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The Future iPOD evolution???

eclipse525

eclipse525

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 5, 2003
854
4
USA, New York
So, I'm checking out the new Sony Clié [PEG-UX50] and the Kyocera smartphone [7135] and thinking what sweet little devices. Alittle pricey but sweet. Now I know that Apple gave it go years back with the Newton but do you think they were just to WAY ahead of the times and perhaps it's a great time to let the iPod evolve into something like the Clié [PEG-UX50] or the Kyocera smartphone [7135]? Should they just forget about the whole idea OR perhaps partner up with someone?

Hmmmm.....Would love to see that device.


~e
 
i think we've discussed this before...

i personally think that:

1) iPod should be left alone as a digital music player. trying to make it do too much will degrade ts functionality.

2) PDA will become obsolete as a stand alone device - it will probably be integrated into cell phones. i don't think it makes much sense for apple to (re)develop a PDA. PDAs currently available in the market works fairly well with Macs so i don't think it's worth it. Apple does well by developing iSync type of software.

3) jobs already said he's not interested in making a cell phone, so i don't think apple will get into making a phone/PDA device.
 
Then tell me....how much development can you possible put into a MP3 player. I mean...there's only so much you can do with a device that serves one function. It either evolves or something takes it's place and trust me it's just a matter of time. Saying that the iPod shouldn't evolve is like saying that Apple shouldn't have bothered writing video editing software or a Browser or Presenatation software. Why, because it's already out there and the one's out there are pretty decent. Gotta grown in some sort of direction....


~e
 
Originally posted by eclipse525
Then tell me....how much development can you possible put into a MP3 player. I mean...there's only so much you can do with a device that serves one function. It either evolves or something takes it's place and trust me it's just a matter of time. Saying that the iPod shouldn't evolve is like saying that Apple shouldn't have bothered writing video editing software or a Browser or Presenatation software. Why, because it's already out there and the one's out there are pretty decent. Gotta grown in some sort of direction....


~e
Click to expand...

he never said it shouldn't evolve, he said it shouldn't try to be a PDA. I think he's right. These all in one devices often end up being pretty dumb. Things shouldn't add features for the sake of adding features, especially when there is so much competition out there in the cell phone/pda marketplace. Adding these features to the iPod would result in a very large cell phone, a very thick PDA, or a music player with convoluted controls. None of these things are desireable for anybody. Let the iPod be the iPod and evolve as a music player.
 
They're all right. Wack features should not make you want this device. If you want a datebook... you're barking up the wrong tree.

I think that these devices will separate into two catagories soon. The PDAs will merge with cell phones once they figure out that camera phones are pointless. The mp3 players and cameras will merge into media devices that play movies, show pictures and music.
 
in a month or so, i'll be going to japan. i'll try to see what kind of camera phone they got over there. i heard they have cameras good enough to replace most digital cameras..?
 
I agree to a point. I think the Kyocera smartphone [7135] is a good example of phone/pda to date. I think a camera should be a camera. Although I could see a DV recorder merge with a Digtal Camera. That fits alittle better. Now, the only fit I see with an MP3 player is MPEG-4 movie playback. I would also like to see some sort of editing or sound app like ReBirth on it as well. Touch screen would a nice touch as well. That would be pretty cool.



~e
 
The iPod will probably merge into an all in one device only when you can fit over 40gb in non volatile, low power, solid state memory into a small cell phone without having to make the phone bigger or awkwardly shaped.

Of course, by then, the iPod will be smaller...

Right now, putting a hard drive in a cell phone would be a really stupid idea, unless it was one of those big, bulky PDA cell phones.

What would be really cool, is an iPod, that was about 1/4 an inch thick, just like it is now with the scroll wheel, the display, and everything... Just a thin, plastic thing that holds over 50gb of your favorite music. I would love to have that over a cell phone/pda/mp3 player.

Besides, it'd interrupt your music every time somebody tried to call you

I just think the iPod is going to be a standalone music player for quite some time.
 
yeah, if flash memory (or something new) can be made cheaper/smaller with more capacity to the point where a small (really small) iPod can hold 50 gb of music, then that would probably be the "ultimate." (how fast will the access speed be?) absolutely no moving parts...

i'm still amazed by the recent surge of keychain flash memories... call me old, but it just feels weird to be carrying a keychain drive that has more capacity than a 100 mb zip disk...
 
Them making a phone is really a bad idea, even a device that has phone support. If they make it so it would work on GSM, it would have to be a tri-band so it would be a world phone. Unfortunately though, if you have Cingular, you need a fourth band as they mainly use the cellular frequency range. So it would only work on AT&T and T-Mobile unless it supports four bands. Then people who have Nextel, Sprint and Verizon would not be able to use it. If you made it work with CDMA, it would only work with Sprint and Verizon. GSM/TDMA have around the same number of subscribers in the US. GSM controls over 80% of the worldwide subscriber base. So what does Apple go with? If they did GSM, what about data? Right now it is just GPRS, with EDGE coming later this year and next year before UMTS hits in 2005 or 2006.

There are currently around 30 mobile phone companies in the US; I only listed the top six, which are national players. The remaining carriers typically offer TDMA, CDMA and analog, with some currently offering GSM and the rest will offer it later this year or next.

The iPod is getting more PDA like though. You can store contacts on it, etc. All they need to do is offer more functionality. I would expect them to partner with someone if they wanted to offer an iPod with PDA like capability. They could bring their Newton OS and technology and put it into the partnership. The only company they could really do something with would be Palm. They could also license iPod technology as well, maybe even phone manufacturers, but highly doubt it.
 
Re: The Future iPOD evolution???

Originally posted by eclipse525
So, I'm checking out the new Sony Clié [PEG-UX50] and the Kyocera smartphone [7135] and thinking what sweet little devices. Alittle pricey but sweet. Now I know that Apple gave it go years back with the Newton but do you think they were just to WAY ahead of the times and perhaps it's a great time to let the iPod evolve into something like the Clié [PEG-UX50] or the Kyocera smartphone [7135]? Should they just forget about the whole idea OR perhaps partner up with someone?

Hmmmm.....Would love to see that device.


~e
Click to expand...

the iPod is the greatest mp3 player on the market and irrefragably will stay so for many years. To tarnish its image just so a niche market within a niche market can a few more games on their mp3 player seems not only asinine,
but potentially devestating to the sale of an mp3 player.

Now no doubt the two devices you mentioned serve a purpose to the consumers who purchase them, however the majority of people will never have the need for such.

Not to mention that Steve Jobs said he was never going to put out a PDA device, or a phone. :D ;)

-tazo
 
they can always partner up with MS and develop joint code based on OSX/PocketPC. <grin>

Well....Sony's got their "flash" memory up to 1gig. That's pretty good but it's got a long way to go. I really don't know how much growth potential there is in "flash" memory but it'll be nice if they can match that to HD's. Cleaner and Faster.

I really feel at this point Apple has got to make some major key partnerships with major key players. This can only help them without sacraficing product and brand integrity.


~e
 
Optical can't even match the HD. How many DVD discs does it take to equal one 3.5” 250GB magnetic HD? At 4.7GB, it takes over 50. Flash has a long way to go, as does optical. That is why holographic will surpass both optical and magnetic and eventually solid state memory.
 
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