iPod What are the chances of an SSD iPod at the high end?

[nylon]

With the recent release of SSD drives by Samsung and Toshiba i believe I wonder what would be the chances of Apple releasing a high end iPod with a 32GB SSD drive? It would be an amazing machine with excellent battery life, however, I'm not sure what the price implications are.

Surely the ultimate objective would be to move away from mechanical drives completely in all iPod models. Just my two cents. That said I would be pleased with a 16GB flash based iPod as my current collection of MP3's does not go past 9GB, nor do i care to carry every single album I own in my pocket.

 

[pianoman]

i think i read somewhere (Engadget, perhaps) that the price for the 32GB SSD was about $600. if so, i doubt the iPod will see one until the prices come down a bit more.

 

[sushi]

My guess is that Apple will offer these three versions:

- Shuffle --> Flash

- Nano --> Flash / SSD

- Video --> Hard Disk

 

[PhatBoyG]

SSD is the term used for high-speed solid state disks. These are of limited use in an iPod since transfer rate isn't so important.

But with 8GB USB drives costing only $79 (or less), it seems likely to me that there could be a 16GB video iPod at the $349 or $399 price point. That would still allow for a good $150 margin per unit. Plus it would allow Apple to keep the form factor close to the iPhone.

I'm sure we'll all be surprised if all the spy photos are fake. Remember Steve and crew love to give out half a dozen or so fake mock ups to suppliers and other folks to throw them off the scent and give them an idea of who leaked the information.

Just my thoughts. Fortunately I'm no longer in the market for an iPod, as the iPhone has plenty of iPod for my needs.