Filed under: iPod Family, OS, Rumors, Video
Ars Technica with insider info on Apple's Intel Switch
Jon Stokes over at Ars Technica seems to think that there will be some big announcements coming from Apple soon, as he's decided to "spill insider information from unnamed sources that I can confirm are in a position to know the score." Stokes notes that he normally wouldn't release this info, but he fears the news will soon become stale. There's a bit of discussion about the political situation that Apple tends to create with its chip suppliers and a note that OS X tends to always be compiled for size over performance.Here's the most eyebrow-raising bit: "If you think XScale is too powerful for the iPod, it's used in powerful color PDAs, then you're not taking the device seriously enough as a portable media platform. The XScale is plenty powerful enough to do video playback, and I have reason to believe that Apple is currently working on a video iPod to counter the Sony PSP. (My guess is that we might even see it in time for Christmas.) When the video iPod hits the streets, Apple will have an iPod product that plays each of the media formats (music, pictures, video) represented in its iLife suite."
The mythical video iPod? Did my new 60GB iPod with full color screen and photo capabilities just become dated?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
alex webb said 9:18AM on 7-11-2005
I think the video Ipod will happen by christmas, lots of people- me included- who dont really need 10,000 song carrying capacity said "screw ipod im getting a psp wchih plays music, movies, games, and has internet connectivity" While obviously its not like psp has killed ipod, I firmly believe that a Hd psp will come out and kill it in a few years if apple does nothing.
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ToeKnee said 9:24AM on 7-11-2005
"Did my new 60GB iPod with full color screen and photo capabilities just become dated?"
No, I suspect you're just an iPod firmware update away from being able to play video.
As for the article, I am not convinced. Apple makes most of its computer revenue from hardware, and as long as their ROI is good, I suspect they'll keep making Macs for a long time. There is not only the iPod stuff drawing attention away from Macs, there is secure OS X and other great software drawing attention to Macs in a Windows security nightmare world.
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Small Paul said 9:38AM on 7-16-2005
The article never once stated that Apple would stop making Macs. Anywhere. The argument is that Apple's best opportunities for growth (because if you're a company that's not growing you die) are centred around the iPod.
Not so sure about the firware update: I think the idea of the XScale chip is that it could do video playback without sucking the batteries dry in a matter of minutes. iPods don't have a huge amount of memory in them, meaning playing video files would require more frequent disk access, meaning lower batter life. Or something.
And something just feels un-Apple-y about them releasing something like a video iPod, and giving the capability to lots of current iPod owners for free. Doesn't Apple usually screw us for money any chance it gets? :)
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Derek said 12:26PM on 7-11-2005
We'll find out if it's true when Apple Legal wakes up.
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Penginkun said 3:57PM on 7-11-2005
"As for the article, I am not convinced. Apple makes most of its computer revenue from hardware, and as long as their ROI is good, I suspect they'll keep making Macs for a long time."
What part of the article suggested that Apple was going to stop making and selling Macintosh desktops? Go re-read it. Pay particularly close attention to the last paragraph, the one which begins with "UPDATE:", OK?
I wonder if the current crop of iPods has the ability to play videos? It would depend greatly on the CPU. If the current processor can handle video, I would expect a firmware upgrade to enable this. Otherwise...
And when will Apple wise up and provide Keynote playback? Is it just my imagination, or would the iPod make the perfect keynote presentation device? Just plug it in to the projector and go. No laptop to fuss with anymore. It is its own "remote" control, too. Oh well.
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ToeKnee said 6:44PM on 7-11-2005
"Go re-read it. Pay particularly close attention to the last paragraph, the one which begins with "UPDATE:", OK?"
yeah, and you go chill out. I read the article yesterday when it was first posted, before the "UPDATE," and long before it showed up here.
If you read the Ars discussion after the article, you'll see Hannibal writes he actually edited the article late last night to clarify, because others misunderstood it as well. I don't recall the wording I read which led me to believe he was saying that, and now it has been edited.
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ToeKnee said 7:59PM on 7-11-2005
"Go re-read it. Pay particularly close attention to the last paragraph, the one which begins with "UPDATE:", OK?"
yeah, and you go chill out. I read the article yesterday when it was first posted, before the "UPDATE," and long before it showed up here.
If you read the Ars discussion after the article, you'll see Hannibal writes he actually edited the article late last night to clarify, because others misunderstood it as well. I don't recall the wording I read which led me to believe he was saying that, and now it has been edited.
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Jay said 1:07AM on 7-12-2005
I would be surprised to see a video iPod in time for Christmas. I expect that we would see a video Airport Express (AirVideo?) before we see a video iPod. But I do think that it is inevitable that we will eventually see a video iPod.
It appears that Sony has a great portable game machine with the PSP, but I think they botched the video side by using the proprietary UMD disc. This is where Apple has a chance to leapfrog Sony.
Forget the removable media. Continue with a large capacity hard disk drive. Hopefully in the not too distant future we'll see higher speed wireless connectivity technologies (UltraWideBand, perhaps?) that make transferring video to the iPod even easier.
The biggest hurdle in a video iPod isn't technical, it's business related. Good luck with the MPAA. You know any video iPod would have far more obnoxious DRM than the iPod currently has.
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Penginkun said 8:35PM on 7-11-2005
"yeah, and you go chill out."
Hey, I'm not the one so worked up I posted the same thing twice.
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