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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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Apple rumors round-up

By | August 4, 2010, 8:37am PDT

Summary: Let’s take a look at some Apple-related rumors doing the rounds and see which sound plausible and which are little more than wishful thinking.

Let’s take a look at some Apple-related rumors doing the rounds and see which sound plausible and which are little more than wishful thinking.

iLounge has a good rundown of the current lineup of rumors.

New iPods - New iPod nano, new iPod touch, and a new iPod shuffle with a small screen.
Thoughts: New iPads are a certainty, and given the popularity of the flash-based iPods over the classic hard-drive based ones, it’s likely that the refresh will center around the flash-based devices. A shuffle with a screen would be interesting, and given how awkward the current shuffle is to operate, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this happen.
Overall likelihood: 95% (65% for an iPod shuffle with a small screen)

New iPad - Featuring a 7″ screen (as opposed to the 9.7″ screen on the current iPad).
Thoughts: The only reason I can see Apple releasing a petite iPad is to save money on the screen and touch electronics. However, this is unlikely to shave much off the price. Which leaves the question as to how Apple could set the smaller iPad apart from the big one. Also, let’s not forget that LG is already having difficulty keeping up with production for iPad screens.
Overall likelihood: I give this a 50%

New iPhone - A push of the release date of the iPhone 5 to as early as January 2011.
Thoughts: Nah, not gonna happen. maybe a small, subtle tweak to the antenna design, but the idea that the iPhone 5 is gonna be out early next year is crazy.
Overall likelihood: 5%

Less expensive iPhone 4 bumper - So they can be given away free.
Thoughts: Apple is likely to be looking for ways to make the bumper cheaper to manufacture, but this will hardly be a huge announcement sort of thing.
Overall likelihood: 75%

Feel free to share your thoughts, feelings and own personal wild speculations!

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Topics

Apple iPhone, Apple iPod, Screen, Apple iPad, Apple Inc., iLounge, Digital Music, Digital Media, Personal Technology, Consumer Electronics, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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RE: Apple rumors round-up
FAULKNE 13th Oct
Good day to confirm this comment I would appreciate T h e b e s t o f Z D N e t d e l i v e r e d your website very nice to everyone Yes, Oracle is the only one with shared-disk architecture, but that is there advantage. It means you can add or remove nodes and the database lives on. In a shared nothing architecture, if you lose a node, you lose the system. I'm sure Oracle appreciates EMC highlighting their advantage.I also desire to signal in your RSS feeds. Thank you as soon as once again and maintain up the great operate Awesome post! Thank you very much || thanks for nice content this is really benefit to me.
View in thread
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Wait just a sec.
Cylon Centurion 4th Aug 2010
Which leaves the question as to how Apple could set the smaller iPad apart from the big one.

How is it Apple can set apart the iPad from the iPod Touch now? Adding another similar device with nothing new can't be a good move. Sad thing is, it would still sell... to people with an iPod and ipad already.
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I dunno . . .
JLHenry 4th Aug 2010
@NStalnecker

a 7" screen would be roughly the size of a paperback book. If they got the price down to about $300 or so for a wifi only model would bring in some buyers. It's out of my range, still, but getting closer.

I'm still waiting to see what the Android slates look like and are priced at (unless I give in and get the new kindle or nook . . . ).
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IF they can bring the price down
Cylon Centurion 5th Aug 2010
@JLHenry

Maybe, just maybe it would be worth looking at. But with the iPad and the iPod Touch, that's just a retarded move, IMO. It would be an identity crisis honestly. What does it want to be? An iPad or iPod?

I honestly don't think Android tablets will too, too expensive, definitely cheaper than the iPad. But, just like Windows tablets, they're MIA...
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Additional thought . . .
JLHenry 4th Aug 2010
@NStalnecker

They COULD make a 7" iPad and simply call it an iPod touch XL, or something to that effect, which would allow them to claim that it's not a smaller iPad . . .
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
Knowles2 Updated - 5th Aug 2010
@JLHenry I am certain the Apple sheep will buy it.
It rather good for apple that they are a common species.
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
DeusXMachina 5th Aug 2010
@Knowles2

Jackass
  • Flagged
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Nah.... CrApple is the modern Ford Mentality!
i2fun@... 5th Aug 2010
@JLHenry You can have any color you want as long as it's Black! haha.... in fact you can have any size iPod (ooops I mean iPad) you want as long as it has a 9.7" screen!

