[Eug Wanker]

So the Chairman of Hon Hai was talking about the company's financials and mentions that a new iPod is coming that uses a "none-touch" concept, whatever that means.

China Post

It sounds like it could be that widescreen iPod everyone has been pining for...

[Socially Awkward Solo]

"none-touch" is either a bad translation or it is a mind reading iPod.

A widescreen TOUCHSCREEN ipod don't really sound like "none-touch" to me.

[Eug Wanker]

A mind reading iPod would be awesome.

Whatever the case, it does sound like a new iPod is coming. Hon Hai/Foxconn is Apple's major iPod manufacturer, and this guy is the head of the company. Stevie must be pissed.



Personally, I'd like an Apple iPhone though.

[slugslugslug]

"None-touch" is obviously some kind of weird translation, since it doesn't really have an established meaning in English. Eug, I'm told you're of Chinese background (if untrue, blame SWG, not me). Do you speak whichever dialect they do in Taiwan or know anyone who does? And has anyone seen the untranslated quote? I mean, the English article says Gou didn't elaborate, but perhaps a better translation of those two words would be helpful.

I would love love love an Apple phone, but I'm working on the assumption that it would have at least a few actual buttons. I think the thing in that picture is the ugs. I'm hoping one comes out in a GSM version before spring, when I can get another subsidized handset, but I'm not making any bets. I do think Apple has at least a skunkworks phone project, even if it never sees manufacture.

[icruise]

He may very well have been speaking in English. Instead of being a mistranslation, it might just be an odd turn of phrase.

[plastiqueusa]

Maybe it's a voice-controlled iPod? It could have a button or two which you'd hold down and give the voice command for navigation. Intel has been developing voice-operated remote control, and it's been in the news lately--you never know.

[slugslugslug]

Originally Posted by Icruise

He may very well have been speaking in English. Instead of being a mistranslation, it might just be an odd turn of phrase.

Oh yeah. Where's the "smacks one's forehead and says 'duh'" smiley?

[icruise]

If that is the case, and he was just speaking English, it might be that he said "non-touch" but the person listening misunderstood what he said (perhaps because of an accent). That might make more sense.

[hickey]

whatever he meant, I would love to see what a totally redesigned ipod looks likes, whether it makes it to production or not.

[Grrr]

Originally Posted by plastiqueusa

Maybe it's a voice-controlled iPod? It could have a button or two which you'd hold down and give the voice command for navigation. Intel has been developing voice-operated remote control, and it's been in the news lately--you never know.

lol! you cant be serious??

I can see it now.. People on packed trains on their way to work listening to their iPods, calling out the songs they want "Prodigy Smack my bitch up!" And no doubt having to repeat it over and over again due to too much background noise or whatever.
Yeah, voice controlled iPod, great idea!
Not

[analogika]

Voice-control would be absolutely brilliant on a video-capable iPod.

Have it sitting next to the TV it's connected to, and every so often, it'll do something completely random because it thinks one of the actors is talking to it.

Apple will call it the iPod media shuffle and use the slogan "Life is random." over again.

[slugslugslug]

Originally Posted by hickey

whatever he meant, I would love to see what a totally redesigned ipod looks like…

Check this thread.

[icruise]

Voice control would be a disaster. Even if it worked 100% perfectly, I don't want to be talking to my iPod while I'm outside. You'd look like one of those people who talk on a cell phone with an earphone/microphone thing. They always look like weirdos talking to themselves, even when you realize what they're doing.

[plastiqueusa]

True about the voice control; maybe they'll add a camera and have controls using gesture recognition--that would be interesting.

[Eug Wanker]

I think it should be jacked into our brains directly, but wirelessly.

But in all seriousness, I think the most logical guess is that it's an iPod without the traditional clickwheel.

[Wiskedjak]

In completely unrelated news, Hon Hai loses lucrative deal with Apple.

[Skywalkers new Hand]

Apple really likes to reinvent things without anyone expecting it. Remember how they killed the mini even though no one thought it needed fixing. It is how they stay ahead of the competition.

