As some of you may know, I am somewhat of an Apple fan, I admit. That being said, I do not usually post about rumors on my blog (the exception being around a year ago when I predicted the iPod touch). Well, today I want to discuss some recent rumors that have come to light over the past few days and weeks.
I follow MacRumors, as well as several other tech sites which occasionally pop up random, often ridiculous rumors. As such, I want to point you to an article published within the past hour on MacRumors, entitled ‘New iPod Nano, iPod Touch, iTunes 8.0, and Blu-Ray in OS X 10.5.6?’. Now, as I said, I am an Apple fan. But I also have a source inside Apple that usually lets me in on what is going on. Thanks to my source, I got iTunes 7.7, black and white iPhones, as well as Snow Leopard info from him before it went down at WWDC 2008. As such, as soon as I saw the pictured rumored iPod nano on MacRumors, I called up my source.
According to my mate, this is not the new iPod nano. Yes, this could be a prototype design model, but from him, this is not it. Let me explain why:
- Radical departure from the previous design: Just last year Apple unveiled a new iPod design, which many called the ‘fat pod’. I have to admit, when I saw the first leaked photos, I laughed. But when I held one in my hand, the true elegance of the design took over me. I do not believe Apple will back track on its new design just to incorporate a wide screen on the device. Why? It looks cheap, honestly. Take a look at the picture as well. Do you see it? Yes, that is a rounded body. How UGLY does that really look? And plus, if this was truly the widescreen nano like people keep talking about, then don’t you think the click wheel would be turned 90 degrees counter-clockwise, so the controls read the same direction as the screen? Yea, what a piece of poop.
- Too large of a bezel: Apple likes to keep the elements of the design in check with the others. Why does this iPod have a strikingly cheap and large looking black bezel around the screen?
- Lack of ports: Look at the top of this rumored device. What do you see? Oh, nothing? Yea, I would like to see Apple fit the dock connector, headphone jack, AND a hold switch on the bottom of the device.
Honestly, this whole newly designed iPod nano junk is all a hoax. As far as I know, which is a lot more than most, the nano will NOT be seeing a major design revision in the coming weeks. Why? The current design (3rd generation, wide) fits perfectly with the rest of the line. The only way I could see Apple changing the design is if they want to drastically lower the price of the device (from $100+) to something below $100 USD, which would mean something bigger than even my source would be able to grasp. That being said, the following rumors have some merit, I will confirm:
- iTunes 8: Support for new devices, iTunes Unlimited music store, streaming music from computer to WiFi iPods
- iPod touch: Slight redesign incorporating iPhone 3G-like front, no rounded back like the iPhone, added support for 802.11n wireless
- Mac OS X Blu-Ray Support: Yes, it is coming.
As such, that is all I know and what I can speculate.