Apple is famous for making unique one size fits all products. It's good 'ole boy Corporate Leadership and business theories..... "Don't give 'em what they want, Give 'em what we got and just make it look like a Rolex..... They don't have to know what's in it or how it works!" haha....
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Sad and pathetic
DeusXMachina 5th Aug 2010
@i2Fun
People with Apple devices read these forums for useful information. This information can potentially have an impact on how they use their devices. People like you, however, just troll boards with no other reason than to post bile and invective, from the perspective of having little to no actual knowledge about the subjects about which you post.
It is sad and pathetic.
Get a life.
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
RedVeg 5th Aug 2010
@NStalnecker
It is easy to set apart the iPod Touch and the iPad. The iPod fits in your pocket, the iPad has a near 10" screen. The iPod has no 3G, no GPS, and no real office productivity apps because screen is too small to be effective for those things. The iPad has 3G, GPS, and real productivity apps like Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
Jimster480 5th Aug 2010
@RedVeg none of those are productivity apps. They are just toys that let people think they could actually get some work done with them.
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You Know What?
yobtaf 5th Aug 2010
@NStalnecker

I don't like you.

Your a hateful, envious person with nothing positive to say.
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
DeusXMachina Updated - 5th Aug 2010
@robertmro

BINGO.
Well, actually he occasionally starts to get things right. Apple is not perfect, and screws up from time to time. OSX has certain issues Apple needs to be called out on.
NStalnecker occasionally skirts around the truth on certain issues, but he can't seem to resist the urge to then fall over the edge into spewing senseless, ill-informed, anti-Apple invective that reduces the rest of his post to trolling.
Sad.
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Yup
Cylon Centurion 5th Aug 2010
I wish I could spend $600 on a God-made device of "magical" proportions.

Very envious indeed.
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Probably doesn't like you either! haha...
i2fun@... 5th Aug 2010
@robertmro & Uncle Doozy Well if it ain't the Apple Bobsy Twins! lol

NStalnecker has just as much right to rubbish CrApple as you two have in always Trolling stories and dissing on Microsoft, Linux or Google! grin .....me? even if I had $600-$1000 to just throw away on CrApple's Magical & Revolutionary Rubbish products, I wouldn't buy 'em! :P wink
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$499
DeusXMachina 5th Aug 2010
@robertmro
Case in point.
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Liar
DeusXMachina 5th Aug 2010
@i2Fun

You are a liar. Please provide a SINGLE citation of me EVER trolling on MS boards. EVER.

Good luck with that, liar.
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iPad with a 7
nix_hed Updated - 5th Aug 2010
and the same resolution would be an easy sell to people that think the regular iPad is still too big and too expensive. I'd be willing to bet that a 7" version would sell for $100 less than the 10" across the board and would more likely be styled after the iPhone 4 than the current iPad. The only thing that would suck about it is the on-screen keyboard would become much more difficult to use - not wide enough for 1 or 2 hands and too wide for thumbs (unless you have giant meat claws).
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
Jimster480 5th Aug 2010
@nix_hed The system would be even more useless at 7" than it is at 10". And thats pretty hard to do considering how utterly useless the iPad is.
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No to the new iPad
Falkirk 4th Aug 2010
Apple is selling the existing iPad as fast as they can make them. Apple also likes to iterate their devices annually. There is no chance they are going to introduce a new iPad when they can't even keep up with the demand for the four month old iPad they are currently selling.
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
Jimster480 5th Aug 2010
@Falkirk The demand is already falling, it will continue to fall as all the Apple sheep get their iPad and all the regular people don't want one because its useless.
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Make stuff up much
DeusXMachina 5th Aug 2010
@Jimster480
Why do you post made up facts? You don't have a SINGLE piece of data to support your B.S. contention that iPad demand is falling.
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Where is the iPhone5?
Cylon Centurion Updated - 5th Aug 2010
I need the iPhone5! I must have it today! I need the one with the larger G.B.'s... Forget it, my sister tells me they are selling them at Rite-Aid. Goodbye.

(early morning humor) happy
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
Jimster480 5th Aug 2010
@NStalnecker LOL Well the EVO 5G Builds you a planet and transforms into a Space ship and flies you there.
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
non-biased 11th Aug 2010
@Jimster480 That's about as factual as any of you or NStalnecker's posts when it comes to anything Apple. Can either of you explain to the rest of us what it's like to have so little in your life that you spend all your time trolling blogs looking for any opportunity to post FUD about a company and it's products that you hate for whatever reason. I can understand not liking this or that product or not liking this or that company but it gets to a point (you both among others seem to be there) when it's become a controlling factor in your life and you really need to seek help. Just wondering how anybodies life can go into such a deep death spiral to get to this point.

BTW, fanboys are just as bad so don't try to go there claiming I am one. I love my iPhone and will defend it against FUD but that's the only Apple product I have and am not delusional enough to think Apple can do no wrong.
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New iPad with the retina screen
minardi 5th Aug 2010
Apple could introduce the same iPad but with the same screen technology as used on the iPhone 4
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Re: New iPad with the retina screen
perronne 5th Aug 2010
@minardi

And with more application RAM - 512 MB, just like the iPhone 4. And with a faster processor

I guess it will be announced March 2011 and that it will be in the shops from April.
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
DJL64 5th Aug 2010
@minardi Doubt it, if by retina screen you mean 326 pixels/inch. That would scale to about 2500x1900 pixels compared with the current iPad at 1024x768 at 132 pixels/inch.
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
Jimster480 5th Aug 2010
@DJL64 which would be impossible. Without a $6k price tag, if not more.
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Think outside the box
agrignon 5th Aug 2010
I doubt Apple would release a 7" iPad, they wouldn't risk confusing the current and growing new iPad customers.

