Apple Handheld Making the Rounds?

[fixyourthinking]

Re: Prototypes mean nothing

Originally posted by kgibbs
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...

Nope sorry, those were gifts from Handspring - a lot of employees had Visors that matched the iMac line about two months before their introduction.

As for this rumor, I think Apple probably is working on a PDA. I have my bets that it's NOT with Nokia though, rather Sony Ericsson and Cingular, much in the same way Handspring teamed with Sprint.

As for people doubting it could be making the rounds, SEAL and Moby had iPods almost 6 months before the introduction. Genentech and Francis Ford Coppola had G4 laptops 3 months before release. CEOs of Apple developers like ATI, Nvidia, and Adobe often get prototypes a year in advance. We also have to remember the famous MacBidoulle pics of the Quicksilver that were out about 2 months before release.

 

[TorbX]

Apple + Nokia is a real piece of sheize, I can tell you that.

Nokia-cellphones has a lot of errors, wrong things, stuff going bad, etc. Apple don't have time for sheize like that.

 

[centauratlas]

Originally posted by J-Ray1000
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.

I looked at the transactions between iSync and .Mac and it is using regular http and xml data. It does use SSL, but the 6600 (and 3650 etc) support that.

I think it would be reasonably easy to write an application that would use HTTP to log in, generate the xml and do the sync. Particularly since they have most of the algorithms and code done for iSync already.

 

[TorbX]

I'm not an Apple Expert, but I came to think of it:

Steve Jobs said that he can't see any use of PDA's. I agree with him.

But he DID saw the use of a harddisk MP3-player. The iPod. He got that one right.

Think of it. Maybe he can see the use of cell-phones. We use them, don't we? iPhone. I like the idea. Looks like the iPod, just that it folds out. Big screens. Camera.

New iPod with bluetooth that can transfer audio. Leave it in your bacpack, controle everythin with the iPhone.

Just a thougt...

 

[J-Ray1000]

Originally posted by centauratlas
I looked at the transactions between iSync and .Mac and it is using regular http and xml data. It does use SSL, but the 6600 (and 3650 etc) support that.

I think it would be reasonably easy to write an application that would use HTTP to log in, generate the xml and do the sync. Particularly since they have most of the algorithms and code done for iSync already.

Hey, you know best. If it's that easy, then the problem is probably integrating the whole enchilada.

To whoever it was saying why an iPod with a PDA isn't just a PDA. Well, why isn't a Sony memory stick player not an iPod? Same diff. I'm assuming here, of course, Apple isn't slapping a PDA, phone, and camera on a 40G HD.

Rather, it all works together in the usual Apple brilliance. Take a picture with your iPod -- it pops up in your iPhoto library on your iMac. Download a new song on the road -- a copy is sent back home. Ultimately, live updating between all facets of the iLife package: camera/iPhoto, music/iTunesMS, phone/Mail, and iCal and more.

Oh, and if I had the choice to have both my phone and my iPod in my pocket or just my 4G iPod, I'd definitely take just the 4G iPod, especially if it had a headphone plug or, better yet, bluetooth. Wouldn't that be the bomb? Apple brand Bluetooth headset linked back to the iPod. Listen to music, talk, record messages...Jesus, I want one!

 

[ITR 81]

I could see a slim down iPod using newer Toshiba HD's and with a release button on the side the iPod opens to become a phone with an internal # pad.

Could you imagine playing first 10 sec's of a MP3 song you love as your ring tone? No more paying for ring tones or dLing them. Just use your own MP3 lib.

 

[ClimbingTheLog]

Originally posted by Jefe
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.

The iPod was seen on bicycle handlebars and at restaurants in Cupertino in the months before the annoucement.

Of course, noone knew what it was (weren't the headphones a good enough clue?) and nobody belived the people reporting those rumors.

 

[Jerry Spoon]

Stop teasing me already....cruel cruel world

 

[LightFantastik]

Re: nokia phones suck!

Originally posted by Longey Nowze
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!

