OS X Based iPods Soon?

[rockthecasbah]

Please be soon, i can't wait to get rid of my temporary 20GB 4th gen Monochrome for a 6G iPod, i'm ready for the next generation of tech! Hopefully we can ring in the end of the Click Wheel soon!

🙂

 

[kalisphoenix]

The 8GB my iPhone has wouldn't be a big deal if iTunes converted ALAC -> AAC on the fly like it does with my shuffle :-|

 

[cire]

If you have a cell phone and an iPod, then an iPhone makes good sense. I pay $20 more per month than my previous no data plan to support my iPhone...not $60. To not have to carry two devices...to have the phone seamlessly put my ipod on hold, to be able to browse everywhere I have service (none in my laundryroom unfortunately 🙁 ) these are the reasons I have an iPhone.

If you dont want any cellphone (and you are not amish), then what do you want from a media player? Widescreen...coming i think we are agreed. Large storage capacity. In the near term, that means a HD and that kinda precludes a phone since its too bulky and to delicate...I mean, I have already dropped my iPhone three times on concrete. That's as many times as I've dropped my 1st gen iPod in six years.

We're all agreed that OS X is the way to go and that means multitouch as well. Now the question comes what about connectivity? Wifi? Only if it doesn't interfere with the ATT contract so no VOIP. Bluetooth...well as someone said 'Wires are so 20th Century'. (BTW, that would allow stereo bluetooth, since there is no phone) If you have WiFi then you probably have to have Safari. Plus, think of the installed base for safari if every current iPod used Safari...forget about the Windows version to build the base, use iPods.

That leaves an iPhone with HD without a phone and without universal broadband. And then what about the rumored iPhone nano? What part of the iPod line will that stomp over?

Oh yeah...don't forget the 12-Volt car battery we'll have to lug around to power it all 😛

 

[crjeong]

VOIP obviously wouldn't be an issue since the iPod does not contain a microphone, so they wouldn't have to worry about it crossing over into iPhone territory there.

In regard to the Nano rumour, perhaps the Phone capabilities would simply become a high end spec in the Nano range, converging with the 8gb model?

 

[pieman02]

I was kinda hoping for new iPods before Christmas ...oh well, just wait a little longer.

Finally got to play with an iPhone this weekend .... WAY COOL!

That would be nice, but Apple is definitely going to want parents to buy new little iPhones for all their kids...

 

[reallynotnick]

The thing is I can't get an iPhone no matter how much I want it because AT&T does not cover here, and even if it did, I refuse to sign a crappy 2 year contract (just f'ing ridiculous). So Apple needs to sell me on a new iPod, not a "oh, sorry to hear you can't get an iPhone here is what we threw together on a weekend for people like you iPod".

I want a full widescreen touch screen, with WiFi for Safari, Mail and iChat. Leaving the camera on would be nice but would not be a deal breaker. All for $399. As long as it is 16GB+ I don't really care.

 

[rob@robburns.co]

The thing is I can't get an iPhone no matter how much I want it because AT&T does not cover here, and even if it did, I refuse to sign a crappy 2 year contract (just f'ing ridiculous). So Apple needs to sell me on a new iPod, not a "oh, sorry to hear you can't get an iPhone here is what we threw together on a weekend for people like you iPod".

I want a full widescreen touch screen, with WiFi for Safari, Mail and iChat. Leaving the camera on would be nice but would not be a deal breaker. All for $399. As long as it is 16GB+ I don't really care.

You want everything in the iPhone except for a microphone, proximity sensor, and GSM connectivity. You want twice the storage. And you want this for 2/3 the price of the model that (by many accounts) is subsidized by AT&T. Why not also add a VOIP phone?

I'd love to see that also. But it doesn't sound too likely.

 

[headfuzz]

VIDEO DOWNLOADS IN THE UK PLEASE - feed my Apple TV. I'm tired of ripping DVDs. 🙂

Amen to that 😉

 

[cire]

The problem with the microphone is that third parties do make a microphone. Apple would probably have to prevent that or prevent apps from os services necessary for VOIP.