[icruise]

Originally Posted by Wiskedjak

In completely unrelated news, Hon Hai loses lucrative deal with Apple.

Yeah, I don't know why these people can't seem to understand that casually mentioning something about widescreen iBooks or a new iPod isn't a good idea.

[Grrr]

Originally Posted by plastiqueusa

True about the voice control; maybe they'll add a camera and have controls using gesture recognition--that would be interesting.

Then people will look even more stupid using the things than if they were talking to it!

[plastiqueusa]

Well, then maybe they'll build in a DDR pad, and you can dance around to control it! That wouldn't look stupid, right?

[Mithras]

Or license Wii-mote technology, so you scroll through the list of songs by actually rotating the iPod itself. It could even come with a little string & loop, so you can twirl it like a yo-yo to quickly reach the end of the list.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by Wiskedjak

In completely unrelated news, Hon Hai loses lucrative deal with Apple.

That Foxconn factory worker pay brouhaha (true or not) certainly wouldn't help the cause...

[Eug Wanker]

TS: Touchscreen 3.5" video iPod not until 2007

In February 2006, Think Secret first reported that Apple was hard at work on the "true" video iPod, which will feature a 3.5-inch touch-sensitive display and a virtual track wheel interface. At the time, sources were expecting an announcement to arrive in late Spring, but unforeseen technical obstacles—the details of which were disclosed to Think Secret in confidence to protect the identities of the sources—pushed the release date back.

It is unlikely now that the new iPod will arrive in time for the holiday season, as recent information points to a release at Macworld Expo/San Francisco in January 2007. In the interim, sources say Apple is planning a smaller upgrade to the current 5G iPod, one that will likely encompass larger capacities and little more.

[lookmark]

And no wireless either, according to TS.

With zune and increasingly good Samsung models being released, this is seems a poor time to drop the ball.

There better at least some kind of software update for the 5Gs... in addition to the higher capacity, metal-clad nanos in different colors. Those games are getting pretty old.

[Wiskedjak]

At Apple, great ideas come in spurts. They then just ride the momentum of those great ideas while everyone accellerates past them. Since the scroll wheel and dock connector, have there been any other major innovations on the iPod? All I've seen are higher capacities and different button layouts (click-wheel is just another button layout), and decreasing size; nothing really innovative. Apple wasn't even first to market with colour displays.

[Eug Wanker]

I'm not sure I understand the logic of WiFi in a standard video iPod, if it adds size or cost, or if it affects battery life.

However, it would be good to have some sort of separate Airport remote.

[gperks]

"non-touch" was maybe a mistranslation of "non-scratch". We all want iPods that don't scratch so much.

[brassplayersrock²]

well g perks, what could apple put on it to make it the ultimate unscratable ipod? have them all come with an agent 18 shield?

[eswinson]

it could have a static sensitive screen that detects a finger close to it rather than requiring you to actually touch it. I would hate to be constantly cleaning finger prints off of my screen to watch a movie. it is bad enough on my PSP and its not even a touch screen.

[Appleman]

Originally Posted by Wiskedjak

At Apple, great ideas come in spurts. They then just ride the momentum of those great ideas while everyone accellerates past them. Since the scroll wheel and dock connector, have there been any other major innovations on the iPod? All I've seen are higher capacities and different button layouts (click-wheel is just another button layout), and decreasing size; nothing really innovative. Apple wasn't even first to market with colour displays.

It might be that the original idea is just good enough: comparing the very first iPod with the latest 5G, actually it's just a bit slimmer, touch wheel instead of really moving parts and more capacity.
I'm sorry but video really needs more capacity, and I do not know what is the max harddisks at the moment available to fit in an iPod, but my 60 GB is full, cannot contain all my music from my Mac and so I already had to skip video and pics to get my iPod what it was meant for in the first place: a nowadays walkman.
Airtport (or wifi) would be nice but is not really what people are waiting for.
Touch screen gives dirty screens.
Bluetooth eats battery life.
In the end you want a keep it simple machine, and that is imho what until now the iPod still is.
And let us please forget about playing games on an iPod: just because it's possible doesn't mean they should implement it.
Give me more capacity harddisk and battery wise and I am happy.
Oh. and make it ScratchProof TM

[bsaxton]

The guy made up "touchless" to up his stock or get investors. That's what I think. The only other option is a system that reads finger gestures over the ipod screen.

