Apple May Introduce New iPod on Wednesday

UnHolier than ever writes "Apple may be planning to announce a 'revamp' of the iPod on Wednesday. Reporters from across Europe have been asked to view a broadcast presentation by Steve Jobs at the BBC headquarters. Theorized features for this new iPod include a full or wide-screen with touch controls, ala the ever-popular iPhone. '[An analyst with Goldman Sachs] believes that a new line of iPods will boost demand for the gadget from Goldman's present forecast of about 19.8 million units for Apple's key first quarter - the reporting period that covers Christmas. However, that still suggests that demand for iPods will be flat, at best, compared with the same period last year, when Apple sold about 21 million devices.'"

Speculation isn't news.

Speculation for Nerds. News that may matter.

My suggestion:

Let's wait wednesday and see if we have at least something to talk about, mmmkay?

Re:My suggestion:

Is this some kind of Zen riddle? If no one reads the article, does it matter that the article has no substance?

Re:My suggestion:

perhaps.

what i do know is that 2 of our suppliers who normally don't sell apple stock were offering cheap ipods for the past 2-3 months here in ireland. they really seem to have been off loading ipod video and ipod nano stock. i also heard from friends who had companies they dealt with offering similar deals. now it might just be the lower end but it was still a significant departure for these companies to suddenly offer stock from a company they normally had no dealings with.

prices offered to us
* ipod nano 4gb 165
* ipod 30gb black 210

You know

With 6 billion or so people on the planet, sooner or later the market will reach saturation, and ipod sale are going to become flat. I'm not really sure why flattening of iPod sales is big news.

That said, I have a 3rd gen iPod, and it's getting close to the time to replace it, I have hopes for a widescreen color iPod in the 100 gb range, So if it's avaiable soon, I may very well bee the 19 million and first sale this year.

Re:You know

What he doesn't take into account are people unloading their old iPods for a new one. I have an 80GB iPod Video right now, and I will put it up for sale the moment Apple announces a video iPod. If it has everything the iPhone does minus the phone, expect sales to go off the charts.

Awesome

I just bought a 8 GB Nano today. And in less than a week, it's going to be vintage. Yes!

Re:Awesome

That's what this page [macrumors.com] is for.

Re:Awesome

You made a good choice in posting as Anonymous Coward. Still, it's too bad for you that /. doesn't have the option of posting as Stupid Drooling Fucking Moron.

Once again, for the newbies:

- AAC (ADVANCED Audio Codec) has NOTHING to do with Apple, beyond being their compression scheme of choice. Posting the Wikipedia link would insult us both.
- The iTunes STORE sells tracks that only play on iPods; taking Steve Jobs at his word, this is only due to DRM required by the record companies.
- Most "mp3 players" will play AAC-encoded tracks. It's just a codec for mp4s, after all. If you really can't find one, go to your local community college and take a class on Google.
- If you're really that paranoid about AAC, set iTunes to encode in mp3 before your first rip. Then you will be able to survive in a world where only iPods can play tracks ripped in iTunes. Whatever world that is, because it ain't this one.

Now PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE shut the fuck up.

Re:Awesome

Here you go :

Creative Zen supports AAC.

Also, the Zune supports AAC (although it doesn't support having any market share, so i figured you wouldn't accept it as an example.)

The PS3, PSP, Xbox 360, Sansa e200R all support AAC as well.
(the sansa apparently requires a firmware update)

As far as your search criteria for your google example goes, you really do need to go take that class if you thought that was a good way to search for portable hardware devices that support AAC.

Rumor Roundup

Engadget has a helpful rumor roundup [engadget.com] - just to keep the /. discussion lively with speculation. Aside from the next-gen touchscreen iPod, there's the Beatles' catalogue on iTMS, direct-to-iPhone (iPod) music store downloads, and increased capacity in the Nano. "Analysis" (i.e., educated speculation and wishful thinking) available from CNet [com.com], ArsTechnica [arstechnica.com], and AppleInsider (1 [appleinsider.com], 2 [appleinsider.com], 3 [appleinsider.com]).

May?

Ha! Lets not err on the side of caution here, I thought it was a dead cert. Especially since those new iPod photos appeared which Apple promptly issued a take-down for.

I have always wondered

Why hasnt apple put AM/FM/XM/whatever radio capabilities in the iPods.
I still listen to radio ocasionally when I want to listen to something different.

Sounds like the European iPhone launch to me

So, we know Apple are calling in journalists from all over Europe, we know that in the iPhone launch presentation Steve Jobs said Europe would get the iPhone in Q3 2007, and we know there are only another 27 days of Q3 2007 left. So why are people jumping to the conclusion that this is a iPod launch?