Are you crazy ?!?!
Sony Ericcsson phones are garbage ! I HATE my T616. I'd go back to a Nokia 8260 in a heartbeat. The only good thing about it is the bluetooth, and I hardly ever use it. The camera is useless, the screen is impossible to read in daylight, and the menu system is the absolute WORST I've ever experience on a cell phone. Microsoft could make a better phone OS than this !!! I can't go on enough about how much I hate the meuns/OS.

I swore after my horrible T28d, that I'd never buy another Ericsson product, but I was wooed by the fact they are working with Sony now, and the bluetooth. Well guess what ? Even with Sony, Ericsson still sucks ass. Despite their lack of widespread bluetooth support, Nokia still makes the most stylish, and user friendly, logical phones. Nokia's menu system/OS is nearly *perfect* - Nokia IS the Apple of cell phones !

I should have waited for the GSM Treo 600. The T616 is my worst purchasing mistake I've made in a long time.

I really hope this Apple/Nokia phone rumor is true. I'd be ecstatic ! Otherwise, I'm getting a Treo 600 ASAP.

 

[alset]

True Story:

I had a dream, the other day, that I travelled back in time via software that someone had developed for OS X. I zapped back using a 20" iMac (odd, because I prefer towers) to some point in the 80s. I was very conscious of wreaking the space-time continuum, and when the time came to zap back I worried that I had altered aspects of the present. When I returned to modern time, Apple had, that day, released a hybrid PDA/tablet. I knew, right away, that I had changed something in the past.

There is a great deal more to the dream, including time spent with Martin Scorcese and Willem Dafoe (in my teen bedroom, no less) as well as people telling me I was insane and had not traveled through time (I was really worried that I'd gone crazy!), but details on those aspects of the dream don't belong in this forum. Still, it'll be a great coincidence if Apple releases something of a similar design. The one in my dream was very slick.

Dan

 

[ClimbingTheLog]

Originally posted by alset
as well as people telling me I was insane

As if you're not going to get that here after that post.

Actually, I'm not one to talk - a few years ago I had a dream about an Apple device. It was round, a clamshell-design, a bit smaller in diameter than a CD (just right for the front pocket), had the glowy Apple on top like the iBook, and inside was a tiny keyboard and a 3" diagonal LCD screen for videoconferencing. There was a tiny Apple logo under the screen too (just painted).

It must have been cellular because I was using it in a park.

I'd still buy one today if I could.
What software do folks use when they're making fake Apple products to submit to rumor sites? Some kind of 3d modeling program? It might be fun to mock this one up sometime.

 

[~Shard~]

I once had a dream I was Batman.

Anyway, I don't know what this mystery device might be, or if it will be anything at all, but I can't wait to find out. Every day I'm looking more and more forward to MWSF - it's like Christmas II!

 

[Sabenth]

hand held devices that look / feel / work yep thats gota be apple all over the place

just do it already though i am getting bored with the same stuff over and over again

 

[merges]

Some of you folks have some strange dreams, I'll tell you what ;-)

No matter who's talking about this rumour, it's valid speculation. As others have pointed out, Apple has pulled some fast ones before, and it's certain to do the same in the future.

Besides, exactly what defines a PDA or a cellphone? Is the iPod a music player or a digital lifestyle device? What Steve Jobs, or anyone else, calls a "PDA" may strongly resemble some future device from Apple, but what Steve Jobs, or anyone else, may call that future device, is a matter of whiz-bang marketing.

 

[BWhaler]

This has got to be the dumbest article of all time.

Even if we ignore Steve saying Apple wasn't getting in the handheld business, there are these massive flaws:

1. Apple is one of the most secretive companies in the valley. Why would they be shopping a handheld around? To what gain?

2. Again, because Apple is so secretive, why would they share this with the sive that is Silicon Valley? Apple would know it would leak, so why would they want this to hit the wires before Steve got to announce it to mass fanfare?

3. Apple has some of the most draconian NDA's in the business; they are unbelievable. Why would a VC or someone in the valley risk pissing off Steve, getting sued, etc, to leak this to some schmuck reporter? It's not like this guy is Walt Mossberg.

The list goes on and on, but here's what I think happened. A columnist wants lots of hits at year end since it is bonus and review time, so the easiest way to generate traffic is to write about an Apple handheld.

Either way, the article is bogus. I'd bet any amount of money on it.