 

[carlgo]

Lots of good ideas here. An exciting future for Apple with many possibilities.

My problem, though, is in the expense of connecting. I need a land line for dsl, WiFi is not readily accessable, and cell phone coverage problems are well documented.

That is a whole lot of money to connect to the outside world! Especially if you add cable/satellite tv.

I would think these costs and marginal service must really hamper the sales of phones, Ipods, etc.

What is up with the future of connectivity and what about that supposedly hi-tech communications center Apple bought a few years back? Are they converting that to mini storage and lofts or can we look foreward to a more rational way of linking up?

 

[ajhill]

Don't tell me...

I'm not gonna have to wait in line again am I?

If Jobs is updating the iPod and it's similar to the iPhone they are going to sell a ton of them.

Way to go, Steve!

 

[edgeman]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070515 Firefox/2.0.0.4)

Well seems to me that Apple is in the process of buying lots of screens the more to build iPods, iPhones the better, also after selling 700,000 iPhones on a weekend in the US only and no where else means that iPod sales would be through the roof in Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, Pacific Rim countries and anywhere where NO iPhones are able to being sold .... Steve's NO Dummy so I predict that the NEW iPods will be there for the X-Mas Season, with Bluetooth built in & perhaps a Camera, can you say Digital Video as well as Digital Pictures and perhaps Maybe Sattelite Music being sold through the Apple Store as they have just about every artist there already.

 

[peharri]

Here's a thought:

The rumoured cut Apple gets from subscriptions for iPhone service:

...maybe this is a way to persuade AT&T (and other partners) that Apple will not undermine iPhone sales by producing a significant competitor to it?

I don't doubt an OS X based iPod is coming, but I suspect this has more to do with standardizing upon a common platform than producing a machine that is an iPhone minus the phone functionality. Standardizing upon a common platform for both iPhone and iPod makes sense as the two platforms have common requirements, and the complicated areas (video codecs, etc) currently have to be maintained for two entirely different architectures. One is always going to be a subset of the other.

I think it's far from a done deal that the next iPods will support Wifi, or Safari. (Bluetooth, yes, but only because BT headsets are seriously beginning to take off.)

 

[7031]

I think that an OSX iPod would be awesome. Coverflow and movies would rock. I can't really get excited about the WiFi though. I don't see much point, yeah you can buy music from the device (maybe) or share music (maybe). I will be excited if it really is EVERYTHING of the iPhone without the phone, for example the Safari, so that the WiFi can be put to good use.

True. Unless I can charge with wifi, I might as well plug it in.

 

[Black Belt]

The whole "cannibalize" argument is completely absurd. An iPod is not a phone. The sales of the iPhone are miniscule compared to the iPhone. Do you really think Jobs is going to cower before AT&T and let them dictate product development for other devices? Next you'll believe that they'll have to remove wifi from the laptops because people using iChat "cannibalizes" the iPhone. Heck AT&T would love to make iChat illegal. Most everything Apple does can stomp on AT&Ts antiquated revenue model. In a sane world they would simply be another commodity data pipe but they and the other phone companies have been allowed to segment and cripple the pipe (PUBLIC airwaves) so they can extort excess money and squelch competition, colluded by your government officials.

I will gladly buy a new iPod as soon as they are available. The tech they developed for the iPhone is stunning and a huge improvement for media players. I don't see the problem with not having a click wheel. I never found the need to run the thing blind and when I tried, it never worked. I always had to look anyway.

 

[Black Belt]

True. Unless I can charge with wifi, I might as well plug it in.

Actually it may not be that far off...

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/wireless-0607.html

 

[diamond3]

i may be wrong but i believe they did big time with the ipod photo version... and then started making their way back down...

I remember that, however i though the way they came about was they still sold the 4g ipod for the same price and the ipod photo was in a way like a new ipod lineup. Eventually they replace the 4g ipod and only sold the ipod photo at the same price. Does anyone else remember this?