[kaido]

Originally Posted by Grrr

lol! you cant be serious??

I can see it now.. People on packed trains on their way to work listening to their iPods, calling out the songs they want "Prodigy Smack my bitch up!" And no doubt having to repeat it over and over again due to too much background noise or whatever.
Yeah, voice controlled iPod, great idea!
Not

Yeah, exactly. The current iPod design works incredibly well. It takes very little effort to find what you want, play it, and otherwise fiddle with the controls, especially compared to the majority of the other players on the market. Finger gestures and voice commands would get so old after awhile.

I don't think the touch-screen concept will work very well - people are overlooking the fact that their FINGERS will be TOUCHING the SCREEN - can we say fingerprints and smudges?? Who knows, maybe they've come out with some material that is impervious to those things. The Nintendo DS Lite's bottom touchscreen I saw at the store the other day didn't look too dirty.

An iPod with a bigger screen would be nice, but wouldn't that kind of render all of the current video content in the iTMS kind of, I dunno, dumb or useless, since it's in 4:3 box format? "Yeah check out my cool new iPod Widescreen, I have two thick bars on the sides of my 3.5" screen, or it can stretch 4:3 material to make the people look fat." I don't think consumers will be too crazy over that.

What about battery life? A 3.5" screen would suck up a lot of juice...my PDA goes through my battery when I'm watching videos. They'd have to install a thicker battery to increase the battery time, thus going away from the easily-portable, fit-in-your-pocket iPod device. I dunno, I'm excited to see what they think up next though

[Eug Wanker]

For what it's worth... EETimes: Nvidia tops Broadcom for video iPod design win

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Nvidia Corp. has apparently won a major design win for Apple Computer Inc.'s next-generation video iPod product line — at the expense of Broadcom Corp., according to an analyst.

Apple's current video iPod line is said to use an MP3 processor from PortalPlayer Inc. and a multimedia chip from Broadcom. The chip designs have been up for grabs for the next-generation video iPod, which has been delayed and due out in the first half of 2007.

"We believe the Nvidia chip adds 3D graphics functionality in addition to all of the existing features (such as H.264) that Broadcom supported with the existing vPod," he said.

[Eug]

None-touch?

"The September 30, 2005 filing (published today) is titled "Proximity detector in handheld device." It describes a touch-screen interface for portable electronics devices that can sense when an object, such as a person's finger, is approaching. When an object is sensed, the touch-screen interface may perform an action such as displaying a "virtual scroll wheel," navigation pad or virtual keypad."

[Simon]

Apple applies for many patents and a lot of them have never become a real product. I wouldn't read too much into that. The Hon Hai guy is a moron anyway. Apart from the fact that he can't speak English, in his position, he should know when to STFU.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by Simon

Apple applies for many patents and a lot of them have never become a real product.

Well, of course. Nobody is claiming otherwise.

The Hon Hai guy is a moron anyway. Apart from the fact that he can't speak English, in his position, he should know when to STFU.

Well, that's a pretty obnoxious statement. I suspect his English is better than your Chinese.

[slugslugslug]

Off-topic: Where the hell did "Eug" come from? I haven't seen that username in years.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

I suspect his English is better than your Chinese.

Maybe, but then again I couldn't care less, because I'm certain my German, French, and Italian are way better than his too.

I'm not kidding. The guy is an idiot. Period.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by Simon

Maybe, but then again I couldn't care less

So why did you mention it in the first place?

[Simon]

???

Really, it's not so hard to understand. My point was merely that although he's some kind of Hon Hai 'manager' he can't speak English and he doesn't know when to shut his trap. He's a dork. Which part of that is confusing to you, hmm?

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Simon

???

Really, it's not so hard to understand. My point was merely that although he's some kind of Hon Hai 'manager' he can't speak English and he doesn't know when to shut his trap. He's a dork. Which part of that is confusing to you, hmm?

