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.'"

Comments

May?

[Thwomp]

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

[tit0.c]

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.

may not be wireless

[Jeremy_Bee]

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

thus it may not have any skype/wireless capabilities.

Re:may not be wireless

[Jeremy_Bee]

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.

Re:iPods

[stevo3232]

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.

look at the contracts...

[YesIAmAScript]

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:look at the contracts...

[phoenixwade]

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. That presumes that there is a significant percentage of people willing to go with the provider that Apple partnered with, that is, willing enough to put up with that provider to own the iPhone. It's all pure speculation, but it seems like apple will make more on the phone than they would have otherwise with sales lost because of the provider in the partnership.

Re:My suggestion:

[DMoylan]

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

Re:Awesome

[thedbp]

Ugh. FUD.

Scratchable screens - Yes, because all cell phone manufacturers and manufactuerers of other DAPs use completely unscratchable screens. Dude, learn how to take care of your things. I have a 3rd gen iPod and the screen is gorgeous still because I value it, and make sure I take care of it. It ain't hard. Take personal responsibility.

Faulty earjacks - yes, the earphone jacks are built to have their solder joints break on purpose. I'm sure it has nothing to do with tons of pressure being applied to the jack by pushing down or pulling sideways on the headphone jack very hard. Nothing at all. Again - Dude, learn how to take care of your things.

Sealed in batteries - for which there is a very inexpensive battery replacement program, which, at $70 nets you an iPod with a new battery, new case, and new HD, with a 90 day warranty. How many AAA batteries would you have run through in the 300-400 charge cycles of the internal battery? 2 or 3 every 10 hours of playback? Do you have any idea how expensive disposable batteries are over time?

Your arguments are old, clichéd, and well-documented bullshit. Please stop trolling.

Have analysts ever been correct...

[samdu]

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