Re:Sounds like the European iPhone launch to me

we know that in the iPhone launch presentation Steve Jobs said Europe would get the iPhone in Q3 2007

No, he said Q4: "So here we are, and we're going to be shipping it in June in the U.S. We're going to Europe hopefully by the fourth calendar quarter of this year. And in Asia in 2008." (link [myiphone.com])

Unfortunately

it probably still won't be as good as an iPod with Rockbox installed on it...

may not be wireless

There is a rumour that instead of wi-fi, the new iPod will use this technology:

http://lunchat.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/01/kleer .html [typepad.com]

thus it may not have any skype/wireless capabilities.

Re:may not be wireless

The way I understand it, the "Kleer" thing is an extra. There is nothing to stop people from using earbuds as well or instead of this.

It would conceivably allow Apple to produce an iPod with wireless like capabilities for sharing tunes and "squirting the social" (a la Zune), but not necessarily introduce the complexity of wireless and browsers and skype and so on. With Kleer, each iPod would be a broadcasting station and multiple wireless listeners could listen to the same iPod simultaneously. This would also figure in with the rumoured iPod "kiosks" that are said to be going up at Starbucks for selling iTunes to patrons.

I find it kind of believable because the technology is bleeding edge (typical Apple), it would instantly turn iPods into the highest quality audio devices out there (also typical Apple), and make it possible to do all those social things that were the Zune's only real innovation ("the social"), without all the DRM and legal complications. It's such a perfect solution, that if Apple doesn't use this technology or something very similar, the next Zune could run rings around them just by implementing it.

This is all wild rumour at this point however.

Conjecture

The article is all conjecture. Why not post "Apply may not release a new IPOD on Tuesday?

European iPhone?

Why go to BBC headquarters and ask European reporters to this presentation just to announce a new model of an existing product? Perhaps instead Steve will be announcing that the iPhone will soon be on sale in Europe. Unlocked, of course. AT&T's deal is only for the US, right?

Touchscreen seems nice at first...

Touchscreen seems nice at first, but after a bit of thought, it adds flashiness, but takes away from usability. I like the physical controls that allow me to use my ipod without having to look at it. The edges of the scroll-circle-thing guide my fingers where they need to be without ever having to take it out of my pocket. Having this on a screen, while nice looking, would really screw with my aim.

Have analysts ever been correct...

...about the demand for iPods? I have a feeling that they have always underestimated the demand.

What I really want....

Is FLAC support. I know, I could use rockbox and all of that shit..but i'd rather not.

Of Course...

It claims it will have some specs that the iPhone had (the touch screen), but does this mean the price is also going to be compared to the iPhone also? New iPod... at least $400 - $500... Might as well pick up the iPhone for another $100 and ditch the old cell phone anyways! What makes me worry the most is the price... right around the Christmas season they are speculating. Which is only going to drive the price even higher. Can you imagine what would have happened if the iPhone was released around the holidays... it's like the Cabbage Patch Kids/Tickle Me Elmo/Ferby all over again, too. Really, what the question here is if I will risk my life to get one of these... Very unlikely at the moment. Sorry Apple.

I thought I saw this last week...

Isn't this the launch of the reshaped 'Fat Nano?' Link [clockskew.com]

And if it is...quit crying if you don't like it. Form factor isn't everything and i'd damn sure rather have a wider screen, especially if the HDD space is larger than 8GB. Look at the pictures, the screen is like 2x bigger. It's not like the entire nano is ALL BIGGER, its shorter lengthwise.

Oh, 2.3 inches is just so wide... (sarcasm)

iPhone sans Phone

My money is on an iPhone type/size unit without the phone bits. I makes sense from a production and user point of view.

Price cut on Videos?

So the real question is, can they invent enough new features to encourage people with aging 2/3G's (like myself) to buy the new one, or will it just be a "New iPod" (tm). I think I'll be in line for a Video if a new one doesn't change enough.

Doh!

And I just bought a refurb'd 20gb HP iPod for $100 from Woot! Oh, the horror, the horr.... eh, maybe not.

NP: the tapping of my feet as I wait for my iPod.

Availability is NOT THERE

Yesterday my father wanted to get a Video IPOD after seeing how well I used mine. So me, my family, and my father trucked through a Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Circuit City and lo and behold ... NO Ipods to be found. An employee informed me that they could not order anymore until the "new" version comes out.

So in the meantime, they lost a sale.

I want an iMac without LCD because I already have

My current PC has a huge LCD, keyboard, mouse etc...
A mac-mini is too low range, and the power mac is too big. An iMac would be fine, but it comes with LCD.
Dear Apple, please build a simple "Mac", not a power-, mini- or i-Mac, just a Mac. The cube was cool btw.

wpa2

does the iPod Touch [personafile.com] wi-fi support WPA2 security?

Re:whoreabull corepirate nazis introducing new &am

Reading your posts is practically orgasmic for me. So much work, so barely comprehensible, and really, your points would almost be reasonable if not for the veneer of insanity you seem to try so hard to add.

You, sir, rock.

Re:Based on iPhone?

Not that unlocking hasn't done that already though...

Do you really think that unlocking the iPhone has caused damage to the business model? An unlocking hack made the iPhone available to consumers who didn't want to be locked into AT&T, and Apple still gets whatever the benefits of contract exclusivity provided them.

