A ThinkSecret exclusive brings news (or at least rumors) of several new iPod products:

Product	Announcement Date	Specs	Price
iTunes phone	9/7/05	256MB (70 songs), 512MB (140 songs)	Device: Unknown Downloads: $2?
iPod mini	9/20/05	flash memory (no HD) 4GB, 6GB, & 8GB 20-25% smaller color screen	$199, $249, $299
iPod shuffle revision	9/20/05	new 2GB version	512MB: ~$69 1GB: ~$99 2GB: ~$139
video iPod	2006?	video	unknown

We'll see...  

TheStreet.com has republished an article from RealMoney which provides a good argument for why next week's product announcement won't be a video iPod: the market isn't ready for it yet, and Apple is smart enough to know that.

Millions of people had been freely trading MP3 files and burning CDs from MP3s...before Apple made its move. While there are millions of video files being traded on piracy networks and sent via email, ...the mainstream user isn't exactly downloading those files, burning DVDs from those video files and watching them on a TV set. That day is coming, and Apple is certainly going to make a move into that market when the time is right. But that's not next week. And probably not anytime in the next quarter, or two or three.  

In what appears to be further confirmation that September 7's announcement will be for the Motorola iTunes phone, Revolution Magazine is reporting today that several artists from many different generations will be appearing in an upcoming ad for the product.

It is reported that Motorola has signed an artist from every generation to appear in the ads, including Little Richard, Bootsy Collins, Lil' John, The White Stripes, Sleater-Kinney, Sum 41, Mya, Pussycat Dolls and Billie Joe from Green Day.

Look-a-likes of Beethoven, Jimi Hendrix and Biggie Smalls are also featured.

Madonna reportedly shot her portion of the ad yesterday.  

Many news outlets have now picked up the September 7 product announcement story, and the focus is increasingly on the iTunes phone. However, all the stories so far are quoting the same couple of sources already cited here. So, despite the hype, there really is no more information, and more importantly, no more substantiation of the theory that the new product will be the iTunes phone (as opposed to the video iPod).

Stay tuned...  

FreeiPodGuy is LMAO

As previously reported, Creative has made public waves about their assertion that the iPod infringes on their Zen MP3 player's user interface trademark.

Apparently, they also can lay claim to being the first MP3 player manufacturer (to my knowledge at least) to mass-distribute a worm (W32.Wullik.B@mm to be exact) on an MP3 player, specifically their 5 GB Zen Neeon. Engadget reports that 3,700 Neeons shipped over the last two months have been infected with the malware.

When executed, the worm makes numerous copies of itself in random locations, and when Windows Explorer browses to the window where the file is located, it randomly moves to a new one. Fun! It is a mass-mailing worm that sends itself to all contacts in Outlook's address book. Yay!

As a Mac user, an iPod user, and a grownup, I feel that all I can really say is "NEENER NEENER THBPBT!"  

Creative has asserted that its patent 6,928,433 is used by the iPod's user interface. This allegation follows a nearly identical one by Microsoft. More info can be found at techsmec.com.

So, will Microsoft or Creative (or the next iPod knockoff maker in line) attempt to assert their trademarks? I speculate that the reason these allegations have been made is NOT to set Apple up for a licensing war, but rather to draw attention to their own devices by making people aware that they are like the iPod.

Personally, I find this all a bit tedious. Get it worked out, people. Just don't screw with my iPod.  

The San Fransisco Chronicle has an article today that is mostly review for FreeiPodGuy readers, but does a good job of narrowing down the possibilities as to the product that Apple will announce on September 7: a video iPod, or the iTunes phone.

The article cites Wall Street analyst Gene Munster belief that next week's event will be about the Motorola phone, and that after next week's event, Apple will unveil new versions of the iPod shuffle and a new flash memory based iPod mini at Macworld in Paris on September 20.  

Some people are good guessers, others are better guessers.

The New York Times reports that Roger Entner, a telecommunications analyst with market research firm Ovum, said he had been told by an industry executive that the September 7 mystery product is the Motorola iTunes phone. He further reported that it would be marketed by Cingular Wireless.

Keep them guesses a-comin'.  