 

[desdomg]

Rob Enderle?

Sheeshh - Macrumors really scraping the bottom of the barrel for its rumours latelely.

 

[tychay]

Originally posted by Dreadnought
Let's hope that the GUI comes from Apple and not Nokia.

The crappy GUI is due to the difficulty of working with the Symbian OS. Really it's a wonder they've gotten as far as they have with it. But I guess this is a case where Microsoft's deserved reputation has preceded itself.

As for the Rob Enderle posts... I finally get to smile. Thanks.

 

[k2k koos]

Apple phone???

I hope Steve was telling the truth, we do not need an Apple phone, unless they make one with the following specs:

GSM Triband for world wide use
50 memory positions for my phone number
Long battery life
Long slender hand set so the mic is near my mouth , not my cheekbone..

That's it, no texting, no picture sendign etc, i want the phone to make phonecalls, not to play games on, etc, that's all total bull****

I guess I live in a dream world...

 

[AndrewMT]

I think it would be in Apple's best interests to enter the cell phone market with a phone similar to the T-mobile sidekick. The sidekick is currently the only phone to easily communicate through AIM, email, and voice and still have a reasonable price tag.

Unfortunately, Apple will have a lot of competition with these type of multi-use (not PDAs with voice communication) cell phones. Phones like Nokia's engage, T-mobile's sidekick, and possible Sony's PSP are really going to take off in 2004. Just who wouldn't want a playstation and a phone all-in-one?

 

[the future]

Re: Re: nokia phones suck!

Originally posted by LightFantastik
Are you crazy ?!?! Sony Ericcsson phones are garbage ! I HATE my T616. I'd go back to a Nokia 8260 in a heartbeat. ... Despite their lack of widespread bluetooth support, Nokia still makes the most stylish, and user friendly, logical phones. Nokia's menu system/OS is nearly *perfect* - Nokia IS the Apple of cell phones !

All of this is rubbish IMO. The SE t610/616 is just fantastic, the only mobile phone I know with a look and feel almost like Apple products. To call Nokia phones "stylish" is wrong beyond words. Yes, all of them. Nokia is the Dell of mobile phones.

 

[whooleytoo]

Re: Re: Prototypes mean nothing

Originally posted by adzoox
As for people doubting it could be making the rounds, SEAL and Moby had iPods almost 6 months before the introduction. Genentech and Francis Ford Coppola had G4 laptops 3 months before release. CEOs of Apple developers like ATI, Nvidia, and Adobe often get prototypes a year in advance.

I sincerely doubt it: a year before release most Apple products don't yet exist, or are just a loose pile of circuit boards in a lab in Cupertino.

And I doubt it would be the CEO's who would get them!

By the way, do you have a source for that Seal/Moby/Coppola info? Sounds very dubious to me.

 

[seamus_waldron]

Article with pictures about a Sony Clie/Apple palmtop

First off, here is the URL :

http://www.apj.co.uk/technology/apple_sony_clie.htm

Interesting article about Sonys advertising using Apple Mac screen shots.

 

[J-Ray1000]

Wow, that Sony Clie is pretty amazing. That's what we've been talking about. It has a voice recorder, camera, airport and bluetooth, and an MP3 player.

As for the article, on the Sony website, there is no evidence for the OS9 overlap. It shows the Clie with Palm 5, which looks pretty damn good.

Here's hoping Apple bests this Clie.

 

[Longey Nowze]

Re: Article with pictures about a Sony Clie/Apple palmtop

Originally posted by seamus_waldron
First off, here is the URL :

http://www.apj.co.uk/technology/apple_sony_clie.htm

Interesting article about Sonys advertising using Apple Mac screen shots.

That's the UX-50! i have one! but i lost the stylus... so I'm ordering some though... nice machine...

Thanks
MaT

 

[~Shard~]

Originally posted by AndrewMT
Unfortunately, Apple will have a lot of competition with these type of multi-use (not PDAs with voice communication) cell phones. Phones like Nokia's engage, T-mobile's sidekick, and possible Sony's PSP are really going to take off in 2004. Just who wouldn't want a playstation and a phone all-in-one?

Hadn't heard of the PSP before - very cool! Potentially...