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 3.5-inch diagonal display and use a touch screen instead of the current click wheel. 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.
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.
More...Credit: Think Secret
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