September 9th, 2008
If Apple really wanted to revolutionize the iPod, it would embed wireless broadband
On Tuesday, Apple is expected to unveil the latest updates to its iPod product line in San Francisco at 10:00 AM Pacific. With Apple’s recent comments about an important “product transition” that’s coming this fall, there are strong expectations that Steve Jobs is going to announce something big. However, the most significant change Apple could make to its iPod line is not likely to be part of the mix: wireless broadband.
Most of the speculation has centered around Apple significantly dropping the price of the iPod Touch (and potentially the whole iPod line), introducing a revolutionary new iPod Nano, and announcing iTunes 8. There have also been rumors that Apple could introduce a redesigned lineup of its MacBook laptops, release an incremental update to Mac OS X, or announce a new version of its floundering Apple TV product.
Since Apple has used an early September event to announce iPod products for the each of the past several years in order to set the stage for the holiday buying season, the safe money is on iPod news from today’s event. However, even if there is a new Nano and a major price drop across the whole iPod product line, the news will be a bit of a disappointment after Apple’s cryptic “product transition” hint that fueled such grandiose speculation.
Nevertheless, there is one thing that Apple could do that would really blow up the personal media player market: Embed mobile broadband in the iPod. I’m not talking about turning all iPods into iPhones. I’m simply talking about embedding mobile broadband chips — like the ones in the Amazon Kindle — into the iPod.
That would untether the iPod from a PC and give it a continual connection to the Internet to download new music, podcasts, and TV shows over the air. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked out of the house in the morning and started my commute only to realize that a podcast I wanted to listen to hadn’t been synced to my iPod.
For iPod users, the wireless broadband connection would be seamless and invisible. There would be no setup and no wireless contract. Of course, that means Apple would need to include the cost of connectivity in the device, and would need to set up a blanket contract with the wireless broadband providers such as Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint. That’s what Amazon has done with the Kindle.
Several leaders at Sprint have told me that they anticipate doing lots of these kinds of deals once WiMax spreads across the U.S. and provides a ubiquitous broadband experience. Intel and other chip makers are planning for a mass market for WiMax chips so they are making them cheap and planning to sell them in large volumes. This will allow the chips to be embedded in all kinds of devices, including digital cameras, GPS units, DVD players, and even toys (image a talking Elmo doll that periodically downloads updates so that he has new sayings from the latest shows).
The challenge today is that the Kindle primarily downloads text files that are not very large, while the iPod would be downloading much bigger audio and video files that would put a lot more strain on the wireless broadband network. There may simply not be enough bandwidth or wireless spectrum on the current 3G networks to handle that much traffic. We may have to wait for the development of WiMax and LTE.
Nevertheless, embedded wireless broadband in the iPod is worth considering, even if it just started with the iPod Touch. That would be a lot more exciting than another redesign of the Nano.
Jason Hiner is the Editor in Chief of TechRepublic, ZDNet's sister site. Read his blog Tech Sanity Check at hiner.techrepublic.com. You can also find him on Twitter, LinkedIn, and JasonHiner.com.
| 09/09/08
