Next Generation of iPods to have Wi-Fi?

Zephyr14z writes "A TMCnet article states that Apple has filed a patent for iPods that can purchase music wirelessly over the internet. This was an expected feature in the Zune, though it turns out not to be true. 'While this could be an effort to fight the software giant and its product directly, it should be noted that Zune's built-in Wi-Fi will be limited to the file sharing between devices with no direct Internet purchases from the handheld,' says Campbell."

Comments

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Zune?

[P(0)(!P(k) P(k 1))]

Odd, first of all, that this article appears in YRO (because it involves a patent?); second, and odder still, is Susan Campbell's commentary:

Apple and its iPod didn't earn its throne in the portable music player industry because it had the easiest to use player that offered the best song selection. This success also didn't come because it offered the most competitive price. Apple has been able to dominate this market because of its marketing campaign, pure and simple.

O RLY? As far as I can tell, Susan seems to be a ressentissante Microsoft shill:

Apple did borrow a winning strategy from Microsoft in keeping its technology proprietary. [Emphasis mine]

Suffice to say, even the slickest market campaign can't account alone for iPod's success; just look at the PS3 or Zune: you can't pull the wool over everyone's eyes all the time.

That said, if Apple does introduce Wi-Fi (or an iPod cell-phone, for that matter), it will be on its own time; and not because it's scared of Zune.

Re:Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Zune?

[mgv]

        Apple did borrow a winning strategy from Microsoft in keeping its technology proprietary. [Emphasis mine]

Suffice to say, even the slickest market campaign can't account alone for iPod's success; just look at the PS3 or Zune: you can't pull the wool over everyone's eyes all the time.

Perhaps more importantly, if apple has the patent, microsoft doesn't

It might be more of a blocking exercise than anything else - apple has a perfectly good model for sales, and might just be doing this to prevent other models from happening.

Probably being paranoid here

Michael

Re:Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Zune?

[SEMW]

>just look at the PS3 or Zune: you can't pull the wool over everyone's eyes all the time.

Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. Slashdot readers may have a good idea of the real issues behind the PS3 and Sony's tactics, especially, but Slashdot readers are not a significant proportion of Joe Public. To the average consumer, "Sony" still conjures up images of reasonably reliable shiny metal consumer electronics, not RIAA lawsuits, rootkit CDs, or the Blu-ray DRM debacle. Sorry to tell you, but it's the advertising and PR campaigns alone that will make or break the PS3; it's how well they can sell that their product is really worth $600. Same applied to the Zune. What Slashdot readers consider "the real issues" will factor into it little if at all.

Re:Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Zune?

[UnknowingFool]

Apple and its iPod didn't earn its throne in the portable music player industry because it had the easiest to use player that offered the best song selection. This success also didn't come because it offered the most competitive price. Apple has been able to dominate this market because of its marketing campaign, pure and simple.

I would have to say that Apple of all companies, did market the iPod better than their competitors. They made an MP3 player (which at the time considered a geek's gadget) cool. But they also made the technology easy to use for the average consumer. Considering the alternatives when the iPod came out. Flash MP3 players that could store 32MB or 64MB. That capacity is well under two CDs, and portable CD players were cheap. Also it was a pain to get music onto them. Or something like the Nomad which had more capacity (6GB) but couldn't be used as a hard drive and was the size of a portable CD player.
Enter the iPod. It can be used a portable hard drive. It fit in your pocket. It could store enough songs to last for days. It was easy to use. It was easy to sync (and it got easier later). Is it a surprise it took over the market. And Apple unlike some of their competitors kept innovating? I had a Rio 32MB player. The only thing that the next model added was more capacity.

Apple did borrow a winning strategy from Microsoft (News - Alert) in keeping its technology proprietary. However, this strategy doesn't seem to be enough to keep the fruity giant on top as consumers are beginning to tire of the iPod and iTunes restrictions. This patent could either protect Apple's vision or tarnish its appeal in the eyes of the consumer. Either way - watch out for more news from Johansen and DoubleTwist Ventures as we have likely not heard the last from him.

The factor behind Apple's DRM is not Apple. It is the music companies. I don't think Apple cares if you use your iPod to share all your music with everyone. But the RIAA might. As for restrictions, these are not unique to Apple. PlaysForSure limits you as well. And MS new Zune DRM is identical to Apple's strategy.

Re:Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Zune?

[sydsavage]

Although the nature of the patent doesn't portend this, a WiFi enabled iPod would dovetail nicely with the forthcoming iTV. You would now be able to play music and videos stored on the iPod over your stereo (and TV) with no cables attached. You could keep it close by, and the iPod becomes the remote, as well as the storage medium.

Re:What's the big deal with wireless?

[aplusjimages]

Most /. users probably wouldn't use the feature that much, but luckily for Apple, theres a mass of suckers out there who can't stop downloading their songs by the pound. What better way to get some money is for those people to be able to download the songs, while away from their computer, like while at the mall after browsing through a music store.

Re:Breaks the 'pod' model

[hcdejong]

As of iTunes 7, you can move authorized music from the iPod to the computer. This was announced as a way to sync the iTunes library on two computers, but it'd also be useful for music that was downloaded to the iPod via wireless.

There's lots more better out there

[RiffRafff]

There's tons of better sounding players out there. Try an iRiver or Cowon with some decent headphones. The sonic quality far outstrips that of Apple's iPod. These other players just aren't "hip," apparently.

Re:There's lots more better out there

[BurningBridges]

They are also, IMO More expensive, and more difficult to use, as a rule. The general public doesn't notice the difference unless you show them, their friends all have one, and they are easy to use, so they get an iPod. Personally I am a big iRiver fan :)

Re:There's lots more better out there

[2nd Post!]

Try an iPod with some decent headphones. The sonic quality far outstrips that of Apple's headphones. These other players just aren't USABLE. Truly. It took them several iterations after the release of the iPod to approach the ease of use of the iPod.

Re:Be afraid of the Zune

[pubjames]

If they wanted, they could give Zunes away for 10 years. It's hard to compete against that kind of financial muscle.

This is a common argument about Microsoft. However, it is only partly true. Microsoft has shareholders. Microsoft cannot just throw money away, it has to be something that will potentially bring big profits in the future.

Re:How about play in USB mode?

[shmlco]

It's designed to play music when you're away from your computer. If you're at your computer you could, like, you know, use your computer...

Linux boxes CAN play music, can't they???