Apple has sent out invitations to a “Special Event” for September 5. It’s expected they will announce some new “digital media offerings”.
What does that mean? Well it seemed a great point to base the first 360Mac ponderings on.
New widescreen iPods
Well duh ! Of course there will be new iPods. The current 5G models are 2 years old and people need a reason to replace them (ie - spend money again). The 5.5 bump last year was a nice upgrade - but it was mainly software and Apple nicely let existing users get the upgrade and new features. Something I don’t think they got enough credit for.
Lots of people are expecting an iPhone sans the phone bit. A widescreen iPod and internet device via wi-fi. While that sounds like a great device - I think Apple will get to it in a couple of stages.
iPod 6G for 07/08 will more likely be just the widescreen. Putting wifi and internet on it now would severely dampen a lot of iPhone sales going forward. Apple didn’t spend years developing the iPhone only to cut its legs out months after US release and before the thing even hits markets like Europe and Asia.
Once the iPhone is released worldwide, probably upgrgaded to 3G HSDPA speeds, then I think we can expect a iPod with wifi this time next year.
Will this years widescreen iPods have the conventional 1.8 inch hard drive, or flash based NAND memory like the iPhone? Probably the biggest question to be answered is will Apple stick with 1.8 drives which allow for huge capacities (80gig+) but will suck the battery dry with a widescreen. Or move the lineup to completely flash based NAND which is a lot more battery life friendly, but would limit capacities to 16 gig or maybe 32 at a stretch.
Toss of a coin - I say they do 16 & 32gig NAND, and 80gig hard drive version for those that want it but understand the battery life wont be the greatest.
New Nano iPods
Probably. There have been images posted on the net of a new Nano which is basically a square looking Nano with a widescreen. Or if you want to look at it another way - a 5G ipod with a smaller scroll wheel and all the “blank space” trimmed away.
While some have scorned the look of this supposed Nano 2G - I think it looks great. The current Nano looked awesome - until I got one in my hands. The screen is way too small to be anything other than a reference to the song playing. And once I got used to looking at movies and pictures on my normal iPod, losing all those features sucked.
So bring on the Fat Boy Nano. And gimme an orange one.
Ringtones
Download ringtones for your iPhone via the iTunes store? Upgrade a already purchased song so it can be used as a ringtone (another name for paying for the same thing twice).
This is a widely rumoured and expected feature. While it probably makes a lot of sense to the roughly 1 million people that have an iPhone - its pretty useless to the couple of Billion people that haven’t and wont (or at least can’t yet)
While I think it’s something Apple will probably do - its appeal is going to be pretty limited after the initial announcement. A bit like TV Shows and Movies outside the US iTunes store…. STILL WAITING STEVE!!
New iTunes 8.0
Well it wouldn’t be an Apple Pod release without a new iTunes ;) Especially if Ringtones are added.
More movie / DRM free stuff
With any luck there will be more movie studios to add to the lineup and maybe another music label going DRM free.
My guess would be Sony. Warners have their head shoved up their ass at the moment and same for Universal. Sony have seen the light and giving up on their ATRAC format and stores. They need money and some positive loving after flopping with PS3.
One more thing…. Beatles?
Will the Beatles be added to the iTunes store? I’d say yes, probably, maybe… Yes. It’s time.
All the solo stuff is on the store, it will be a great publicity thing to get new iPod sales going, Xmas is only a few months away.
With Leopard coming out next month and the focus being on that - Apple will want this iPod news and hype to go for a few weeks.
80% right?
Well that’s my thoughts on what to expect at the event. I’ll probably get about 80% of it right, completly miss something else. Should be a fairly major event, looking forward to seeing the show.
Tags: Apple, Geek, iPod, iTunes by Michael Quinn
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