not have been the front that I saw. He passed by very quickly, so that is as much as I can tell you.

Does anybody know what else this might be? I am not trying to start any crazy lying rumours. I just have never seen this before, but I am not a Mac expert, being a recent switcher. Can anybody identify what else it might be? If I saw a picture with the Apple logo in the center, I am sure that I could identify it.

Thanks for your help. If nobody can identify it, given all that is going on at iTunes, I have to wonder if the AV iPod is coming sooner than we expect. I expect it in the late fall, but I would like to know what it was that I saw in this man's hand.

I was definitely close to the size of an iPod, but maybe a tiny bit shorter and a tiny bit wider, though I saw it so quicky that it is possible it was the dimension of an iPod.

It definitely wasn't a Newton (unless they are bringing back a new small Newton).

It had a white Apple in the center of the back, and may have even been affixed there on what looked liked a darker background (more like smoked glass or a dark screen than stainless). I haven't seen that white Apple in the center of the back of a darker iPod before.

I would have thought that I had seen a full screen unlit iPod, but there is no way that there would have been a white Apple in the center of the screen.

This was a really curious thing. If it is an existing product, someone here is bound to know it. If the AV iPod turns out to be like this, or the next gen iPod, then I will know then that this is what I have seen. For the moment, however, I am just left really confused, and I can't imagine why anyone would be in the Regent Street building carrying a prototype or a pre-release, ESPECIALLY out in the open (in his hand).

Still, it was something that I have NEVER seen before.

welshandrew said:

Could it have been a Meizu miniPlayer?

http://www.t3.co.uk/news/247/entertainment/mp3_player/chinese_ipod_challenger_incoming!

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No, a different finish unless the back is not the gray that it would appear to be from the side.

pdpfilms said:

Is it possible it was a non-apple product with a white apple sticker on it?

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As for the Apple logo, it didn't look like a sticker. It actually looked to be plastic. It probably was something silly like that though, but for some reason, it really looked like a product of some sort to me. It was an intriguing moment. It probably was something like you are suggesting, but it sure didn't strike me that way.

FistfulofAngst said:

you didn't answer gco212 on whether or not it was the U2 iPod which I assume is what it was.

This what you saw?

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No, the Apple was BRIGHT white. None of the other stuff there that I could see. His hand covered some of it, but i would have seen the signatures.

Chaszmyr said:

Did you look at the person carrying it? Was he wearing an Apple shirt that said "I'm a high-level engineer looking to get fired"?

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LOL

But what would a high-level engineer be doing headed up to the second floor of the flagship store in London. Does Apple also have offices on Regent Street with anyone of importance there?

aswitcher said:

I doubt it.

No way a "secret"device would be being carried around openly in a store in London.

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I agree. It seems incredibly unlikely. I just want to know what I saw though. But yes, as I said many times, incredibly unlikely.

mojohanna said:

It was probably his busines card holder, you know, the ones the apple employees wear around their neck? It is about the same size as he is describing and the employee probably threw on the sticker. You know, he had to add some "flair" a la Office Space.

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No.