Digital Gadgets

True video iPod to sport 3.5-inch display, touch-screen click wheel

This video iPod, which has been in development and on the table since before Apple released the 5G iPod last year with video playback, will feature a display that will occupy the entire front face of the device. Sources who have seen the device report that it features a digital click wheel, one that overlays the touch-sensitive display and appears when a finger touches it and disappears when the finger is removed.

It was too good to be true. Just when we thought we might actually have a day free from Apple rumors (after all, doesn’t Microsoft deserve to have the rumor mill to itself for at least a little while?), ThinkSecret has hit us with word that the “true” video iPod is still coming, and that it will have a 4-inch display, rather than the 3.5-inch one that was claimed in earlier rumors.

Apple has been working with at least two other companies to perfect the digital click wheel display technology. While not all the engineering was completed in-house by Apple, sources have said Apple could hold an exclusive license on the technologies it borrowed from other developers for a period of time, limiting the ability of competitors to copy Apple’s design.

Additional details concerning the new iPod have yet to be confirmed, including capacity and a release date, although all indications point to the Spring, possibly as early as late March or early April. During the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, Apple CEO Steve Jobs alluded to a major announcement on or around April 1, Apple’s 30th anniversary as a company.

ThinkSecret also reports that the video iPod is on target for a March or April release, pending content deals with studios (which we assume will come through, given that Steve Jobs basically owns Disney now). Of course, even if the video unit is delayed, we assume Stevie will still schedule another big press conference sometime in the next few weeks.

Like previous iPods, sources insist that this video iPod will lack any sort of wireless connectivity, and will continue to connect to televisions using the conventional cabling solution of current models.

While Apple no longer publicly releases the numbers for how many specific iPod models it sells, Think Secret has learned exclusively that during Apple’s most recent December quarter, the company moved 3.9 million 5G iPods, exceeding internal estimates and confirming that strong demand remains for higher capacity, higher priced iPod models, especially with additional functionality. By comparison, 8 million iPod nanos were sold during the same period.

After all, Apple has yet to announce the Intel-powered eMac and the pleather case for the shuffle.

Viliv P1 PMP to tackle iPod Video in the US

The viliv P1 has to looks of the bastard child of a Sony PSP and an iPod. PVP4U reported about the viliv P1 when it appeared in Korea last summer. Now Episodic Media Inc. informed me that they will be selling the viliv P1 with a 30GB hard-drive beginning in March in the US and Canada.

If you had told us last year that the Viliv P1 PMP would soon be available in the US, we would have laughed in your face (well, OK, maybe we would have been polite and chuckled into our hands).

It was originally released to the Korean market last summer. Developed by Yukyung Technologies, the Viliv P1 comes with a good-sized 4-inch widescreen TFT display, which can show off everything from Macromedia Flash to MPEG 1/2/4.

If the 30 gigabytes of on-board memory isn’t enough for you, you can throw in a compact flash card to keep the “unlimited excitement” (as labelled under the screen) going. Audio support comes in the way of MP3s, WMAs, and even OGGs, as well as FM radio reception.

Episodic Media launched goviliv featuring a stylish flash featuring a great looking gadget model and the features of the stylish viliv P1. After all, not only does the device have a suspiciously familiar controller, but it’s also from Yukyung Technologies, a company with zero US presence.

The viliv P1 PMP comes with a 30GB hard-drive, 4 inch 16:9 wide-screen with 480×272px TFT screen, Macromedia Flash player, FM-Tuner, Voice and audio recording, Speaker, CF Slot, Video and Audio Out, 6 hour video viewing battery life and 11 hours for audio. The video player supports DivX, Xvid and MPEG1/2/4. The audio player supports MP3, WMA and OGG.

But this is one case where we’re happy to be proven wrong, since the player will apparently make its North American debut on March 1 via a dedicated e-store. Specs include a 30GB drive, DivX and Xvid support, 4-inch display, FM radio and CF slot. And, yes, it does still have that round, white controller, but we’re willing to overlook that (though we don’t know if you-know-who will do the same). Battery life is pretty good, with 6 hours of video viewing, or 11 hours of audio. This DivX and Xvid playing PMP should be hitting American and Canadian shelves sometime this March.

Touch Screen Video iPod Coming Soon?

