It would make a lot of sense for Apple to introduce the touchPod as a fourth product. The hard drive iPods will remain attractive to people looking for storage and value. It would make more sense to own an iPhone and a hard drive iPod than owning an iPhone and a touchPod.
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Apple to Unveil New Flash-based iPods? Digital Radio?
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The Iphone launch was a marketing phenomeon, right up to the secret NSA style deliveries. Many companies will try to copy that.
Sony is the biggest copycat on the planet. If the announcement was about bestbuy or circuitcity I would say you are right. But target, just don't know.
All of those hard-working engineers and factory personnel in China must be heartbroken to have lost this contract to Tawiwan.
Yeah, I feel sorry for all those Chinanese.
You're right, I don't know what Apple thinks but it was basically my opinion and I think Apple has done extensive research on this. I know there will still be high capacity iPods out there, they would never take a step back. But in my opinion, the multi-touch, widescreen iPod won't be HDD based (aka high capacity). If anything, they will keep selling the current iPods with a storage bump along with the new "iPod Touch".
Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to see a high capacity iPod Touch, I just don't think it's feasible.
yeah, I guess you never know when lawyers are involved. Although maybe the contract isn't that limiting, as AT&T would hopefully realise that apple would not want to tread over the toes of the iphone too much as it would mean apple would lose both initial iphone sale profit & ongoing revenue sharing from At&t contract.
Im still a bit dubious on the Wifi inclusion in the iPod Touch for anything past syncing and linking with other ipod touchs/iphones for games and possibly itunes downloads/program updates.
So maybe the no web browsing, no youtube, no phone calls, no camera and no email will be enough of a distinction from the iphone to not deter sales.
(Actually they could leave the camera in - would be a great surprise to have the ipod touch as a digicam or maybe even DV cam with all that extra storage available. Holy Crap that would be really GREAT!!)
iPod with everything!
Really,
I don't understand all of you who have an iPhone and are willing to buy the "upcoming" iPod. Why? Wasn't it supposed to be the all-in-one device? Why do you want to carry 2 gadgets then?
So iPod is for people who don't want to swith mobile company / don't care about carrying 2 devices / don't like being attached 2 years in a contract plan.., whatever.
I don't see why they should make a product worse (more restricted) than it can be just because some people who run on the first weeks to the apple stores can't find a good excuse to go there again so soon.
I feel they are selling a LOT more iPod touch than they are loosing for the iPhones. I want the communications device, the neat interface and the iPod features, but don't really care about the phone. I thik I'm not alone.
Cheers,
R
Really,
I don't understand all of you who have an iPhone and are willing to buy the "upcoming" iPod. Why? Wasn't it supposed to be the all-in-one device? Why do you want to carry 2 gadgets then?
So iPod is for people who don't want to swith mobile company / don't care about carrying 2 devices / don't like being attached 2 years in a contract plan.., whatever.
I don't see why they should make a product worse (more restricted) than it can be just because some people who run on the first weeks to the apple stores can't find a good excuse to go there again so soon.
I feel they are selling a LOT more iPod touch than they are loosing for the iPhones. I want the communications device, the neat interface and the iPod features, but don't really care about the phone. I thik I'm not alone.
Cheers,
R
(only directed to those with childish demands, you know who you are)
Thank GOD Apple doesn't seek your 'approval' before they goto launch new products ...
"Apple better do this, Apple better do that ..." What is the average age of users here? 13?
Ya know ... whatever they release you will salivate for it, pimp out your little sister for it .... of course, you'll still complain and gripe that it was not everything you were seeking ... BUT, you'll buy it.
And for all those who think they have ALL THE ANSWERS ...
I feel very confident that Apple's marketing strategists, designers and thought leaders know EXACTLY what they are doing ... and you do not.
One more thing, those hoping for a 'phoneless' iPhone ...
- Get mommy and daddy to switch the family plan to from Verizon
- Or, pony up the $175 ETF from your current crummy carrier and buy an iPhone already.
*** because it will never happen ***
Thank GOD Apple doesn't seek your 'approval' before they goto launch new products ...
"Apple better do this, Apple better do that ..." What is the average age of users here? 13?
Ya know ... whatever they release you will salivate for it, pimp out your little sister for it .... of course, you'll still complain and gripe that it was not everything you were seeking ... BUT, you'll buy it.
And for all those who think they have ALL THE ANSWERS ...
I feel very confident that Apple's marketing strategists, designers and thought leaders know EXACTLY what they are doing ... and you do not.
One more thing, those hoping for a 'phoneless' iPhone ...
- Get mommy and daddy to switch the family plan to from Verizon
- Or, pony up the $175 ETF from your current crummy carrier and buy an iPhone already.
*** because it will never happen ***
Of course all this speculation might be wrong and there might not be a touchscreen ipod announced.
At the question and answer segment last event some questions were asked about the appletv, the answer was that was not the time for those questions but appletv announcements were forthcoming. The appletv is not selling as well as expected, the coverflow theme of the invite could just as well refer to the apple tv.
