Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
WiFi iPods in Second Half of 2007?
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Apple tv is made for viewing on tvs and has front row.
-
But on another note.. Slingbox on your iPod! Yeahhh baby!
Sync with your Mac anywhere in your house, not just when it's plugged into it? Or maybe iTunes syncs with .Mac, and your iPod syncs with .Mac anytime there's a wifi hot spot? Not sure if it's worth it, just a thought...
DigiTimes claims that Apple plans on launching with Wi-Fi capabilities in the "second half of 2007"
The possibility of wireless iPods have been discussed for years, but have not yielded any shipping products. Previous reports expected Apple to introduce some form of Wireless iPod to compete with Microsoft's Zune player which does bundle Wifi connectivity.
Cool I hope it comes with a cam too. Apple will probably pull people off the Mac team to hit it's target date.
Assuming you have the laptop with you that is? I don't carry a laptop around. I do carry my cell-phone and iPod with me. And I routinely use the phone for web-surfing. And when I'm home, I quite often use Nokia 770 for web-browsing. Why? Because it's so nice to be able to surf from anywhere with a device that literally fits in to your pocket.
What were you typing on it? URL's? Why not use history and bookmarks instead?
Oh jeez not this again. While they're at it, put a radio, bluetooth, play4sure, GPS, TV antenna and 30 other features that I DON'T WANT OR NEED!
I would drool for an iPhone minus the phone and plus about 80 GB. PDA, video ipod, and net surfer. How could anyone not be happy with that? Especially since they might launch at a much cheaper price tag since apple wouldn't have to answer to cingular legalities. I'd place my order today.
You are not forced to use any of those unneeded features. I don't have a need for audiobook-support in my iPod, but I don't start bitching and moaning how my iPod has features that I don't need.
I don't think I care much for the wi-fi; I don't care about going "social."
What I'd really like is a touch screen, like the iPhone. Cordless in-ear earphones would be nice (bluetooth maybe) but I'm not sure how that would work.
What I'd really like is a touch screen, like the iPhone. Cordless in-ear earphones would be nice (bluetooth maybe) but I'm not sure how that would work.
For what reason would you want to do that? Your whole iTunes library is accessible anyway.
Oppss....already delayed till Summer 08. Sorry folks.
The good news: No, it hasn't been delayed. The new iPod Wi-fi has passed several important tests and is on track for an October release.
Also good news: A new line of iPod socks is under development, that are due to be released in January 2008.
The bad news: These two developments mean Apple's resources are severely stretched. Leopard will have to be delayed again, to July 2009.
what i could see them doing is this:
enable streaming from any other ipods/itunes libraries in the hotspot (just like itunes does now) but no copying...and no 3 play BS.
allow purchases on the fly from the iTunes store, but no full browsing capabilities.
This would keep it purely an iPod...focused on music. This would be enough innovation to satisfy most.
Oh yeah...wide/touchscreen would be nice too.
enable streaming from any other ipods/itunes libraries in the hotspot (just like itunes does now) but no copying...and no 3 play BS.
allow purchases on the fly from the iTunes store, but no full browsing capabilities.
This would keep it purely an iPod...focused on music. This would be enough innovation to satisfy most.
Oh yeah...wide/touchscreen would be nice too.
Actually the solution to this problem isn't making batteries better, but making the ipod drain less power. A very easy way to do that is to move from hard drive to flash based players. Also, as time goes on, the amount of power required to do a given amount of processing (i.e. video decoding) goes down. So that should make things all the more feasible.
Yeah I want WiFi headphones too. The WiFi iPod isn't my thing, that's what my MacBook is for. That also means more $$ for getting WiFi outside of home. >_>hehe rather WiFi headphones
Oppss....already delayed till Summer 08. Sorry folks.
i was just thinking that when i first saw it, it seems like they took the programmers of the wireless ipod for leopord cause it's still not out yet! (assuming it's Spring '08 already)
Better be soon!
We better get a widescreen iPhone type iPod with multi-touch in the next revision or I am going to be so pissed. I've been waiting for this iPod for a year and a half
yes of course, it would need to be a touchscreen and screen size of the iphone.
i was thinking ahead in the development process
it is a given that we will get touch-base widescreen ipod in the long-run.
also, i wasn't talking about a laptop replacement.
We better get a widescreen iPhone type iPod with multi-touch in the next revision or I am going to be so pissed. I've been waiting for this iPod for a year and a half
It would be interesting to see how this unfolds given that Apple, unlike Microsoft, is pushing for abolishment of DRM. That might open up some avenues of possibility for Apple's implementation of Wi-Fi that give them a distinct advantage over the mediocre Zune sharing model.
