Speculation is everywhere: will Apple will introduce a video ipod? And now Apple is cranking up the buzzmachine again. “The company sent an invitation to reporters on Monday morning for a “special event” being held Sept. 7 in San Francisco. “1,000 songs in your pocket changed everything,” the invitation reads, referring to the release of the first 5GB iPod nearly four years ago. “Here we go again.”
It will be a video device, but not exactly video ipod. A different device that does video, not music. It needs a large screen. Which means get rid of that famous scrollwheel.
- Apple won’t give the portable video market, no matter how small, away to Sony’s PSP.
- It won’t be an existing iPod shell with video capabilities, because that would just suck. Dissapointment would abound. Video on that tiny screen? It needs a big screen.
- The device will have a large screen, and will connect with iTunes 5 which will let you buy video and subscribe to video RSS feeds (iTunes 4.9 already lets you subscribe to video feeds).
Something like this?
Somehow that mockup just doesn’t seem right. Not.. revolutionary enough.
Unlike the PSP, the video ipod probably won’t be loaded with features (wireless, gaming, you name it, the PSP does it). That’s not the Apple way. It will do 1 thing (video), and it will do it well. Very well.
The big advantage it will have should be its connection to the iTunes video store. If Jobs can pull off deals with enough television shows, movies and such, and present all that video available through the store, that might be an announcement that will wow people in the Apple tradition.
Anyway, enough speculation. They might just come out with something completely different.