This video iPod, which has been in development and on the table since before Apple released the 5G iPod last year with video playback, will feature a display that will occupy the entire front face of the device.

Sources who have seen the device report that it features a digital click wheel, one that overlays the touch-sensitive display and appears when a finger touches it and disappears when the finger is removed.

A Think Secret report claims that the new iPod will feature a 3.5-inch diagonal display and shed its mechanical click wheel. “This video iPod, which has been in development and on the table since before Apple released the 5G iPod last year with video playback, will feature a display that will occupy the entire front face of the device,” the site reports.

“Sources who have seen the device report that it features a digital click wheel, one that overlays the touch-sensitive display and appears when a finger touches it and disappears when the finger is removed.”

Apple has been working with at least two other companies to perfect the digital click wheel display technology. While not all the engineering was completed in-house by Apple, sources have said Apple could hold an exclusive license on the technologies it borrowed from other developers for a period of time, limiting the ability of competitors to copy Apple’s design.

Additional details concerning the new iPod have yet to be confirmed, including capacity and a release date, although all indications point to the Spring, possibly as early as late March or early April.

During the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, Apple CEO Steve Jobs alluded to a major announcement on or around April 1, Apple’s 30th anniversary as a company.

Wolf says the growing collection of video content on iTunes is a sign of a new iPod. “In our opinion, the rapid increase in the iTMS’s video offerings is a strong signal that an iPod with a much larger screen is on the way,” he said. Wolf also cites reports from Asia that fifth-generation iPod production has been reduced.

“One hypothesis is that sales of this model have fallen below Apple’s previous expectations for the quarter,” the analyst wrote. “An equally plausible hypothesis is that Apple is draining inventories of the iPod from the distribution channel in advance of its introduction of the new model.”

There are 135 Apple Retail Stores and according to Steve Jacbos, they’re the best place to buy any product in the world (aha!)

There were 26 million visitors during one quarter of the year to the Retail Stores

And the most interesting fact: If my laptop wasn’t such a garbage I could continue watching the Keynote

Address with sound and give more facts. Just watching Steve Jacobs gesticulating doesn’t make my day, nor yours, so you’ll have to watch the video yourself.

Apple iPod Nano Coming Soon in 1GB

Apple Computer introduced a 1-gigabyte version of its iPod nano priced at $149 on Tuesday and lowered the prices of its iPod shuffle model to $69 for the 512-megabyte version and $99 for the 1GB version.

ThinkSecret rounds up a bunch of the rumours regarding Apple’s upcoming products. First is is expected that Apple will replace their 12.1″ and 14.1″ iBook notebooks with a new widescreen 13.3″ iBook. They may be announced in March, with availability in April. These iBooks will have a new enclosure, an update to the original one that was launched in 2001.

The 1GB iPod shuffle is no longer available on Apple’s web store or through online retailers like Amazon.com, Wal-Mart or Best Buy. Several third-party retailers are still selling the HP branded version, but HP has said it will stop making it.

It was a quiet introduction with no announcement, no fanfare, and certainly no warning — not that we hadn’t expected this — but today Apple threw up a 1GB nano on their store for $149. Yup, same nano we’ve all come to know and, um, wipe smudges and scratches constantly.

The portable music player maker also said Tuesday it would offer programming from Showtime Networks’ cable TV series Sleeper Cell, Weeds, and Fat Actress for download from its iTunes Music Store. The content can be played on the video versions of the iPod.

Another rumour is about an upcoming 1GB iPod nano from Apple. This may be set to replace the iPod shuffle in the near future.

The move to lower the prices of its two lines of flash memory-based music players, the shuffle and nano, makes the players more affordable for users who have hesitated to purchase more expensive players for themselves or as gifts. Some users also buy them as an adjunct player that is more suitable when jogging and exercising than the hard-disk-based iPods.

But Apple is seeing increasing competition in the digital music player market from other companies such as SanDisk, which showed new players last month at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Thing is, we know that Apple doesn’t like making a big deal when they start phasing out old products, and from the look of things that could be what they’re doing with the shuffle, which got a price slash itself, the 512MB version down to $69 and the 1GB version down to a Benjamin. Somehow we can imagine they’ll be selling a lot more nanos than ever before, and they probably won’t be of the 2GB/$200 or 4GB/$250 variety, feeling us?