Filed under: Accessories, iPod Family, iPhone
Apple to release new iPhone/iPod touch dock?

Apple does, however, file patents that it might not ever use -- as do most other companies. What do you think? Could this be a new dock design, or is it the patent for the included iPod touch stand?

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
andrew said 6:08PM on 8-05-2008
QUICK touch users see if the cable fits in the stand...i would not be surprised if it was snug
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Carl Pike said 6:12PM on 8-05-2008
It does and always has fit, it is just a storage thing i think.. an old patent.
Les said 6:18PM on 8-05-2008
I don't like to bash TUAW writers, cause I know you are just trying to do your job, but this is pretty lame. It is just the little dock that comes with the Touch. It can fit on the end of the dock connector, to be used as a cap?
andrew said 6:22PM on 8-05-2008
but if that was the only vision they had for that little piece of plastic, was a stand, it wouldn't be worth the patent filing fee, would it?
sockatume said 7:28PM on 8-05-2008
Apple actually hold a number of patents for "Stand", each one being a claim on the shape - but not the electronic functionality of - an iPod dock. All of the actual docks necessarily include images of the electronic connectors, albeit in dotted lines to indicate they are not relevant to the patent's claim.
albi said 12:04AM on 8-06-2008
OMG, why didnt i think of this before!!! I'v lost two of these transparant stands >_
twocargar said 6:09PM on 8-05-2008
A Bluetooth dock?!?!?!?! That'd be cool!
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noza said 6:12PM on 8-05-2008
I hope that stand doesn't have any magical docking properties, I lost it along time ago. In any case they're kind of worthless if you have any slipcase on your iPod touch.
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Henry P said 6:13PM on 8-05-2008
I wouldn't be surprised if that was simply a use for the stand to function as a cable protector. How in the world would it plug in there and function as a sync/charge cable when it is 3 inches from the actual dock connector
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jgenzuk said 6:33PM on 8-05-2008
It seems to me that (possibly, and of course this is just my mind running with itself) this could possibly be an attempt by Apple to work with a power/charging style that works without actual connections, but instead is based off of proximity between the device and the power source itself. This is not unlike something I read not too long ago about something that Apple may be trying to do with syncing.
Fred said 6:16PM on 8-05-2008
I think it looks ridiculous myself.
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jim said 8:01PM on 8-05-2008
The touch dock fit exactly like that. In fact I think Apple even provided some documentation with illustrations just like that. What was the point of this article?
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MazjinYrael said 6:24PM on 8-05-2008
It's the touch's stand, no more than a piece of plastic.
Although I did wonder why the cable fit perfectly into it, its no dock.
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DarJon said 7:51AM on 8-06-2008
But.. how would someone be able to both charge and watch videos in landscape mode simultaneously, when the iPod touch and iPhone doesn't have a dock connector on the side (where it would make contact with the dock when watching in landscape mode)?
I don't get it. It could maybe double up as a STAND (like the plastic ones that come with the iPod touch), but I fail to see how the user could charge at the same time.
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redelephantlabel said 6:25PM on 8-05-2008
Bonjour enabled dock connector with wireless sync capability. No, I think it's probably just a holder. I lost my little plastic stand the day after I bought mine.
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Sean Robbins said 6:29PM on 8-05-2008
ok, so you plug in the connector to the dock, but from there, where does it go? plugs into another wire and into the phone? eh...
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tom.b said 6:30PM on 8-05-2008
Here's a picture:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yosshi1202/1525130580/
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The Rude Bellman said 6:33PM on 8-05-2008
Imagine this:
What if this device were a bit bigger than an iPhone or iPod touch? What if allowing it to sit in landscape mode allowed input using an Apple wireless keyboard.
Could this be something for the fabled iTablet?
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Josh said 6:38PM on 8-05-2008
Not a chance, it's definitely the included stand. If you look at the diagram, there's no connection for the iPod while on the stand, and it would be impossible for you to connect it into the stand while it was laying on its side. As for the snug plug in, I always just considered it a way to organize your cables: the dock connector was always right there next to your Touch (assuming you used the system) so that you could plug it in quickly.
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dukrous said 6:39PM on 8-05-2008
So that's what that was...hrm. I think I tossed it.
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