Just two months after the release of the iPhone, which Steve Jobs proclaimed was the best iPod ever, Apple is expected to reveal Wednesday how it plans to move the iPod line forward. The company has summoned reporters and analysts to San Francisco's Moscone Center for an event, the invitations for which feature an image from Apple's iPod advertising.
The event has generated a great deal of interest among Apple devotees, especially after the successful introduction of the iPhone. The timing is also good for Apple, which hasn't overhauled the standard iPod or the iPod Nano in almost two years.
Speculation among bloggers and analysts suggests Apple will announce a new video iPod and a revamped iPod Nano with video capabilities, both of which could run a version of Apple's OS X operating system. Apple is also expected to introduce a new ring tone service for iPhone users, according to reports in the Los Angeles Times and New York Post.
The mega-question is: How much of the iPhone will work its way into the new iPods? The iPhone has a touch interface, Wi-Fi and a large screen. It also runs a version of OS X.
Analyst Shaw Wu of American Technology Research said he expects many of the iPhone features to appear on the next iPod. "The last main iPod was introduced in October 2005, and it has seen only minor changes," Wu said. "The successor product to that has been under development for some time, and we've seen a preview of it with the iPhone."
Wu said he expects the latest iPod to have a touch screen with a wider aspect ratio. He also anticipates the iPod will continue to have a hard disk to handle video storage, though there also could be a flash memory version of the video iPod. He said he doesn't expect the new iPod to have Wi-Fi, which could hurt sales of the iPhone and anger iPhone partner AT&T.
"It's a delicate balance to manage," Wu said.
But Susan Kevorkian, an analyst with IDC, said Apple will need to keep things fresh and innovative, which may mean pulling out all the stops with the iPod, including adding Wi-Fi support. It's unclear, said Kevorkian, whether that would mean immediate wireless downloads of songs via iTunes or wireless syncing of iPods instead of plugging them in to a computer.
"If Apple takes an overly conservative tack, it risks being in a rut and being upstaged by its rivals," Kevorkian said.
Indeed, Sony announced its first Walkman portable media devices with video capabilities last week, and Nokia unveiled an online music service.
Kevorkian said Apple will probably include a version of OS X on new iPods. Including the operating system would give the iPod more capabilities to run applications.
The iPod Nano is also expected to get an update, with more storage and maybe video for the first time. Several blogs have run photos of an iPod Nano mockup that is wider with a fuller screen.
"We think video support for Apple's flash-based players makes sense, particularly as they develop more offerings on iTunes," Kevorkian said. "A little more screen real estate and more storage would make that more compelling."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/04/BUT5RSP51.DTL
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