iPod Dock Connector is doomed

[Sol]

The new iPod Shuffle has been redesigned to have just one port; a combination of a headphone and USB. We know how every generation of the iPods is thinner and smaller so imagine how much space Apple could trim by removing the Dock Connector. Sure, it would throw a spanner in the accessories market but that is typical Apple practice; just look at the new Nano and its incompatibility with the old Nano accessories.

I predict that the next Nano update and the rumored iPod phone will have the headphone/USB port and the full size iPod will be the last model to use the Dock Connector.

 

[bigandy]

I don't see how removing the dock would thin down the iPod. if you've seen inside a 'pod, you'll notice that the dock connector isn't much thinner than it looks on the outside, and that it's thinner than a headphone port.

 

[lexus]

I do not think so, the iPod shuffle never had a dock connector and I saw an article some time ago about how future proof the dock connector is.

 

[Sesshi]

The Shuffle connector was copied off the Mobiblu DAH-1500. It's not a harbinger for the future of the bigger line.

 

[Chundles]

Apple make a lot of money from that dock connector - they'd hardly replace it with a port that allows anyone to make accessories. That's why they got rid of the expanded headphone port to begin with.