Uh, did you even read the original post?

He's not just "some kind of Hon Hai 'manager'". He is the Chairman of this 22 billion dollar company. He's also the president, of said company, which also happens to make the bulk of Apple's iPods. He may need to learn to be quiet about things, but that has nothing to do with his command of English. And of course, if any 3rd party knows what Apple is doing with its iPods it's him.

P.S. For that matter, did you read the replies to the original post? For all we know he could have been speaking Chinese and was mis-translated, or if he was speaking English, someone mistook "non-touch" for "none-touch". This annual meeting at which Gou spoke was in Taiwan, and the reporter of the article is Chinese as well.

[Simon]

Bingo. If he's that high up in the chain and he makes a huge buck off of Apple he should a) be able to speak English and b) know when to STFU. Steve might just consider pulling off the ATI stunt again.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Simon

Bingo. If he's that high up in the chain and he makes a huge buck off of Apple he should a) be able to speak English

Hmm... His possibly speaking Chinese at a meeting in a Chinese-speaking country to a Chinese reporter wouldn't have any bearing on whether he can speak English well. You're simply being obnoxious, and have no good reason to be so.

Anyways, he seems to be making good money already from Apple, with his current command of English. Apple has been a customer of Foxconn for just about forever.

[slugslugslug]

You're being ridiculous now, Simon. The fact that he makes money off of Apple really doesn't mean he should know how to speak English. Maybe Apple has a slew of speakers of every dialect of Chinese to handle working with Chinese and/or Taiwanese contractors.

And, as Eug just said: We don't know in which language he made the utterance in question. So unless you've done some research on the side but neglected to tell us, we have know way of knowing whether he speaks no English or is fluent.

I certainly agree, though, that after years of working with Apple, he should have come across the nugget of wisdom that you keep your mouth shut about their bizness when you talk to the press..

[Simon]

Lighten up guys, it's Saturday.

Eug, I strongly doubt that 'none-touch' means anything in Chinese. Sounds more like Chinglish to me. Be that as it may, if I'd have customers paying me billions of $ for my slave labor, you can be damn sure I'd learn to speak their language properly. Even more so if I decided to pre-introduce one of their products.

That dead horse beaten long enough, what are we actually discussing here?

[slugslugslug]

Eek! Simon: We don't know who said "none-touch". It might have been the reporter, who, um isn't getting billions of $ by any stretch of the imagination.

Anyway, as far as what we're discussing here: two "trustworthy insiders" have apparently told Engadget that the iTMS will be selling books and the new iPods will have a low-power book-readin' mode.

[Eug Wanker]

Well, a widescreen iPod would be as good or possibly even better than most full PDAs for eBooks. Personally, I don't have much interest in that though. I would still prefer to carry a paperback with me if I was going to be reading.

[blackbird_1.0]

Originally Posted by Grrr

I can see it now.. People on packed trains on their way to work listening to their iPods, calling out the songs they want "Prodigy Smack my bitch up!" And no doubt having to repeat it over and over again due to too much background noise or whatever.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

I would still prefer to carry a paperback with me if I was going to be reading.

Agreed. Even if I had a 17" iPod I'd rather read a book or newspaper than a screen. I don't know why. Maybe it's the resolution.

[slugslugslug]

Originally Posted by Simon

Agreed. Even if I had a 17" iPod I'd rather read a book or newspaper than a screen. I don't know why. Maybe it's the resolution.

See, this is why the whole e-Ink reader concept has some appeal for me. Because I think my preference for paper over screens for reading long text comes from 2 things: the resolution, and the reflectivity. Of course, the few current options for paper-like displays right now are slightly or way overpriced, but I keep hoping pricing will come down. I'm one of those people who takes 5 books out of the library the day before 3 magazines show up in the mail, and if I can leave the house without deciding what reading material to bring, I'm—how you say?—hella stoked.

So, back on topic, while I like the idea of a portable book-readin' machine, I'm probably with Eug and Simon on the not wanting to use an iPod screen for it..