Remember the apple jukebox, at the event before that Jobs suggested jokingly that the next ipod might way several pounds, and than was announced the illfated jukebox.
Well perhaps all we will see Wednsday Is.
A new Nano with coverflow
An Iphone upgrade of some kind
New content deals
And an Ajax browser enhancement to the apple tv , which would alow rss fees and other internet content.
Apple has a funny way of delivering the unexpected.
At the question and answer segment last event some questions were asked about the appletv, the answer was that was not the time for those questions but appletv announcements were forthcoming. The appletv is not selling as well as expected, the coverflow theme of the invite could just as well refer to the apple tv.
Remember the apple jukebox, at the event before that Jobs suggested jokingly that the next ipod might way several pounds, and than was announced the illfated jukebox.
Well perhaps all we will see Wednsday Is.
A new Nano with coverflow
An Iphone upgrade of some kind
New content deals
And an Ajax browser enhancement to the apple tv , which would alow rss fees and other internet content.
Apple has a funny way of delivering the unexpected.
Same reason tivo downgrades the video you get from tivotogo, same reason video over unprotected hdmi interfaces is downscaled, profit, money and lawyers.. get used to it and welcome to the 21st century.
My two cents worth
I have read the entire thread, and thought I'd share a couple of thoughts and experiences. First, I have a 4gig i-phone, a 60gig 5th gen video ipod, and a nano. I do carry the i-phone and the video i-pod together a lot. I use the i-pod in the car, and carry most of my music library. The i-phone plug doesn't fit my admittedly weak cassette adapter, and the i-phone gets interference when in the dock connector attached to the FM transmiter in the car. (I know I can put it in airplane mode, but people actually call me sometimes while I'm driving) Anyway, what I am saying is that people do actually use both, large capacity drives, and flashed based together. I love the idea of a hybrid.
Next point, I run with nike+ on my nano all the time. With an all OSX lineup, what will happen to "tune my run" will it be ported over? If so could I run with my i-phone? There are lots of Nike+ runners out there, there will have to be a solution to this announced on Wed.
I am also looking forward to ringtones, and how about skinning the home screen, or just adding wallpaper options behind the icons? Anyway, long post, sorry, but I did read all of your stuff first
Oh, and I almost forgot, I watch movies on my home TV with the video out off of the i-pod quite often. Can't do that from the i-phone. That will be an important feature of the new i-pod.
I have read the entire thread, and thought I'd share a couple of thoughts and experiences. First, I have a 4gig i-phone, a 60gig 5th gen video ipod, and a nano. I do carry the i-phone and the video i-pod together a lot. I use the i-pod in the car, and carry most of my music library. The i-phone plug doesn't fit my admittedly weak cassette adapter, and the i-phone gets interference when in the dock connector attached to the FM transmiter in the car. (I know I can put it in airplane mode, but people actually call me sometimes while I'm driving) Anyway, what I am saying is that people do actually use both, large capacity drives, and flashed based together. I love the idea of a hybrid.
Next point, I run with nike+ on my nano all the time. With an all OSX lineup, what will happen to "tune my run" will it be ported over? If so could I run with my i-phone? There are lots of Nike+ runners out there, there will have to be a solution to this announced on Wed.
I am also looking forward to ringtones, and how about skinning the home screen, or just adding wallpaper options behind the icons? Anyway, long post, sorry, but I did read all of your stuff first
Oh, and I almost forgot, I watch movies on my home TV with the video out off of the i-pod quite often. Can't do that from the i-phone. That will be an important feature of the new i-pod.
Yeah, that's a great analogy. You can customize a Mac Pro with like 20 gig of RAM that costs $20,000 or so. That is probably the exact computer Steve Jobs himself uses. Does anyone seriously think that Jobs doesn't own a 80 gig iPod? With iTunes pushing TV shows and movies more than ever along with 256 kbps music downloads, the high end iPods should have at least 100 gigs at this point in my opinion. I personally have a 30 gig iPod Photo and I am running out of space just with my music collection, which has reached 23 gigs out of 27 available on the iPod. So yeah, Steve Jobs himself likely owns the highest end Mac computers and iPods. That in and of itself should be reason enough for them to keep upping the capacity on their high end iPod each time they release a new line of iPods.
You are completly right. If the iphone was released unlocked and didn't require a sim card to operate (ie the phones there, but its optional), we wouldn't be having this conversation, as we would have our iPod touch already. Maybe they would have released a phoneless version with all the other features of the iphone but it would be a bit cheaper as it wouldn't require the phone electronics. would also be sold globally without any problems. And they could have a 3G & CDMA versions also. Carriers would be falling over themselves to offer visual voicemail and good data plans, competition would have been good.
(only directed to those with childish demands, you know who you are)
Thank GOD Apple doesn't seek your 'approval' before they goto launch new products ...
"Apple better do this, Apple better do that ..." What is the average age of users here? 13?