Sounds to me like everyones business model except AT&T's wins here. I can live with that....

look at the contracts...

The contracts Apple signed in Europe give Apple 10% of the revenue the wireless provider gets from activating the phone.

If you unlock your iPhone and don't use it on the contracted provider, then Apple loses that money.

So yeah, the unlocking has likely hurt Apple's business model.

Re:oh my

Ok, so it's an iPhone without the phone?

Re:whoreabull corepirate nazis introducing new &am

Could this post be related to this [arstechnica.com]? The link to the bogus google video especially ...

Re:Based on iPhone?

Dude, I know - that was just an experiment. You know, for nerds.

I own two other real Macs already - G4 eMac and a Powermac G4 dual 1GHz with 23" Cinema display. I'm just in the process of working out which to retire/sell and what to replace with - once Leopard is out, that is.

Hackintosh is a cool experiment but the scene seems to consist of a handful of very talented hackers, some very shady types, and a lot of what we in the 80's would have called Lamers.

Whoah there, this is now both off-topic and flamebait. LOL.

Re:iPods

I have never heard that comment about the miss rate. Ever. You would think after the years and tens of millions of iPods delivered that this would be well known. Further, you would expect that persons such as myself that primarily use a separate charger would have noticed. I think your friend is passing on some bad data.

Re:iPods

Can you provide some non-anecdotal evidence to back this up? I can boot any number of machines off an OS installed on my iPod (handy to have one for diagnostic purposes), and it runs just as reliably as it does off an internal drive. With a 1 in 100 miss rate, that sure as hell would not be the case.

Re:iPods

That's a load of rubbish. Because of the compression (MP3 or AAC) the bits being wrong lead very quickly to extremely noticeable defects (clicking and popping noises) in the tracks. MP3 is quite robust and remains playable, but AVI files tend to get completely unplayable with a few bits changed in the wrong places. I've never had this problem or any data-loss problems on my iPod - I've had it once when burning a backup CD on a rewritable disc which must have been used too many times.

If you've got those problems with your iPod it's a defective unit. I can believe that iPod units may have a failure rate of 1 in 100 (which is actually very low compared to most modern gadgets), but on a properly functioning iPod, this memory miss rate isn't true.

Re:iPods

That's complete bullshit. I regularly copy gigs upon gigs of data on and off my 80 gig ipod and I've /never/ had it corrupt anything. Ever. In fact, I just md5summed a DVD ISO that I shoved on there a few months ago and it's exactly the same as the one on my drive. With a "1 in 100" miss rate, there's no way that'd be possible.

Do you only hang out in places where there is wifi

I'll never understand the obsession with using a portable device as a VOIP phone. Don't you have enough regular minutes? Is it really worth the hassle of switching back and forth between the two services? Don't you just have a cell phone that works fine?

Still lame

Wireless. More space than a Nomad. Still lame.

Re:Wasn't aware....

you must be new here.

Re:oh my

I dont think anyone really wants creamed pants......

Re:iPods

Ah, numbers from the PDOOMA methodology.

What? You've not heard of PDOOMA? It's sweeping the Internet, the TV and the newspapers of the world! It's the latest in business analysis and information.

PDOOMA = Pulled Directly Out Of My Arse.

Just like the 1/100 memory miss rate. Nice work. You may have a career in punditry waiting for you somewhere.

Re:Based on iPhone?

If there really is a wi-fi-touch-screen-OSX based iPod coming out that may or may not be based on the iPhone, they better make sure there is no mic. This could make a fantastic Skype handset. And damage the iPhone business model. Not that unlocking hasn't done that already though...

The iPod is available in practically every country in the world. The iPhone is available in one.

So while it might damage their iPhone business model in one country, I imagine any losses in that one country would be offset by the gains in every other country in the world.

Yaz.

Re:Based on iPhone?

But stop and tink about it for a moment. There are already thord party microphones out there for iPods. What it really could be, if we're lucky, is a Nokia N800, done right.

Re:Based on iPhone?

Ya its a old model type with same old bouring features , whats new about this new ipod going to be released , how much would be the cost of it.

Re:Based on iPhone?

People like you frighten me...you know what they say about people that blindly lead others with nothing but horseshit?

That's right. They call them "cult leaders".

Re:Based on iPhone?

they better make sure there is no mic. This could make a fantastic Skype handset.

It seems to me that being tethered by Wifi would eventually convince users that they should upgrade to an iPhone so they can make calls anywhere at any time.

Re:More BBC content on iTunes, since they'll be th

The BBC rakes in TONNES of cash with sales of their programmes worldwide and I'm getting sick and tired of being taxed twice to watch television. They seem to be actively fighting a decent distribution scheme in an effort to prop up Microsoft's DRM-take-over-the-world-mania.

Well as the iPlayer downloads are free (OK, with the MS DRM baggage), selling them on iTunes would be annoying.