But now I'm curious if they're going to continue with the "iPod" moniker...
Personally, I like the idea of branching away from the "i" prefix with things like AppleTV. It's a good strategy to keep the brand fresh and stay away from imitators that have saturated the market with inane, inferior "i"-mitators (pun intended).
Apple's new focus does seem to be tilting toward wireless communication/computing with AppleTV, iPhone, and eventually the products that seem to be in the pipeline of the Mobile Mac product development roadmap... and Wifi mobile access of the internet is growing like never before.
So, to underscore this strategic direction... and let's say it's a widescreen iPod with multitouch... how about...
Without buttons. Widescreen. Wireless.
Say "hello" to wiPod.
But now I'm curious if they're going to continue with the "iPod" moniker...
Personally, I like the idea of branching away from the "i" prefix with things like AppleTV. It's a good strategy to keep the brand fresh and stay away from imitators that have saturated the market with inane, inferior "i"-mitators (pun intended).
Apple's new focus does seem to be tilting toward wireless communication/computing with AppleTV, iPhone, and eventually the products that seem to be in the pipeline of the Mobile Mac product development roadmap... and Wifi mobile access of the internet is growing like never before.
So, to underscore this strategic direction... and let's say it's a widescreen iPod with multitouch... how about...
Without buttons. Widescreen. Wireless.
Say "hello" to wiPod.
"ipod" is now a universally known cultural icon. Don't make people learn new terminology.
Also, it's ironic that you think they should drop the "i" because they are "tilting towards wireless communication" and internet access. Know why? Because the "i" comes from "imac," and that "i" originally stood for "internet." As in, this mac will get you up and running on the internet in no time (yes, that was really a major selling point of the original imac). So really, a wifi ipod would be the first ipod to really deserve the prefix "i"!
"ipod" is now a universally known cultural icon. Don't make people learn new terminology.
Also, it's ironic that you think they should drop the "i" because they are "tilting towards wireless communication" and internet access. Know why? Because the "i" comes from "imac," and that "i" originally stood for "internet." As in, this mac will get you up and running on the internet in no time (yes, that was really a major selling point of the original imac). So really, a wifi ipod would be the first ipod to really deserve the prefix "i"!
Who's talking about making people "learn new terminology"?
I'm not talking about taking away the "i"... I'm talking about adding a "w"!
wiPod... sounds like iPod. How hard is that? It adds to the brand, it emphasizes wireless which is becoming a very critical part of the business right now, and it's an "evolution" of the name that can be eased into the public consciousness with something as simple as a title card where the phrase "Say hello to iPod" appears and then a "w" drops in. When a brand name gets stale, people stop noticing. People noticing the change will perk interest, and they'll first want to know what exactly changed... That's a perfect opportunity for Apple sales and marketing to step in and answer that question by demonstrating the features of the product... be it in a commercial as elegant, simple and to the point as the first iPod commercial, or in store demonstrations as they get walk-ins. The name change, if handled properly by Apple, then becomes a conversation piece... rather than there being nothing particularly new to talk about.\
Sony did the same thing with "discman"... and that name also permeated the public consciousness although not as greatly as walkman (much less iPod). Now they've reverted and they brand every one of their music players a "walkman" but that hasn't helped them because they have not really understood their customers as well as Apple does, and they've been mired by numerous problems including their penchant for poorly marketed and consequently poorly understood proprietary formats as well as copy protection problems that have acted as great deterrent forces regardless of what they choose to call their digital music players.
Apple is a product leader and it's good for them to differentiate. It's not good to continue associating solely with the "i" prefix because of the oversaturated and negative connotations it carries where the concept has been so beaten to death with every third rate non-internet related product out there such that the "i" prefix has become somewhat of a cultural joke.
Because LAN-WAN interconnectivity is, following mobile internet access, the next big thing... and it'll be enabled by technologies like wifi, 4G/WiMAX, etc.... "wi" is the new "i".
From the perspective of strategic branding, Apple should get out ahead and use the "wi" name while others are still trying to dredge up the last few drops of artificial credibility they think they can gain from name association with Apple's "i" products.
EDIT: Another possibility is keeping the iPod name for the brand as a whole and using "wiPod" as a product name instead of iPod Something. A one-word name is a lot easier to remember relative to iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle, etc. iPod, wiPod, nPod, sPod... not picking out particular meanings here, just using some letters as an example of concatenating make and model.