iPod Says: Turn Left on Mulberry St.

What about support for J2ME (java 2 microedition) as available on most phones today? Maybe with a few additional iPod APIS so we can use the specific functionality of the device. Then you'get games of course but also a lot of consumer applications opportunities.

A stud finder - now that would be a useful addition to an iPod.

Yeah GPS seems unnecessary, save it for the iPhone. I'm one of those who hope for an iPhone, but hope that it's a different unit than the iPod. I'd rather have two devices that do their separate things awesome than one unit that does everything half-assed.

One feature I wouldn't mind is the iPod being able to view PDF files (or eBooks as mentioned). Adam Curry talked about PDF casts one time, and with iTunes being able to organize them just like audio and video files it would make me very happy indeed.

The iPod Bidet, anyone?

C'mon, now your stretching into the Microsoft way of thinking - make one devise that does 500 million things, but because it does 500 million things it can't do one single thing well.

Damien,
Your idea is Brilliant... I think it is an exellent idea... There is a void in the GPS market right now for the Mac.. (I have been researching GPS/MAC Lately)

In regards to Adam's comments about keeping it simple. I think we are way beyond the "music device" . Keep in mind that there are LOTS you can do with the ipod now (at least prior Gen); Bootable External HD; Contact Manager, Calendar, Task List with reminders and Alarms, Clock, Games, etc... I have ALWAYS felt the "ipod" was always destined to be more than a music player.

Apple just happens to be really good at marketing the "simple idea" or primary function of its products. ... Rant over, Love ya, over and out.

Mikes idea is probably the smartest implementation, but if GPS was built in, you could tell where the iPod has BEEN, later, for what that is worth.

I would rather my cellphone be a camera and a GPS before it was an iPod, and prefer my iPod to be a camera and a video player before it was a phone or a gps unit, mostly due to usage patterns and battery concerns.

Theoretically, sure, you could have the all in one whiz bang tricorder PDA phone gizmo, but there is an advantage to keeping a feature list low in quantity and high in quality.

How about combining GPS navigation with in-car vehicle entertainment systems and their LCD screens for video travel guides (as I discussed in this post at Russell Beattie's Notebook http://tinyurl.com/7vgde).

I really don't see Apple adding GPS capabilities to the iPod in its current iteration. However, as the iPod evolves as a *platform* and becomes more of a handheld computing/entertainment/communications
device (or Apple comes out with their own iPhone which would have E911 GPS capability), then I could see this happening.

I have a handheld GPS (Garmin eTrex Legend) and it's a little bigger than an iPod to begin with. If you added GPS capabilities to it it would be huge!

I agree with the above comment. Have it do two thing very well. We've seen what happens when manufacturwers try and cram more features into products (ROKR). Why not add a tazer to it for protection?

Or... skip the built-in GPS... go Bluetooth. Have it link via Bluetooth to a GPS, then just have the mapping built into the iPod. You could choose to download a small area of data (for those with a Nano) or the whole country (for those with a 30 or 60GB iPod). And by adding Bluetooth to the iPod, you could also introduce cell phone integration with Contacts, wireless stereo headset support, and more.

I doubt apple would do this. I can never say never, but they won't even put an FM tuner into the iPod. They want to keep it a music device for now, and are just inching their way into video. One of the key ideas of the iPod is to keep it a simple device. It does one or two things, but does them very, very well. It's what has kept the other mp3 players from cutting into the ipod market. Look at how many features some of these other units have, storage, microphone, fm tuner, line in, etc.

I'd rather have one device that does one thing well, versus a jack-of-all-trades master of none sort of pseudo palm pilot that does each thing with mediocrity. But I guess that's just like, my opinion . . man.