New iPod Could be Near Afterall
- September 11th, 2006
- 38 Comments
A week ago, we would joke around the CrunchGear lunch mess, “What’s 16:9, touchscreen, and probably not going to be announced September 12th by Apple?” The answer was, of course, the “true” Video iPod. The one with the touch-screen goodness and virtual click-wheelization. Now it’s looking like we might have egg on our collective face.
Though people have been rumoring this stakes-raising iPod since the 5G was intoduced last year, those rumors have always been wrong. But with Apple rolling out the new iMac and Mac Mini upgrades last week ahead of the September 12th event, and the “Showtime” theme of Tuesday’s special annoucement, there’s room for more than just a movie store. Apple has traditionally coulped a bigger annoucement with “One more thing…”, a surprise posing as an afterthought from Steve’s brain that sends us to work. The next “One more thing…” could actually, really, truly, for reals, be this new Video iPod, and there are a few reasons why.
Among the now progressive DAP market, the 5th gen iPod has become elderly. Generally, we get a new iPod every year, with an update at about the six-to-eight-month mark. The current fifth-gen iPod has remained untouched. The specs and price haven’t changed since day one. At the very least, look for an update to this fine white (or black) Apple on Tuesday.
According to tipsters, national retailers of gadgets like Best Buy and Circuit City ran this weekend’s full-color ad inserts for newspapers sans iPods. Usually, you can find Apple’s MP3 players prominently featured, on sale or not. The lack of these devices could be evidence of greater things soon-to-come.
But the real meat and potatoes comes from a photo making the rounds of the Apple rumor circuit, posted above. It shows a supposed banner being hoisted this weekend for Tuesday’s Apple event. It shows an iMac, the word “the stars”, and what appears to be a wide-screen iPod-like device. Could this be the “true” Video iPod? Or clever Photoshoppery? Or perhaps an interface for the set-top streaming-video box we’ve been hearing about? We’ll find out Tuesday, but we’re still excited. My money is on this being a fake, but I’m the Scully to the other iPod rumor sites’s Mulder.
Keep it tuned here on Tuesday to get the real skinny, as we’ve got a man on the inside, and you know we have to keep you guys ready. Given the evidence above, what do you think is going on? We’d like to know!
Banner for September 12th Event? [TUAW.com]
iPods iNvisible iN Ads? [Gizmodo]
Alasdair Allan (Who am I?)
2 years ago
Oh come on, this is an obvious fake. There are problems with the metadata, not least the Photoshop tags in the EXIF data, and the scaling, positioning of the elements on the banner…
We might get a touchscreen iPod, but after a long line of fakes, far more convincing that the above, I’m not holding my breath. I’d like to get my hands on a video-enabled version of the Airport Express, but I’m not holding my breath for that either. It’s not main stream enough. While geeks would love it, most people wouldn’t know why they were supposed to be excited about it, and couldn’t make it work when they got hold of one.
That said, the release of the new 24-inch iMac make me think that we’re in for something big. Something that Apple don’t want us distracted for, could be interesting…
Peter (Who am I?)
2 years ago
I’ve been hoping for the real “video” ipod to come out for months! I hope the rumors are true.
Claudio I. (Who am I?)
2 years ago
Can anyone make out all of the images on the alleged video ipod screen? I think I can see iMovie, iTunes, iPhoto, a CD and something else… I’m not sure why there’d be a CD icon on a device that’s smaller than a compact disc, and I can only hope the remaining icon (or iCon?) is iSync or some other wireless amazingness. Anyone have better vision than I?
webonics (Who am I?)
2 years ago
My guess is that this banner is a fake. The banner appears to be much brighter in context to the other parts of the exhibit area particularly the glowing apple logo. It doesn’t appear there are any light sources are pointed directly at the banner from this angle either. And I doubt Apple would light up a top-secret banner prior to an event with anyone other than the most inside employees present (and security). The screen on the iMac 24″ in the banner also seems to be missing the default Apple wallpaper or overlapping semi-transparent petals and instead uses a solid/linear gradient background blue color.
However, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see a new Video iPod launch. Apple needs to introduce a new model to compete with the competitive forces coming from players like Creative Zen Vision W and Microsoft’s upcoming Zune, particularly in light of the launch of the Windows-based Amazon Video offering, UnBox, last Thursday.
Blake Robinson (Who am I?)
2 years ago
The image on the screen looks to me like Frontrow: http://www.apple.com/imac/frontrow.html
Chris (Amateur Traveler podcast) (Who am I?)
2 years ago
Yes, but if it is a fake, I think it is a great fake. And I for one applaud the improvement in fakery :-)
Bob (Who am I?)
2 years ago
It was PhotoShoped because you can see the iMac is going of the Banner and the font is not what Apple allways uses. But any way I still think the iPod Wide Screen is going to come out tomorrow
Joe (Who am I?)
2 years ago
So fake, and a bad fake too. Take a close look on the top left of the imac..the clean up is a mess. Someone needs to learn photoshop.
Richard Giles (Who am I?)
2 years ago
Apple would not have a banner for a product that, if being released, would be a surprise that Jobs would pull out of his pocket. Why spoil a perfectly good opportunity for Jobs to show-boat, by using a public banner.
Samantha Vance
2 years ago
how intriguing. here’s hoping.
Reply
Anderson (Who am I?)
2 years ago
My grandmother makes better works with M$ PaintBrush…
Somebody does not believe?
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2 years ago
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2 years ago
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