ThinkSecret.com: New video iPod on the way
I was hoping this story would just go away, but so many tech news outlets have picked it up that I have to comment.
ThinkSecret must think they need to generate more ad click-throughs or something, because they are reporting that Apple is working on a "true" video iPod sporting a 3.5" touch-sensitive screen and no click wheel. Instead of a physical click wheel, the wheel would appear on the screen when it is touched. Presumably, the screen would be rotated 90 degrees and take up pretty much the entire front of the iPod, similar to the orientation of Sony's PlayStation Portable.
This is hogwash, for two reasons:
1. The click wheel is Apple's silver bullet. It is at least half of what makes the iPod the #1 music player. Apple is not going to dump it unless they come up with something better, and this ain't it.
2. Even assuming that Apple could come up with something better than a click wheel, they aren't going to make users watch video through fingerprints that would inevitably smudge up the screen. My 4th generation iPod gets eye-prints just by my looking at it, and touch-sensitive screens in general might not be a good idea for the scratch-prone iPod.
There is one caveat that I should mention, which might make this a remote possibility: inclusion of a stylus as the preferred input method. If apple includes a stylus with a non-abrasive tip and re-engineers the screen to be made out of rugged glass instead of the relatively soft plastic currently coating it, this might work.
Personally, I think this is just too "hypey". ThinkSecret either made it up, or are reporting indiscriminately. (Which is, after all, what rumor sites are all about.)
ThinkSecret must think they need to generate more ad click-throughs or something, because they are reporting that Apple is working on a "true" video iPod sporting a 3.5" touch-sensitive screen and no click wheel. Instead of a physical click wheel, the wheel would appear on the screen when it is touched. Presumably, the screen would be rotated 90 degrees and take up pretty much the entire front of the iPod, similar to the orientation of Sony's PlayStation Portable.
This is hogwash, for two reasons:
1. The click wheel is Apple's silver bullet. It is at least half of what makes the iPod the #1 music player. Apple is not going to dump it unless they come up with something better, and this ain't it.
2. Even assuming that Apple could come up with something better than a click wheel, they aren't going to make users watch video through fingerprints that would inevitably smudge up the screen. My 4th generation iPod gets eye-prints just by my looking at it, and touch-sensitive screens in general might not be a good idea for the scratch-prone iPod.
There is one caveat that I should mention, which might make this a remote possibility: inclusion of a stylus as the preferred input method. If apple includes a stylus with a non-abrasive tip and re-engineers the screen to be made out of rugged glass instead of the relatively soft plastic currently coating it, this might work.
Personally, I think this is just too "hypey". ThinkSecret either made it up, or are reporting indiscriminately. (Which is, after all, what rumor sites are all about.)
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