 

[enkadrummer88]

my prediction on the 6gen iPod

It will definitely be wide/fullscreen. It will be OS X based. It may or may not have wifi, I personally doubt it. Whatever it's new features are, it will be all touchscreen. Why not? It makes everything much easier. Afterall, instead of having to push corresponding buttons to manipulate the machine, you can just touch the interface itself. Multi-touch will definitely play a factor and because of this technological breakthrough... the clickwheel will be no more.

 

[acrafton]

It will definitely be wide/fullscreen. It will be OS X based. It may or may not have wifi, I personally doubt it. Whatever it's new features are, it will be all touchscreen. Why not? It makes everything much easier. Afterall, instead of having to push corresponding buttons to manipulate the machine, you can just touch the interface itself. Multi-touch will definitely play a factor and because of this technological breakthrough... the clickwheel will be no more.

I totally agree. I think those who insist the clickwheel will stay because "you don't have to look at the device" are missing the point about the VIDEO aspect of the device.. .you are already looking at it because it is VIDEO. The nano's will stay around for those who want music only and want to feel their way around.

 

[rbroady]

what about a wifi ipod that can wirelessly stream music from your computer, with the arrival of leopard i can see this happening. and what about itunes downloads from your ipod. theres so many possibilities of whats to come

 

[peharri]

I totally agree. I think those who insist the clickwheel will stay because "you don't have to look at the device" are missing the point about the VIDEO aspect of the device.. .you are already looking at it because it is VIDEO. The nano's will stay around for those who want music only and want to feel their way around.

Well, the touchwheel isn't really the way to control the iPod non-visually (it's a good volume control I guess, but everything else you'd use it for requires you to look at the screen. Now, the "Next track/previous/pause" buttons, on the other hand...), but that's a separate issue and the fact that the iPhone interface requires, for the most part, visual interaction is an issue.

It's not as if people who want video and audio aren't going to be mostly listening to music and usually wanting their device to be controllable without looking at it.

One of the major problems with the iPhone that puts me off it right now is that it appears to be a device that requires visual interaction to operate. Just because sometimes I might want to use it to watch movies doesn't change that.

And an iPod that uses the fact that users will occasionally be using it to watch videos as an excuse to remove all possibilities of touch-only interaction is a seriously bad idea. Video may be useful, but it'll certainly (not in the near future at least, probably not ever) be the primary use of an iPod.

 

[RoboCop001]

I'm telling you guys, gestures!

Just because it's touchscreen doesn't mean you have to look at it to change the volume, or pause, or skip.

Like I said before... using a sensor of some kind (proximity i guess) it'll know when it's in your pocket. So then the normal volume control bar (like how it is on the iPhone) is inactive and the gestural commands become active.

So... just like the click wheel, you turn your finger in a circle to change the volume. See? You don't even have to look.

And there could be hot corners or hot sides for skip forward/back and play/pause.

I think that would be perfect.

And for those who clip the iPod to your belt or wherever, maybe you're thinking "well the proximity thing won't work on my belt because it's not inside anything". Well then um... I dunno, maybe there could be an option to have the "invisible click wheel gesture thing" to be always on.

See? So there's relatively 0 learning curve. Except for getting used to tapping the sides instead of the sides of a click wheel to pause the music.

And they can always include a remote attached to the earphone wire, like they have on the radio attachment, only it actually comes with the iPod.

 

[Jakintosh™]

Hey, if there was Wi-fi, you could transfer songs (unless microsoft wont let them b/c of the zune) with out paying, but only to 5 iPods, and you have to type in your iTMS password like when you do that on a nomal computer.And maybe unprotected songs to any 6G ipod? just wishful thinking, but i'm glad my 5.5G 80GB video stayed top of the line for so long. i dtill have the best ipod! excluding the iPhone...

 

[1dterbeest]

i have no use for an ipod, but if you made an ipod with mini-osx and wifi, i'd consider one. I don't like iPhone because of AT&T. I don't want a phone contract with them and I don't want to pay for a data bundle plan. I just want mini-osx on a ipod size touchscreen device.