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Well, that would complete the circle I suppose. A "consumer" iPod, and "prosumer" iPod, and a "professional" iPod. Makes a bit of sense that the original white iPod line is getting fewer variants, fewer choices in GB size.

Yeah sure, an iPod and a PowerPod.

Not. They're all consumer devices.

Well, obviously they are all consumer devices. But this would mirror Apple's computer line up paradigm.

at least this way NO ONE would have an excuse for buying anything but an iPod.

And give Apple a shot at that 38% of the total MP3 market that they don't yet own.

Predictions:

1. Throngs of those online will say it's too expensive

2. Enderle and Thurrot will pan it and say it's irrelevant and will be doomed as a failure.

3. Apple will sell millions of them.

4. Supply chain will still be jammed. 2 week to 1 month waiting period.

5. Apple online store and Apple retail stores will have first availability.

Let the iPod Flash design speculation drawings begin!

It'll be called "iPod Flash" and have the shape of the mini.
End of story!

just call it "iPod Tiny"

iPod Micro will be the name and #6 on FuMacCu's list should be 'Apple stock will jump in value when announced.'

You guys should get out more.

I'd get one to complement my 40 GB, and use it exclusively at the gym.

The 40 is great, but a little bulky for a workout. I suppose I could get a mini, but I can wait until January to see what happens.

Talk about cornering a market...

It will be slightly smaller the the mini. It will be very thin, probably only 1/4 inch. It will have a smaller screen. When it is released in late January, all the regular iPods (not the mini) will switch to a color screen. It will sell for $149.

i think that the flash ipod won't have a screen at all.

If Apple made the 256mb model $99 - $120 they would take over the flash mp3 player market. (seen a Bantam Interactive model on Best Buy's website 256mb flash mp3 player w/ color screen/photo capability for $109.)

I hope Bill festers.

Whatever form it takes is Apple is putting it out you can be sure it will be great. How about something that looks like you cut the iPod Mini in half and just left the scroll wheel with a tiny screen telling what is playing?

Lets face it, Apple will not stop producing new versions of the iPod till it has secured 98% of all digital music player sales. You know what I'm talking about.

They will NOT be priced less than the poorly designed and thought out flash competitors and no one should be surprised. (except Enderle and Thurrot who will proclaim it the end of Apple)

But will Apple include a coupon to download this song from the iTMS?

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=3543011&selectedItemId=3542952

Micros**t sucks

design speculations?

Here's a speculation.. it'll be $50 cheaper than a mini .... and look exactly like a white iPod, only thinner, with a GREAT battery life

my only qualms with a 2GB mini, is that it means there are SO MANY different models, when you consider each color, etc..

it makes it very annoying for production.. I'm hoping they can just make it in a standard iPod casing with a bigger battery..

You know what though.. ? Less than 4GB really sucks ass.. I have like 1000 songs.. am I going to want to hold only 500 songs.. meh

this is clearly an add on product for all of us existing ipoders and it will fly off the shelves if it is priced in the 100 to 150 range depending on hard drive size.

The iPod feature I like best is that it hold my complete CD library and more. Even the iPod Mini could hold some users' entire CD libraries. 1 GB iPods would just hold several albums. What is the point of that? I would rather keep using a CD walllet and player if I wanted to listen to several albums.

Think a thinner miniPod with a longer battery life.
1GB @ $99.99
1.5 GB @ $149.99
Also
miniPod price drop to $199.99 for 4GB

I think its a BAD IDEA!!
Apple should not make cheesy MP3 players like the ones loosing market share to the high quality iPod.
NOOOOOO!!!!!

certainly an add on to a full size Ipod. I take my ipod everywhere, but a flash would be for the afternoon jog or the workout at the gym.
this way, they will sell millions. no question about it.
teenage girls dont' care how much storage they have, they want an ipod. no matter what. now it will even be cheaper to get one.
they will sell millions. no question about it.

Hooray! Apple claims 98% of the market share for both flash- and hard drive-based digital music players.

Does this mean that MDN would have to go back to reporting weekly all the malware issues with Windows again and again?

I wonder if this rumour has Apple's blessing? We are at the exact point where people are making decisions about Christmas presents. If there's an "extremely reliable" likelihood that January will see a sub$200 iPod, many people who are reluctantly planning to buy an alternative cheap flash mp3 player will wait...

The iPod does have potential for professional use. Photographers in particular.

Special Ed,

Youre not paying attention. Flash players still hold a larger portion of the market and are growing. Luckily, Apple knows what is happening. The FlashPod will not only appeal to kids and people who don't need to carry every recording they have on them, but as an additional "accesory" for current Pod owners who want a smaller and even lighter player for short trips or daily use. Apple will not release a product without a screen. The Flashpod will not be much smaller then the mini, just thinner.

Cost VS. Profit (Flash player) = not good
Apple becoming The MP3 player company = not good (its a fad, wont last more than 5 years)
Apple should stick to their high quality standards, and focus more on getting the Xserve into large corporations rather than kids toys.

hey, i love MDN, but I get my OS X news at AppleInsider.. go there if you're lookin' for a fix..

MDN is all about the ancillary effects of iPod domination and mindshare

Special Ed,

It's generally better to make a small profit on a market you aren't in than to not enter that market at all...especially since flash iPod uses may "graduate" to a hard-drive version of the iPod.

