“Changes to the iPod may soon bring it in line with the iPhone, while avoiding cannibalized sales, according to a new outlook report,” MacNN reports.
“Analysts at the research firm Piper Jaffray suggest that as expected, the next generation of iPods will be based on the iPhone’s touchscreen interface; while there will likely be no Internet or phone services, future iPods are expected to be based on Mac OS X, though whether or not users will be able to install software on them has not been raised as a question,” MacNN reports.
“Analysts do however propose that they will be announced in the fall or winter, at the latest by January’s MacWorld event,” MacNN reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “MacVicta” for the heads up.]
I’ll bet they will ready before XMas
They’ll be home for Christmas.
Oh the analysts… I don’t believe any Apple rumors until they are reality.
NEWS FLASH
“Asteroids to hit the earth the day before iPod release says analyst”
PJ has a pretty good track record, but an October release for Christmas does indeed make far more sense. Apple couldn’t make enough of them if the price is the same as current iPods are.
If they can get those babies out by Christmas, at under $400, oh my! I don’t even think Mac OS X is necessary. Just a touch-screen coverflow iPod with 80GB or more of space? Are you serious?
Gene Munster actually said the new iPod would be out “before or after” Macworld. Pretty deep analysis if you ask me.
Bring them out in October and sell 20 million by Christmas. Internet via wifi is something I’d pay extra for on a 6g iPod.
What about the people that will want an iPhone during the holiday season but only want the iPod portion? Won’t this significantly cut into potential iPhone sales due to people, like me, having much less of a reason to purchase one?
I personally think they’ll delay it into 2008. If I could get an iPhone sans phone with 80gb, I’d suddenly be much more content with my Razr. It’s the “best iPod we’ve ever made” that’s the biggest attraction for me and should the right opportunity present itself, I’ll be sucked in before the end of the year.
That is unless I can get an iPhone sans phone with 80-100gb memory.
We only care whether or not such a new iPod would cut into iPhone sales if the contribution margin of the iPhone is more than that of the iPod. I don’t think anybody outside of Apple knows that (assuming there even is such an iPod coming). It might be that the margin of the iPod is more than that of the iPhone, and Apple would actually WANT to cut into iPhone sales. Who knows?
I can’t imagine they won’t have a new video iPod with 80 or 120 giggers in place of the phone. (Not sure whether they will keep the wifi.) At this point, who would want to buy a current video iPod? That product line is DEAD because everyone knows the next version is 20 times better and has to be in the pipeline.
if it has OSX on it–why remove wifi capabilities? To me, this will be the perfect iPhone (ie sans phone). The ATT deal is what is keeping many from getting iphone. Without question, an OSX ‘wifiPod’ would be the total device..
“Mac Os X -based iPods by january“
apple´s iPod can survive more two years,we need is new macs and new hardware like printers and other stuff,iPods are too late now because we have the hype of the iPhone,and that is a new iPod too,i believe we only see new updates on iPhone not in iPods.
The new iPods need a higher degree of audio capability and output, to match current MacPro offerings.
WiFi and a on board iTunes Store would REALLY be nice. Because there is a substancial portion of the population that either doesn’t care for, or can understand computers.
If these folks could have a simple interface with more advanced abilities accessable, enter their credit card for billing, eaisly hook up their new iPod to car stereo/home stereo. Easily access local Wifi networks and have a combination Dock/auto-Harddrive backup/Wifi device at a attractive price, I think a large portion of the computer illiterate would buy it.
I’m talking the substancial console game type market crowd. Women who are more socialites than computer geeks, etc.
120 gigabyte iPods that will stream music to your iPhone…….that would be cool.
I think we’ll see how all this potential ‘cannibalization’ plays out as we get solid numbers on iPhone sales. If Apple is selling just as many iPhones as they can make, I really don’t think a multi-touch video iPod will hurt at all. People clearly want this, and as an iPhone owner I can tell you that it blows the 5.5 G iPods out of the water on every single point, except of course storage.
But my question is this – once people become accustomed to watching YouTube, for instance, how much utility will there be in a non-networked video player? Having all my movies would be great (if iTunes would finally allow an easy way to rip DVDs… HINT HINT) but forget about streaming video. I don’t know if I’d have any use for such a device now that I’m even more hooked on YouTube.
-c
If the new “big” iPod has the iPhone screen and interface, it would be a huge waste NOT to give it Wi-Fi and Internet access. Take away the phone hardware and give it a large-capacity hard drive. It will be a huge hit; I’d want it more than an iPhone.
“Cannibalization” is also loosely defined in this situation. Apple will never get an iPhone purchase from me. They can release the wifiPod today and I’ll buy it for $500. They can reduce the price of an iPhone to $10 and I will still never buy it. I must be the only one.
No, effwerd, you’re not. There’s at least two of us.
effwerd, you are not alone, i couldn’t have said it better myself.
give me an ipod with all the wifi goodies and i will be camping out.
….but my wife does love her phone.
@ R2
I would never replace my 80 gig iPod for anything less. Once you go 80gb, you can’t go back to 30, much less a 8gb SmartPhonePod.
If I am going to replace my iPod and cell phone I would want at least my KRZR combined with my 80 gig iPod “Stubs”.
I would own an 80Gb iPhone today.
Until then I’ll just keep my KRZR, “Stubbs”, and my MacBook with me everywhere I go.
Have you people never learnt? Apple inc. does not do what analyists want, Apple inc. does what we the customer never realised we wanted or needed!!!
Until the iphone has properly permeated almost every corner of the globe, do not expect wazonga inducing announcements from Apple inc.
So save you breathe & stop feeding those speculative trolls!
PVPonline trolll excepted! I quite like him or her!
No problemo – I can move X’mas to February. It’s not like El Jobso was born in December….
It seems that the widescreen iPod is a given. Very obvious. What isn’t obvious is the WiFi capabilities.
The absolute answer to that question is: Yes.
How can one know for certain? Well, as Steve put it when speaking to his staff:
a) We are working on putting Mac OS X on an iPod
b) We have four legs to our chair: 1) Macs, 2) iPods, 3) AppleTV, 4) iPhone
People miss/overlook/underestimate the 3rd leg. AppleTV. What is required to connect an iPod or iPhone to AppleTV? WiFi. Want to look at your iPod’s photos on your
TV? AppleTV will stream them. How? WiFi and a portable version of iTunes. Say what?! Yes, portable iTunes. Photos/Music/Video wirelessly from your iPod or iPhone. Why didn’t the iPhone have TV-out? Doesn’t need it with AppleTV.
So will the widescreen iPod have WiFi? Yes. Will it have Safari and be able to browse the net? Will it have mail? Will it support iPhone apps? Well, it should unless there is a contractual agreement with AT&T.
Oh, and that brings about my last point. With WiFi in the iPods, Apple can include iChat as it doesn’t take away SMS revenue from the phone carriers. As WiFi becomes more pervasive, Apple begins to eliminate the need for people to require cell access or data plan lock-in.
One more thing. Remember Apple’s patent on video technology…using cameras behind the LCD screen to capture video…could this be used for Video iChat without having a camera built in on the touch-screen surface side of the iPod/iPhone?
Oh, and perhaps Apple may release a Windows version of iChat so that both Windows and PC users can chat’r up. Apple will most likely not rely on AOL at this juncture as the new iChat coming with Leopard kicks butt!