Toshiba Doubling 1.8-inch HDD Production

[MacRumors]

Today, Toshiba announced that they will be doubling production of their popular 1.8" hard drives by March 2004.

Toshiba plans to expand into 1" hard drives in the future. 1" form factor drives are already being produced by Hitachi at this time.

The 1.8" Toshiba hard drive has been used in the Apple iPod throughout its existence and at least some of the additional production is expected to supply demand for the popular iPod.

[Trowaman]

Anyways, could this mean what I think it does? Thinner, lighter 4th generation iPods? 1" thick ain't bad. Anyways double the iPod sales (how long until I hear 2 million sold?).

[Rocketman]

Would these drives also be used for a portable video solution or device?

[arby]

Some good news for the iPod, especially after all the iPod-bashing over at CNET recently. Eventually Apple will go with a 1" drive which will then make the iPod even more competitive, lighter, still able to hold about 204 billion tunes ...

[fBaran]

1" HD + .8" battery = I hope better battery life one day.

[gwuMACaddict]

interesting... do the new dell or samsung players use the toshiba drives? i'd like to see apple use the new 1" drives in the nextgen ipod

[arn]

I just think this means that the iPod and iPod-like devices have been very popular.

Increased production should eventually lead to decreased costs.

arn

[gwuMACaddict]

Originally posted by arn

Increased production should eventually lead to decreased costs.

i like the sound of THAT. i posted a few weeks ago that i expect to see price drops before the Christmas season, as a move to thwart people from buying the new dell player

[vidboi]

Originally posted by Macrumors
Toshiba is the only manufacturer of 1.8" hard drives and plans to expand into 1" hard drives in the future.

According to this CNET article Hitachi already makes 1.8 drives, albeit in smaller sizes such as 15 GB and 20 GB.

[yoman]

I could easily see 1 inch drive ipods in the future. That could free up more space within its structure to allow more features (color video screen, FM transmitter, etc..) or expanded features (longer battery life, cheaper price,etc...)

Either way I sure would like to see this next generation.

[Sol]

I do not think that this news implies anything about new capacities, just that the demand for these drives has gone up. This was to be expected with Dell and Samsung/Napster ripping off the iPod with their own music players. There is also the iPod itself which is dominating the music player market.

When 1" disc capacities start reaching 5-10 GB and 1.8" discs exceed 100 GB I can see Apple spliting the iPod into two products: music and video. A new, smaller iPod that would use the 1" drive will be for music and backup, much like the current model is. The bigger iPod will be for video on the go, with the capacity to hold near-broadcast quality movies and the capability to output these on either a built-in screen or an external television through standard AV cables.

Whatever happens, Toshiba will be in the middle of all this.

[the_mole1314]

Sounds like we might see some smaller iPods before XMas.

[rickvanr]

does 1.8" mean the diameter of the harddisk?

would this mean the ipod would still be as thick, just smaller, right?

could the ipod still be as easy to use if it got much smaller?

wouldnt it be neat to have the ipod resemble a flip open cell phone? then it could be smaller in your pocket, and still have a large screen and controls...

just my 2 cents

[~Shard~]

Originally posted by yoman
I could easily see 1 inch drive ipods in the future. That could free up more space within its structure to allow more features (color video screen, FM transmitter, etc..) or expanded features (longer battery life, cheaper price,etc...)

Either way I sure would like to see this next generation.

I agree - with the saved space, I'm sure Apple will take full advantage of this and incorporate color screens, video, better battery life, or who knows what!

I don't think this will necessarily lead to larger capacity drives initially, but will definitely lead to a 4G iPod with enhanced functionality. Although if video is going to be incorporated into future iPods, the more capacity the better! I think HD capacities will naturally increase though over time, regardless of their size...

[Malic]

Originally posted by rickvanr
does 1.8" mean the diameter of the harddisk?

would this mean the ipod would still be as thick, just smaller, right?

Yes, that's the diameter of the platter - some people are getting that wrong here.

A couple of comments:

1) Just because they are rev'ing up 1-inch platter products doesn't mean that Apple will automatically use them.
2) But they might. And that's interesting. A narrower audio iPod would be slick and a video iPod would be also very slick. And expensive, no doubt :\

[bankshot]

Originally posted by Macrumors
Toshiba plans to expand into 1" hard drives in the future. 1" form factor drives are already being produced by Hitachi at this time.