I doubt they make more profit on an eMac than a dual G5, either.

And I disagree that the fad will die out soon. It's still gathering steam! The only way MP3 players are going to disappear is if a more convenient storage option comes along, and that will likely be a new compression format. Simple fix to keep up, really. In a few more years, when the memory prices come down, the dominant storage format may very well be flash-based.

Sol the product isnt ment for you. They don't have to be you know.

There are 2 opposing design priorities. One of Apple's design gifts is getting something down to its essence. On this score, flash can be so small so as to be headphones with a controller, +- a screen. Opposing this is Apple's mindshare that should be promoted. The essence of iPodness is the screen and dial system. Unless they come up with a way to combine these into a single postage stamp sized pod, it will end up as a mini mini.

Customers giving up capacity to get it really small, would you give up the screen too?

better compression = easier delivery
I think XM has the right idea with satellite delivery to portables.
Remember Records, 8 Track, Cassettes, CDs.
Now think about the speed of progression in those items. MP3 is a fad like the rest, we are moving faster than ever.
Don't blink!

http://www.xmradio.com/myfi/index.jsp

Satellite is leaps and bounds ahead of AM/FM radio, but it doesn't provide people with exactly what songs they want, exactly when they want to hear them.

Right now the only way to do this is to bring along your person music collection, and for most people, an iPod is more convenient than say, 200 CDs.

Sign me up the minute satellite lets me choose - at any given moment - what song is playing. You can choose the genre, but that's about as specific as it gets right now.

What you all don't realise is that Apple has made the 'Ipod brand' and that brand can be in any physical product form.

What Apple is doing is creating a whole range of different products under the ipod brand.

It's like the 'Mac' brand has different types of computers - exactly the same for the ipod.

Apple is doing this to create a complete range of devices that will each be at different price brackets and will all do different things - the one comon factor is that all the devices will play music.

Don't be surprised that by the end of 2005 this will be the ipod range:

- Ipod Micro: ($99) low budget based music player
- Ipod Mini: Current
- Ipod: HD based - Plays music
- Ipod photo: Plays music and photos
- Ipod Maxi:
- Ipod Convergence: The top end Ipod that that will finally bring total convergence of all media with all pda functions, watch movies, send email, surf the net, wifi, dv ports, telephone - you name it it will have it!

The actual form of the Ipod conergence will be bigger than the other ipods and will have a 5in screen.

I totally understand why Apple is doing this - it is to target all the most lucritive markets and target audiances so that basically whatever your budget you can afford an ipod device and most importantly APPLE HAS to do this to stay ahead of the competition AND fight off the possibility of the mobile phone being the device of total converenge of all portable functions within the next 5 years.

And a soon as that happens, if Apple hasn't done the above things - then the ipod is history!

What you all don't realise is that Apple has made the 'Ipod brand' and that brand can be in any physical product form.

What Apple is doing is creating a whole range of different products under the ipod brand.

It's like the 'Mac' brand has different types of computers - exactly the same for the ipod.

Apple is doing this to create a complete range of devices that will each be at different price brackets and will all do different things - the one comon factor is that all the devices will play music.

Don't be surprised that by the end of 2005 this will be the ipod range:

- Ipod Micro: ($99) low budget based music player
- Ipod Mini: Small HD player - low capacity
- Ipod: HD based - Plays music - high capacity
- Ipod photo: Plays music and photos
- Ipod Maxi: Plays music with Wifi and movie playing functions
- Ipod Convergence: The top end Ipod that that will finally bring total convergence of all media with all pda functions, watch movies, send email, surf the net, wifi, dv ports, telephone, radio and gps - you name it it will have it!

The actual form of the Ipod conergence will be bigger than the other ipods and will have a screen big enough to view movies without going blind.

I totally understand why Apple is doing this - it is to target all the most lucritive markets and target all audiances, so that basically whatever your budget or taste you can afford an ipod device, and most importantly APPLE HAS to do this to stay ahead of the competition AND fight off the possibility of the mobile phone being the device of total converenge of all portable functions within the next 5 years.

And a soon as the mobile phone gets convergence that works, if Apple hasn't done the above things - then the ipod dominance is history!

Personally I think if APPLE made an 'Ipod Convergence' portable one device does all gadget then they would probably go down the route of the user downloading whatever apps you want to install on it and make the device have the functionality what YOU want it to do - like Apples widgets that are going to be in the new Tiger for the Dashboad feature.

I also think Apple should write a version of OSX specifically for the ipod - now thatw ould be very cool! And all those windows users with ipods will be using OS X and therefore when they go to their computer store when they see a Mac they will know how to use it and maybe buy one instead of a windows pile of shite!

" Ipod Convergence: The top end Ipod that that will finally bring total convergence of all media with all pda functions, watch movies, send email, surf the net, wifi, dv ports, telephone, radio and gps - you name it it will have it!"

I think you need to tout this monster over at Footrot's Windows SuperSite Solar - he'd LOVE it! It's not really Apple's bag.

First of all, Steve himself even said they would never make a (nother) PDA. So Big Momma is out of the question.
Second, how long do you really think it would be before you get music on demand from satellite?
Third, A cheap Flash based iPod would kill sales of the very successful iPod Mini.