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Apple Handheld Making the Rounds?
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I, for one, do not want a phone as big as an iPod. My t610 (and the t68i I had before it) are about the limit of size I am willing to accept. The reason I am willing to have a phone this large is the excellent sync with iSync. Before these phones I had a Nokia 8310 (and an 8210 before it). These phones were about spot on for size (although thinner would always be nicer). Until Apple (or anyone else) can make a combined device small enough to be usable every day they should simply not bother.
Originally posted by arn
let's focus on the topic at hand...
there is some interesting information here... if you don't find it interesting, then you are free to move on to the next article.
arn
I completely disagree with the idea that a quote from Enderle is equivalent to information; this is the same guy who just made the Apple Death Knell Counter (again!) for saying that Apple was doomed because they didn't have a Tablet PC, Media Center PC, or smart phone (not to mention that the iPod is "terrible as a PDA"). And then he turns right around and says there's an Apple phone prototype making the rounds?
I'm more interested in where those other unconfirmed whispers are coming from. THAT might be information.
Apple keeps a very, very tight lock on its new products.. I think that's pretty clear with how they have responded to those who post photographs of their products, etc.
I don't think ANY new apple product will ever be "making rounds" in Silicon Valley. When Apple is ready with the product, it will be announced to everyone outside of apple.. but not until then.
Unless someone stole said item and is passing it around.
I don't think ANY new apple product will ever be "making rounds" in Silicon Valley. When Apple is ready with the product, it will be announced to everyone outside of apple.. but not until then.
Unless someone stole said item and is passing it around.
Howdy, y'all.
With the iPod's current formfactor, the question seems less of Apple coming out with a new product, but simply integrating a PDA with phone and camera right on top of the current iPod.
The ubiquitous quest for most phone/PDA makers is to make them small enough for people to carry around. But people are already hauling their iPods everwhere. To add a little size to the currently tiny iPod wouldn't seem to render it useless to the masses.
I am no hardware designer, but to take a 3G iPod, cut out its LCD and "motherboard" and replace those with Apple's version of Palm harware, put on a full-length color LCD screen on the front with a phone speaker at top and microphone at the bottom seems all within the size limits of the old 2G and 1G iPods. It could even contain a small camera and still be small enough to be called an iPod.
It is the iPod, after all. Not the iMusic player.
What do you think???
P.S. I sickened, of course, that I post in response to an Enderle article, but, even though he is Satan's whore, he brings up some interesting ideas....this time.
With the iPod's current formfactor, the question seems less of Apple coming out with a new product, but simply integrating a PDA with phone and camera right on top of the current iPod.
The ubiquitous quest for most phone/PDA makers is to make them small enough for people to carry around. But people are already hauling their iPods everwhere. To add a little size to the currently tiny iPod wouldn't seem to render it useless to the masses.
I am no hardware designer, but to take a 3G iPod, cut out its LCD and "motherboard" and replace those with Apple's version of Palm harware, put on a full-length color LCD screen on the front with a phone speaker at top and microphone at the bottom seems all within the size limits of the old 2G and 1G iPods. It could even contain a small camera and still be small enough to be called an iPod.
It is the iPod, after all. Not the iMusic player.
What do you think???
P.S. I sickened, of course, that I post in response to an Enderle article, but, even though he is Satan's whore, he brings up some interesting ideas....this time.
Prototypes mean nothing
When the iMac originally came out, Apple developed Blueberry, Lime, Orange and Charcoal prototypes of PDAs that were seen throughout the Apple campus for months. Actual working models.
This column means nothing. If they do release this product, it will be as a result of years and years and years of research. If they don't, the rumor mill loses again...
When the iMac originally came out, Apple developed Blueberry, Lime, Orange and Charcoal prototypes of PDAs that were seen throughout the Apple campus for months. Actual working models.
This column means nothing. If they do release this product, it will be as a result of years and years and years of research. If they don't, the rumor mill loses again...
Sheesh. This is a RUMOR site. Here, we have a delicious rumor published by a reputable, mainstream tech source. Of course this is worth Page 1.
The only reasons offered against Page 1 status are: (1) it's an old and tired rumor; and (2) the guy who wrote the article is not trustworthy.
As to (1), maybe there's a reason this rumor won't die. Could it be true?
As to (2), who cares about the guy's track record. Any anti-Apple bias that people think they have seen would suggest that he would NOT pump Apple up by perpetuating a false rumor of an exciting new product. In any case, I don't trust Donald Rumsfeld; but I understand that when he speaks, it's news.
I agree. I have the same phone and it does a lot well for what it is. (And that I got it for free on Amazon, by signing up with T Mobile).
It's cool to snap pics, bluetooth them over to the tibook; update either the phone or address book in os x and sync them.
nokia phones suck!
I hate them! they are really bad! they have no features! the T68i is better then most nokia phones out there!
SonyEricsson phones are much better! the design the features everything! when did nokia have bluetooth? it didn't even work very well! and I never saw someone from Nokia speaking at an Apple event! but I remember someone from SE talking at a presentation! and every time Steve talks about iSync the phone they are using is a SE phone not a nokia!
and this is funny but if you notice the new SE T630 looks really good with an iBook and the P900 will go great with the PB
![connectivity_352_202.jpg]()
![camera_home_pic2.jpg]()
I hate them! they are really bad! they have no features! the T68i is better then most nokia phones out there!
