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Three items of note burned particularly brightly this week in the Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) blogosphere this week: a crescendo in rumors of an Apple netbook/tablet/something coming, and an upcoming sneak peak of iPhone 3.0 software, and the release of a brand-new iPod shuffle.
The most recent iteration of the diminutive iPod shuffle was already almost too small for its buttons, so Apple got rid of them altogether. At 1.8 by 0.3 inches, new shuffle is smaller than the previous model (and more oblong). Its controls are moved to an inline system remote control on the included earbud headphones. The new shuffle hold 4 GB of music, comes in silver or black, and sells for US$79.
More importantly, Apple is addressing the lack of an informative display screen with a feature that lets the shuffle talk to you via Apple's new VoiceOver feature. It tells you what song is playing and who's performing it. It also will speak the names of your playlists, providing a new option for navigating music on the iPod shuffle.
Reactions to the new iPod shuffle are wide-ranging.
"Every shuffle so far has an option to shuffle the songs or play them in order, multiple playlists is new though. It is the ideal sport music player, I don't know how many times I've thrown my first generation Shuffle involuntary around, but it keeps on going and you can go a long way on a single charge," commented Martijn on the Cult of Mac post on the subject.
Out of Control
Of course, not everyone is in love with the new design.
"Yay, just what I wanted. Really convoluted controls through a proprietary set of headphones. Seriously, buttons are NOT a bad thing to have on an iPod, Apple! This is a big mistake, I think. Engadget is reporting there will be an additional dongle so 3rd party headphones will have controls. Yay even more money and more complex crap. Nothing says simple design like having to shoe-horn a bunch of accessories to CONTROL my music!!!" added nickux.
"This shuffle looks like it's supposed to be your second player for the gym or jogging. You don't want to use your HDD classic exercising, and you don't risk your touch, so you buy a shuffle for the 90 minutes 3 times a week. But since I can get the AppleCare for less than the cost of the shuffle, I'd probably take my chances!" notes imajoebob.
Even if you're disappointed there are no controls on the unit itself, the inline headphone remotes do look handy.
"I like the headphone remote tie in Apple introduced on the last round of iPods last year. The only issue is if you lose or damage those ear buds, you're kinda screwed and forced to purchase them from Apple until the market fills the void with third-party offerings," SvenOnTech.com blogger Sven Rafferty told MacNewsWorld.
"I am impressed with the 4 GB and the form factor. Very nice looking, and it says Apple every where," he noted, adding, "The voice announcements may be a bit much since it is still very robotic in sound, and I know for a fact that it will incorrectly pronounce just about every rap artist since 1990."
Something Touchy This Way Comes?
A variety of news outlets reported this week that a source close to touchscreen manufacturer Wintek has said that Apple has ordered 10-inch touchscreens for an expected third quarter delivery this year. The unnamed source apparently doesn't know what kind of product the touchscreens would be used in.
"It seems to me like a lot of Apple's recent GUI (graphical user interface) choices in Mac OS X have been geared towards the eventual introduction of a touch screen device using the full blown version of OS X. Things like the spring loaded stacks, almost completely useless if using a mouse, but I can imagine they might work quite well for a touch screen device. Also, coverflow appearing almost everywhere. Perfect for a less accurate touch based interface," commented robinp on the MacRumors.com post on the subject.
"I don't know why this information is being packaged everywhere as a 'netbook' rumor. I define a netbook as a very small notebook, with features ratcheted down so the price comes down as well. It makes a lot more sense to me to think that these screens are not going to be used for any kind of notebook, but rather for the iPod/Phone-on-steroids that has been rumored for some time. It would be a tablet, not a netbook," noted moosecat, adding, "I can't imagine Apple will release a product as mundane as a 9" or 10" notebook computer, even with a touchscreen."
Apple Offers Sneak Peak of iPhone 3.0
While speculation continues to run rampant over everything Apple, the company in Cupertino plans to reveal a few iPhone nuggets next week -- Apple has sent out media invitations to attend a special advance preview of iPhone 3.0 Software. The invitation-only event will take place at Apple's Town Hall building on March 17 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time.
At first glance, an advance preview from Apple seems so uncharacteristic -- Apple usually keeps everything hidden until the very moment it's available to the world. What gives?
While Apple rarely offers hardware peaks, software and platform news are sometime treated differently.
"Apple views the iPhone as a platform, similar to its Mac, where the software and hardware are semi-independent. You may buy a Mac or iPhone today, then enhance it later with new features via software upgrades," Avi Greengart, research director of consumer devices for Current Analysis, told MacNewsWorld.
Remember, Apple held a similar event for iPhone 2.0 software last year, during which it introduced enterprise-focused security and email features some users had been clamoring for. While we're at it, Apple has also trickled out nuggets of information about Snow Leopard, its upcoming edition of Mac OS X.
"Of course the latest Mac or iPhone will have new capabilities that the old one did not have, and new software alone won't provide those capabilities," Greengart noted.
Speculation over what software-based features might be coming took center stage on many blogs, of course.
"I expect push notifications to be the center of the new feature showcase. I'd love to see MMS, tethering, and stereo bluetooth. Everything else I'd want is a hardware requirement," commented doormat on the Ars Technica post on the subject.
"I'd like to see MMS and better bluetooth capability but, like cut-n-paste, I've given up on the idea. I'm still pulling for Push. Tethering doesn't really matter, since it's bound to be crippled and carry another monthly fee from AT&T," added Roc Ingersol.
"Apple will announce a full implementation of Copy, but will continue to work out an appropriate multi-touch method for Paste in a future release," joked BadSuperblock.
And perhaps we should leave it at that -- for now, at least. Tuesday is on the way.
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