A �pod� to rule them all (part deuce)

It appears that everyone had their own opinions in regards to my take on Apple�s full fledged media iPod but there were some confusions as to what this device will do and what Apple can afford to put in this thing and keep it attainable in the middle class. My feeling is the next device will not be our classic iPod but a completely new device and the beginning of Apple�s plan to branch iPod into its own company.

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As of now, component costs of 80Gb 1.8� drives from Toshiba have dropped significantly in the past 6 months. Apple uses Toshiba�s mini hard disk drives inside of their full size iPod line and the lower cost helps Apple increase the profits while keeping price per pod low. Apple could have released a 500 dollar iPod with an 80Gb hard drive back in November but they would have no where to go in the spring when it came time to refresh the next lineup. There is not press release that I could find on Toshiba making a 100Gb 1.8� hard drive so Apple is at the mercy of the manufacturer.

PortalPlayer and Sigmatel are the two chipmakers working together with Apple to drive the portable devices. PortalPlayer makes the chips used for decoding media and running the backend database and Sigmatel is strictly audio processing done on the hardware side. Open your iPod and these two companies have branding all over your iPod�s board. PortalPlayer has made leaps in the wireless Bluetooth audio transmission landscape and with their video decoding hardware as well. They can decode, I believe, 640x480 h.264 content with ease on their new chips if the portable device�s screen can scale that large. You can also incorporate Wi-fi into your portable device because PortalPlayer makes chips for that as well.

OLED and LCD displays are getting brighter, cheaper and can use less power so Apple could easily make a 3.5 or 4� screen to cover their entire face of the device. The current iPod is 4.1� tall making .05� on the top or bottom for plastic (about the width that is on each side of the display on current 5th Gen iPods. Creating a touch sensitive films either in house or with the help of Synaptics touchpad they can create a virtual click wheel that appears on screen as you touch it. Of course, Apple would have to rethink the composites used in manufacturing in order to make these screens a hell of a lot less scratch able. While they�re at it, a complete body change to help against scratching would be in order but I don�t see it changing any time soon.

I have to say that we will not be seeing a removable storage approach. This is not an option for Apple and neither is a battery system. They like to streamline their products like art and it would be like the Mona Lisa to have Velcro above her head so you can stick a different hat on her head each day. It�s art and it is beautiful although it may cost a lot less to have the Velcro treatment. Apple is the same and a slot for memory or a battery would only make the iPod look cheap so don�t expect that to happy.

I can see the next iPod review to have a 40-hour battery life and that be decreased to 20 while using a Bluetooth earphone option, and only 10-hour battery while playing movies. This will finally hit the sweet spot will all iPod users and you can all stop complaining so much. You can never have enough storage. I have over a terabyte of external hard drives at home all connected to my iBook 800Mhz with an internal 30Gb hard drive. I archive a lot of things and having an 80Gb iPod would enable me to carry all of my personal files with me at all times and my 65 Gbs of Movies, Music, Podcasts, photos and more.

In regards to marketing, I feel a 399 and 499 configuration and marketed as an exclusive video iPod. The Wi-fi, Bluetooth and touch wheel will trickle down to the other iPod products as the year continues.

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