Interesting choice of words. I'd think Toshiba would want to contract into 1" hard drives...

Personally, I think this is potentially bad for Apple but good for us. Bad for them because it means more competitors are looking to produce iPod knockoffs with potentially the same bestselling form factor and capacities. Good for us because Apple will be forced to lower prices to keep up and possibly even innovate further. Plus as other people said, higher production probably means lower costs per unit, which means Apple may not be quite so reluctant to lower prices anyway.

Incidentally, are the Hitachi 1" drives maybe the same as the IBM MicroDrives? I recall the IBM sold off their hard drive business to Hitachi sometime in the last year. I wonder if competition among drive suppliers can also only help bring prices down.

Sounds like the future of iPod is pretty bright. Of course, I'm happy with mine and only desire a couple of small improvements (there's always hope that they listened to me for the next firmware update!). I figure my next portable music player may wait until they have decent voice recognition (5-10 years out, or longer???). Imagine driving in the car and telling your iPod to mix up a playlist of only early songs from a few certain artists. All while keeping your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road!

[sethypoo]

Hasn't Job's put down the idea of increased iPod functionality? I distinctly remember him putting down the idea of a line in function on the iPod. If he doesn't want a line in, why would he ever want video?

[sethypoo]

Just to add:
I really don't think a smaller iPod is exactly better. Apple can't shrink those buttons much more, it still needs to have its legendary ease of use.

[arn]

Originally posted by the_mole1314
Sounds like we might see some smaller iPods before XMas.

How did u come to that conclusion?

Nothing in this news item suggests anything of the sort. 1" drives currently exist... Apple hasn't used 'em yet. Toshiba plans to make them in the future -- no timeframe specified.

arn

[1macker1]

How do you get anything about the iPod out of this article. I dont really see anything iPod specific.

[Ja Di ksw]

Just when the only, ONLY thing holding me back from a new iPod was what to get engraved on the back, this comes up, and now I have the added worry of "are they going to drop prices soon? Should I wait?" Sigh. I doubt anything really new will come out until a few months have passed, but a price drop would be nice, especially since I'm planning on dropping even more money on a powerbook

[jxyama]

um, iPod uses these 1.8" HD... but this is just a matter of increased supply, so i don't think anything can be said about use of 1" HD in iPods, etc. those are pure speculations...

any news on the capacity of 1.8" HD? i *think* they top out at around 80 GB right now? when will *those* make it to iPods?

[jxyama]

Originally posted by Ja Di ksw
Just when the only, ONLY thing holding me back from a new iPod was what to get engraved on the back, this comes up, and now I have the added worry of "are they going to drop prices soon? Should I wait?" Sigh. I doubt anything really new will come out until a few months have passed, but a price drop would be nice, especially since I'm planning on dropping even more money on a powerbook

i really wouldn't worry about a price drop... if anything, capacity will go up for the same price. that's been the case with ipod updates. capacities have increased from 5 GB to 10 GB at the bottom, 20 to 30 to 40 GB at the top, but you still had to pay $300 and $500, respectively. i'd say chances of smaller iPods selling below $300 is not very likely at the moment. (yeah, i know jobs said some things about "cheaper" iPods, but there's no timeline on that...)

[jxyama]

Originally posted by bankshot
Interesting choice of words. I'd think Toshiba would want to contract into 1" hard drives...

Personally, I think this is potentially bad for Apple but good for us. Bad for them because it means more competitors are looking to produce iPod knockoffs with potentially the same bestselling form factor and capacities.

um, toshiba and hitachi are general suppliers. as far as i know, toshiba doesn't supply those 1.8" HD just to apple. you can see it in the main article - "at least some of the additional production is expected to supply demand for the popular iPod." so increased supply doesn't mean there will be more iPod knock-offs using these HDs - they could have made those already. your other point is valid, however, competitors may pass on the increased supply savings to the customers. dunno what apple will do.

[dh9012]

Smaller drives usually mean lower power consumption too. Are these drives used in any of the Powerbook or iBook line-ups?

A smaller diameter drive could also lend itself to easier implementation of a new and more organic form factor.

Yes, it can be smaller and as easy to use.

Unless your "The Shack"