Here's one more... Tom's Hardware Guide has a "source" in Taiwan telling them that Apple may be ready to introduce a portable video player.

How's that for helpful?  

Apple this morning sent out invitations to an event in San Francisco on Wednesday, September 7. The invitations said: "1000 songs in your pocket changed everything. Here we go again."

Apple is implying that this is the biggest thing since the original iPod (which held 1,000 songs).

What could that be? Top candidates:

1. An increase in the capacity of the iPod shuffle, and possibly the iPod mini. If this is it, then Apple's invitation is over-hyping the event.

2. Color screens on the iPod mini. Again, unless there's more to it than this, Apple is overselling it.

3. A video iPod. This could possibly fit the description, but it isn't even known with absolute certainty that Apple is working on it.

4. A phone that would sync with iTunes. Motorola is known to be working on such a product, and it is overdue for release. This could also fit the description, and is known to be in the works; Motorola CEO Ed Zander said on July 25 that the iTunes phone would be released before the end of September.

5. Some other wholly new product that will either replace an existing iPod or iPod series, or add to it. Usually there is some rumor-mongering going on, and all rumors I've seen are covered by 1 through 4 above.

6. An overhaul of multiple iPods, e.g. bigger shuffles, color iPods, lower prices. This is a distinct possibility.

However, my bet is on #4 since the phone is known to be imminent, and because it is something completely different than other iPods. There is reason to doubt this however: Motorola has not made a similar announcement to Apple's, and Zander said they would make a joint announcement. We'll see.

But I have to figure out whether I'm serious about that. I was planning on exchanging my ailing iPod for an upgraded model on Labor Day (2 days before the new announcement). It could be advantageous to wait. On the other hand, it could be advantageous to jump now, since my trade-in credit is price-based, and my trade-in value could drop on September 7.  

Almost since its establishment, Apple has been the underdog in the computer industry. This has brought both ridicule (because it came to be known as non-standard in an industry where standards are very important) and praise (because some people are consistently drawn to what others scorn).

This remains the case with computers. However, Apple is the undisputed king of portable music players, with iPods having about 80% of overall market share, and a whopping 91% share of hard-drive-based players. Though Apple does not have a monopoly (since there are other sellers, and nothing prevents new manufacturers from entering the market), the vast majority of MP3 players are iPods.

In light this, how do we explain the fact that there are so many holdouts against the iPod? Obviously Microsoft actively competes against it simply because it doesn't support their WMA format and they won't be happy with anything short of total world domination, and other manufacturers try to put down the iPod at every opportunity. However, there are other examples of people being strangely obstinate against it.

For example, some college campuses have tried to cut down on the use of their networks for illegal song downloading by making deals with competing services like Rhapsody, Ruckus, and Napster. Perhaps these decisions are based solely on economics--just as Apple has used aggressive pricing to get its computers into educational institutions, iTunes competitors have made deals with colleges to provide services at reduced costs in exchange for exclusivity agreements.

Similarly, some libraries have begun offering downloadable audiobooks, but they are rarely iPod-compatible. Some may overlook this, because they have grown accustomed to writing off Apple as irrelevant. However, the iPod is a whole new ballgame. Offering iPod-incompatible downloads automatically eliminates 80% of potential users. Though most people use WMA-friendly Windows, desktop computers are not where people listen to audiobooks. They listen to audiobooks on the go, and 80% of users on the go are going with iPods.

At least with regard to American University, they have found that their plan didn't work. Most students looked into the services at the beginning of the school year, but then decide not to use them (which means they no longer have the incentive to avoid illegal downloads). Why? "The complaints were you couldn't burn music for free, you couldn't put it on iPods," said Bill Raduchel, chief executive for Ruckus, which provides music to more than a dozen universities.

However, part of the problem might simply be misinformation from Apple competitors. According to Raduchel of Ruckus, "No legal service is going to meet that need [the desire to burn CDs and put music on iPods]." Obviously this is untrue--iTunes allows liberal CD burning, and is custom-made to work with the iPods, and Raduchel surely knows it.

Many people are now predicting that iTunes and iPods market domination is not sustainable. However, it could be that if it loses substantial market share, it will be because services have unnecessarily avoided the iPod, and not the other way around.