Slashdot Mirror
Handicapping the 6th Generation iPod
An anonymous reader writes "It's that time of the year again, when Apple rumors bloom with the fall foliage and the press is inundated with hype and wishful thinking. MP3 Newswire has a reasonably sober article addressing 17 of those rumors, even giving odds on the validity of each. From the article: 'It is the peripheral manufacturers that now have a heavy sway on what features the iPod will add to its 6th generation. The peripheral market has done more to cement Apple's proprietary technology as a standard than Apple itself, adding to the iPod's dominance. Mr. Jobs will not upset that balance without good reason and Apple's recent deal with Creative to make iPod peripherals shows he wants to feed it further. But the iPod needs something new to keep it fresh and ahead of the competition.'"
There is only one thing that could actively cripple the iPod, and that is DRM.
Apple's machine has an insurmountable mindshare lead on the competition. They have reached the point where their product name is synonymous with it's purpose. Tell 50 people that you're going to the store to buy a DAP and they'll have no idea what you're talking about, but if you tell them you're going to buy an iPod, they'll smile and tell you all about how they think iPod's are the bee's knees.
However, if Apple falls into the trap of DRMing the iPod/iTunes interface to the point where it becomes too difficult for the average person to use quickly and efficiently (read: anything that takes more than 30 seconds will lose the average person's attention span), just to appease the music conglomerates, people will very quickly lose interest.
Luckily for Apple, they're smart enough to know this, and the powers that be in the recording industry are quickly realizing that they need Apple more than Apple needs them.
Correction: Apple sabotaged Motorola's ability to be the one profitting from that phone.
Eventually you'll see your iPhone, but that time will not be until Apple is the only force behind it.
As much as I'm going to be burned alive for saying this, the reality is that no one outside of the Slashdot/IT/geek-cred camp cares (or even knows) about OGG support. You could do a poll of 100 people anywhere on the planet and maybe 1 or 2 of them would know what OGG is, and of those 1 or 2, I'd be amazed if they would request it on a DAP.
People know what an MP3 is, and talking about OGG and AAC and Apple Lossless just confuses them. Confusion leads to aversion. Aversion leads to fewer sales for Apple. Hence, you're going to have to get by without your OGG supporting iPod.
IANAAE (I Am Not An Apple Engineer), but I imagine that adding such a feature would inherently add some amount of extra work to their schedule (and thusly to the cost of the unit itself). Why would Apple want to add a feature that is only important to an extremely small minority, that may add quite a bit to the overall cost of either the R&D or the unit itself?
1) Replaceable faceplates
This is a HUGE issue for me. I'd like the iPod to have snap-in faceplates in various colors, and some patterns like flowers and camoflauge. White is just so... boring.
2) 3D interface
I think, with the color screens, we need to get rid of the boring list interface and do some sort of 3D spatial interface. Imagine flying through your playlist!!!
3) Integrated camera, and bluetooth headset
Get rid of the accident prone earbuds, and go with one of those cool bluetooth headsets that the business guys wear for their phones. And a camera, so I can upload pictures to all of my friends!!
4) Wireless connectivity, and IM integration
I'm thinking like a slide-out keyboard, so I can chat with my friends whenever I'm near a Wifi spot. That would rock!
These are just some of the ideas I think would make the iPod a much better product. I mean, it's a good entry into the MP3 player market, to be sure. But if Apple wants to be taken seriously, they need to start including some basic features. I don't want to pay that much money and then just be able to play MP3's.
And yet, every time speculation on the next generation iPod starts, people ask for:
- ogg (Face it, it's the BetaMax of this decade. Cross encode to mp3 and get over it.)
- replacable battery (plastic latch => worse design. Battery packs are available for those who need it)
- FM radio (can be bought as an extention => extra sales to Apple + lower unit cost)
- WiFi (which can not replace a wired connection => extra cost for Apple)
- BlueTooth (headsets are not universally accepted yet => unknown by Joe Sixpack => no benefits for Apple)
- CF, SD card bay (ext. for camera available. oh, to transfer music? get real.)
A new one:
- IM integration (I am listening to music in my world => do not disturb)
For what it's worth, in Japan the major mobile phone companies (DoCoMo, Vodafone/Softbank, AU) have promoted music-player phones since January or so. My current phone (DoCoMo N702iD) even plays AAC. The latest DoCoMo line of phones uses the fact that they all have music player software as their main selling point in advertising.
However, the ads specifically mention their WMA compatibility, so maybe Apple might be missing the boat in this market.
(and, of course, one of the phones is ATRAC compatible. Care to guess which manufacturer makes that one?)
I bought a Treo so I wouldn't have to carry a phone AND a PDA AND an iPod everywhere I go - now I'm down to Treo + iPod. If Apple would make a combined iPod + PDA + phone, I would buy it in a minute. The Newton had features that the rest of the PDA community still can't hold a candle to - why don't they dust those designs off and have another look at them?
:-)
Hey, and if they could put a spot on the back for credit cards and money, I could leave my wallet at home too!
The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
No no no! Hands off my iPod.
You're describing a handheld computer -- a little Newton or Palm Pilot or something. I'd love to see one from Apple, but I wouldn't like to see the iPod turned into one.
Apple has been very good about resisting feature creep in the iPod.