Ya know ... whatever they release you will salivate for it, pimp out your little sister for it .... of course, you'll still complain and gripe that it was not everything you were seeking ... BUT, you'll buy it.
And for all those who think they have ALL THE ANSWERS ...
I feel very confident that Apple's marketing strategists, designers and thought leaders know EXACTLY what they are doing ... and you do not.
One more thing, those hoping for a 'phoneless' iPhone ...
- Get mommy and daddy to switch the family plan to from Verizon
- Or, pony up the $175 ETF from your current crummy carrier and buy an iPhone already.
*** because it will never happen ***
Umm....perhaps its because we are one of the 6 billion people that don't live in the USA so cant get an iphone - even if we have 10 times the money your mommy and daddy spent on getting you an iphone.
The reason it doesn't work that way is the contract with ATT - Apple gets a cut of the ATT plan fees, and in return guarantees that US iPhones will be locked to ATT for 3 years. Probably the contract has some other terms, such as requiring the activation to use the other functions, and ATT not being allowed to install their own OS customizations like carriers do on a lot of phones.
A 3G GSM version is supposed to be available at some point but nothing's been said about CDMA. I've got Verizon and I like it, so no iPhone for me.
Does it matter if it cuts into iPhone sales? When you buy either of the two products revenue is going to the same company. When the iPhone came out, didn't people say that will cannibalize the iPod Nano sales? (Before they announced the price obviously) What ever Apple does, the next product that will come out will cannibalize the new prduct that comes out on Wednesday, it's a never ending chain.
God Bless Steve Jobs
WiFi is NEEDED on the iPod!!!
One of the weak links in the iPod is connectivity with other devices, especially in your car. Having to have that stupid connector built in to your car is an absolute absurdity. With a Wifi iPod, you could connect to newly developed network in your car that will allow high quality, good bandwidth data flow (including controls!) over Wifi to you "Network Enabled Car Stereo". That's the future, not more of the same stupid FM transmitters or cords sticking into your stereo. And with Wifi, you could set it up to sync when you pull into your garage and grab new music, movies, podcasts, etc. An iPod for your home, an iPod for your car, an iPod for...
And when going to trade shows/events you could subscribe to feeds, delivered wirelessly to your iPod. Imagine going to a concert and getting a bonus track beamed to your iPod. That would be the ultimate in cool and connectivity.
One of the weak links in the iPod is connectivity with other devices, especially in your car. Having to have that stupid connector built in to your car is an absolute absurdity. With a Wifi iPod, you could connect to newly developed network in your car that will allow high quality, good bandwidth data flow (including controls!) over Wifi to you "Network Enabled Car Stereo". That's the future, not more of the same stupid FM transmitters or cords sticking into your stereo. And with Wifi, you could set it up to sync when you pull into your garage and grab new music, movies, podcasts, etc. An iPod for your home, an iPod for your car, an iPod for...
And when going to trade shows/events you could subscribe to feeds, delivered wirelessly to your iPod. Imagine going to a concert and getting a bonus track beamed to your iPod. That would be the ultimate in cool and connectivity.
That's about to become a very easy problem to work around... the iphonesimfree.com people will sell their software very soon, and they've demo'ed it for a CNN reporter who says he got the phone unlocked in about 2 minutes.
Maybe not necessarily WIFI, but what about BLUETOOTH?! THere are cars now that have Bluetooth for phones to talk through the speakers, why not have a car with bluetooth to b e able to listen to your iPod without any wires?
...and then the next time apple does a firmware update my iphone is a very expensive paperweight. All the unlocking software companies say is that it is restore resistant - they dont mention how apple can simply release a firmware to destroy the hacks.
Here's a thought, i suspect a lot of phone contracts are renewing come November , december , would apple release something like the Ipod touch at a time a second wave of carrier switching might be starting.
I think not...
With Bluetooth in the new iPod Tap (something else then Touch im tired of that name even if it does sound like a thing from a bar) other things are opened up. Bluetooth headphones, Bluetooth syncing from your computer, being able to talk to other iPods but not necessarily the stupid Zune
"squirting".
Bluetooth is crap for bandwidth, crap for security, crap for quality. It definitely needs to be wifi. It would take a month and a half to sync over Bluetooth, kind of like a Bittorrent download with no seeds.
Then why is Bluetooth in every single Mac? If Apple sees that its not a safe thing to put in their product, then why do they? Yes, I would like to have WiFi in the new iPod Tap so Safari could could be bundled up too. BT + WiFi = endless possibilities
Because you use BT to hook up your keyboard and mouse which is basically no data at all or completely insignificant. There are BT security exploits that can occur just by noticing a BT device near you. In your home, that's hardly a risk at all. But outside, the risk rises significantly. Lots of issues noted in the Security Community. Remember your iPod goes out into the wild and comes back and is plugged in BEHIND your firewall. That makes it an attractive exploit. But the main problem is bandwidth. When you can show me that BT External Harddrive of that BT Apple TV, then we can talk, but that ain't gonna happen.