“If tradition is followed at the opening of the Macworld Expo in San Francisco on January 9 (Australian time), Steve Jobs will have ‘just one more thing’ at the end of his Macworld keynote speech to end at least some of the agony of wondering what goodies Apple has up its sleeve for 2007,” Garry Barker reports for The Sydney Morning Herald.
“Mr Jobs says this year is ‘likely to be one of the most exciting new product years in Apple’s history,'” Barker reports. “Leopard (aka Mac OS X 10.5) – the next full revision of Apple’s operating system – is only weeks away and Macworld should see more of its features revealed.”
“Will there be an iPod mobile phone…? Wall Street seems to think so. I remain doubtful that Mr Jobs will show a GSM/WCDMA handset. One seems to be in the works but not yet ready,” Barker writes.
“That further development of the iPod is imminent is a no-brainer. Speculation includes bigger screens, more video capability and a touch-screen, replacing the click wheel with sliders (for song selection and playback volume) and touch-buttons on the margins of the screen. A power on-off switch as well as the present ‘hold’ sliding button would be useful,” Barker writes. “New iPods are likely to have a good deal of wireless connectivity built into them – Bluetooth, WiFi and possibly WiMAX – for that is the way of the future, leading to further integration of Apple technology with our household entertainment devices.”
More speculation and a bit about Apple’s retail stores in the full article here.
Related articles:
What’s the meaning behind Apple’s ‘The first 30 years were just the beginning’ tease? – January 03, 2007
Apple.com: ‘The first 30 years were just the beginning. Welcome to 2007.’ – January 01, 2007
“Most exciting”? Great, can’t wait.
Sliders? More buttons? WiFi and Bluetooth? So this guy wants to turn the iPod into a Zune wanna-be? Doesn’t he know that the battery life (and lack of unnecessary functions like WiFi), click-wheel, the hold button, and the lack of a dedicated power button were all deliberately planned by Steve and the design team? While he’s entitled to his opinion, I think that he should consider creating his own award-winning, best-selling, ass-kicking music player before trying to tell Apple how theirs should look.
Whew. Maybe I should’ve taken my meds today. Thanks for listening.
I’m sure the iPod will continue to evolve, but sometimes these analysts have little concept of design, usability and the limits of physics, particularly with battery life.
Leopard powered jet packs with built-in iPod docks, GPS, phone, laser weapons with iSight targeting and a snack machine. Halliburton has shown interest.
GoldFishy,
No meds necessary, I agree completely. The click wheel IS THE IPOD. We don’t need more buttons and crap clouding up the clear design.
The only thing I’d really like to see is a programmable EQ. If that’s too advanced for the masses, why not add an ADVANCED mode so us geeks can choose to fiddle with stuff “normal” people don’t want to touch?
And wi-max? Really? Has this guy done any actual research about wi-max? I mean, it’s a cool technology, but in no way would it be appropriate for an iPod, unless perhaps that ipod became a fully functional PDA and not an iPod anymore, and even then, there is so little saturation of wi-max in the world that it would be nearly useless for years to come.
Do people like this write “articles” by just rewriting what other “analysts” have already written and then throwing in some tech industry buzzwords? Is that really all there is to it?
I agree with GoldFishy. Keep this author away from ANY Apple design team. His ideas for “further development” are embarassingly scary.
@DreamTheEndless:
To answer your question: Yes.
but the Zune is so…
crackilackin’
No doubt chairs will be flying in Redmond. MS should buy some of those movie prop chairs for Ballmer just so they’ll break apart and not really cause any damage or bodily harm.
Aaaaaaaannnk!! Wrong answer!!
The click wheel is single-handedly the greatest
invention and the biggest asset the iPod has.
Kill the click wheel, and I may go buy a Zune just out
of disgust. This guy is in the pile with all
of other speculatists. Anyone who keeps up with
all the Apple stuff is just as equal an analyst as those
who are getting paid to say all this prediction stuff.
phone is in productions and expected ship date is mid to late March. It is real and in production over the ocean is large volumes. And there will be two models. But the first version not a good as late year projected versions.
thanks for good newsings in to give us for an update.
I kiss you!
-c
The potential impact of some of the proposed “design suggestions” for the iPod reminds me of a Simpsons episode. Homer discovers he has a long-lost brother, the successful head of an automobile manufacturer. Homer is invited to design the “car for the common man” – and his design drives the company to bankruptcy.
When is Macworld again?
Why does my breath smell like me?
Yeah, sliders on the iPod! Cuz the clickwheel just doesn’t work worth a damn.
I find the click wheel amazing and so dirt simple, once you get the hang of it, especially on some of the new games. Punching buttons on Sega is so ridiculous compared to a circular sliding motion…I know some games need this, but I find the click wheel the best thing about navigation on the iPod.
Sliders are so DELL
I doubt it, but if they released the “Trye video iPod” at MacWorld 07, their sales would skyrocket!!!
.. or may be the slider is just like track pad on notebook?