SonyEricsson phones are much better! the design the features everything! when did nokia have bluetooth? it didn't even work very well! and I never saw someone from Nokia speaking at an Apple event! but I remember someone from SE talking at a presentation! and every time Steve talks about iSync the phone they are using is a SE phone not a nokia!
and this is funny but if you notice the new SE T630 looks really good with an iBook and the P900 will go great with the PB
Apple Handheld
THE ULTIMATE DEVICE:
Apple has a lot of technology that could be used for the "ultimate" device.
Take an iPod, sprinkle it with cell phone and Wi-Fi, add in .Mac and iTunes, integrate a better screeen and you have a device that can browse the iTunes music store and purchase songs directly into itself--anywhere!!
Now, add iSight and iChat AV, again with .Mac, and you have a handheld that can video conference that fits in your pocket. And takes pictures too--anywhere!!
THE ULTIMATE DEVICE:
Apple has a lot of technology that could be used for the "ultimate" device.
Take an iPod, sprinkle it with cell phone and Wi-Fi, add in .Mac and iTunes, integrate a better screeen and you have a device that can browse the iTunes music store and purchase songs directly into itself--anywhere!!
Now, add iSight and iChat AV, again with .Mac, and you have a handheld that can video conference that fits in your pocket. And takes pictures too--anywhere!!
This is a really good thing because my Nokia 6600 already has > 512MB of RAM. Next year I can upgrade it to 1GB via an MMC card. In 3 or 4 years (at most) it will have 16 GB or more.
For many people 1 GB (or 5 GB or 10 GB) is enough for a good MP3 player. And you'll see that range in a 1 or 2. For the rest of us, a year or two later the phone will have enough storage to be a mid to high end iPod of today.
A device with phone, contact, camera, video, MP3 functions etc all in one (kind of like a better Nokia 6600) will subsume all of these independent devices.
A combo iPhone/iPod would be a killer. The iPod alone is just a transition device.
For many people 1 GB (or 5 GB or 10 GB) is enough for a good MP3 player. And you'll see that range in a 1 or 2. For the rest of us, a year or two later the phone will have enough storage to be a mid to high end iPod of today.
A device with phone, contact, camera, video, MP3 functions etc all in one (kind of like a better Nokia 6600) will subsume all of these independent devices.
A combo iPhone/iPod would be a killer. The iPod alone is just a transition device.
A ps to myself:
I replaced my 3650 with this phone. Both synch'd nicely with iCal, address book etc. Takes good pics (for this generation), movies, can play MP3s.
What it needs is: a little more storage, a better camera, better audio output. Apple *can* do all these things with a better interface than I have seen. Even better integration with OS X.
The iPod, to me, has never solely been an MP3 player. It has other functions (as you all know). Apple needs to add *PHONE* to this list because *that* is the device that 99.9% of people carry all the time. Even the name suggestions that: information pod (or something). It isn't iMP3 or iMusicPlayer.
Jobs must see that people are *much* more likely to carry their phone than their iPod. Or their Camera.
I have 2 iPods (10 and 30) plus a 5MP Olympus camera. I carry them when I know I am going to want them, but I always have my phone.
So, if I am somewhere and don't have my iPod, I play a few songs from my phone. Ditto for the camera. Sometimes I don't know when I will want to take a picture, so I only have my phone.
With all these features it is easily a high margin item for Apple - just look at the prices on the Nokia 6600, ngage etc.
I'm betting the big hurdle right now in getting this Holy Grail iPod (mp3, PDA, phone and camera) into existence isn't the technology, but making it integrate with .Mac.
Integrated with .Mac for real-time updating between home base and the iPod would be just about the greatest thing of all time. From Mail to iCal to iPhoto to iTunes even (isn't Apple in talks with AT&T about wireless broadband?) It would be the true digital hub.
Integrated with .Mac for real-time updating between home base and the iPod would be just about the greatest thing of all time. From Mail to iCal to iPhoto to iTunes even (isn't Apple in talks with AT&T about wireless broadband?) It would be the true digital hub.
One would think that as long as the phone and network support something like WAP 1.1 or WAP 2.0 then it would be easy (relatively speaking) to make such a device work over any such network, just as most Symbian OS phones (e.g. Nokia 3650, 6600 etc) will sync via Bluetooth with iSync.
Given that they have code for iSync and protocols in place for it, I don't think it would be a huge project to do updating between a phone and .Mac.
I for one would love to see an apple developed cellphone...
but it is hard to think of what they can add to it that would make it a killer.
but it is hard to think of what they can add to it that would make it a killer.
So, if you take out all the iPod parts, and put in PDA parts, and change the case from an iPod case to a PDA case then ... voila! You have a PDA!
You would be stripping the majority of the iPod and iPod design to make it a PDA. I can see an iPod and PDA as companion products, but a PDA would not replace an iPod.
Personally, I find it incredibly uncomfortable and unnerving to be holding a touch-sensitive screen against the side of my cheek, especially one which is shaped roughly like a brick instead of a phone thus making either the earpiece be three inches away from my ear or the mouthpiece three inches away from my mouth ... granted, aspects of that describe far too many cell phones, so perhaps there is a market for it, but still ... I'd hope for better from Apple.
Would this be the iWrite from the previous rumor? In any case, I'm not a big PDA fan to begin with, but if Apple can pull off something revolutionasry that no one has done (or has done well), I might become more interested! I could honestly care less either way, but if Apple can do it and be successful with a new product like this, then great for them!