That said, I can certainly see them testing a 7" iPad like device as a companion to their upcoming Apple TV refresh. Think of it as an Apple TV remote on steroids with an iOS interface linked to a simple HDMI linked Hard drive. Call it the magic remote...

Alain
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At least think logically
Reged 5th Aug 2010
Another deluded person who thinks you can "centre around" something. Think before you write.
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
dheady@... 5th Aug 2010
Not exactly rocket science rumors, no offense. I keep hearing Jobs and others at Apple talking about something new and big, game changing, et al. None of these fit that bill. Perhaps they will perfect the Seguay.
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
781lc 5th Aug 2010
RUMORS, guys and gals, rumors. Every writer has to think of something to write about that might catch our interest. No substantiation, grocery store magazine stuff.
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
1tree 5th Aug 2010
What about the rumor of Apple allowing Verizon Wireless to sell iPhone in January? Is that still on the radar?
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Subscription Service for iTunes
ddulak 5th Aug 2010
I know it's wishful thinking, but Rhapsody is killing me with it's flacky software. They've got to do something with that LaLa purchase, don't they?
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What about....
rayh22 5th Aug 2010
...the rumor of Apple opening up the iPhone to other carriers? I've been hearing Jan. 2011.
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
kisap 5th Aug 2010
Where did you forget new version of AppleTV? And I have a hunch that there is also an Apple Television in the horizon (30" - 40" TV based on iMac/Cinema Display form factor). Or at least I hope it will come up soon because I would buy it immediately not matter what it costs. It would be a nice change to my 4 year old iMac which acts as a TV and media center.
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iPad 7
joetaxpayer 5th Aug 2010
When the iPad came out, there were the usual list of "wishes" and "missing."
One thing was size - "too big for...." and while I love my iPad, I looked at the Touch vs the Pad size and said to myself there's a market for something in the middle. To fit a man's suitcoat pocket what size that yields, or woman's purse.
You realize, 7" is half of 9.7" (i.e. this reduction in diagonal yields 1/2 area/ screen size) and that would hit a difference market. Even if the volume were a fraction of the iPad, say 1/4, if it keeps sales away from the competition who have this size, why not?
Would I buy one? Probably not, I have the current iPad. But if I were given/gifted one, I'd keep it.
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
MikeFM 5th Aug 2010
@joetaxpayer

I would consider getting a 7" iPad/iTouch as a replacement for my aging iTouch. It'd still fit in my pocket which would be nice. I have an iPad but unless my wife is with me, with her purse, it is to large to carry in any easy way. I refuse to carry a man purse or a backpack or briefcase with me everywhere. They need to come up with a way to carry an iPad. Maybe a holster on the back similar to how you'd carry a handgun? Not as hard to access as a backpack or as feminine as a bag.
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What about the rumer that Apple will cancel the Mac and MacOS lines?
EricDeBerg 5th Aug 2010
What about the rumer that Apple will cancel the Mac and MacOS lines?
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I doubt it.
MikeFM 5th Aug 2010
@EricDeBerg

At some point in the future I can see Mac OS merging into iOS but never actually killing off the Mac. iOS I think is the better way forward but it'll need a few more powerful features from the old style OS and a few tweaks to handle much larger screens.
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
DeusXMachina 5th Aug 2010
@EricDeBerg

The only people seriously perpetuating this foolishness are trolls. Apple makes a huge profit around macs, and they are the cornerstone of all their product lines, including iPhones, iPods, AppleTV, and iPads.
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Why?
frabjous 5th Aug 2010
@EricDeBerg Apparently you did not notice Apple just announced record Mac sales for the last quarter--and during tough economic times, at that. While laptop sales exceeded desktops, the total sales increase percentage was more than other vendors and just reinforces the interlocking sale and use of Apple products. So, Eric, the rumor you apparently started seems to have no basis.
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Apple TV refresh?
MikeFM 5th Aug 2010
The big one I'm waiting to see is if they are really going to refresh Apple TV. iOS based and full HD would be the required features but smaller, cheaper, integrated gaming, and cloud based would be great to. All obvious features to head Google TV off.

I gave my Roku to my parents a couple months ago and am waiting to see if Apple TV will be refreshed before I get a new one. If Apple TV were around the same price and had Netflix I'd go with that.
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
???Dilemma 5th Aug 2010
Reading about "sheep" following Apple and all these hateful posts, I can't help but remember that macs are and have been the first choice for teachers, artists, scientists and generally better and higher educated people. This is verified once more reading some of the talkbacks. Pathetic.
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
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0 Votes
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
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0 Votes
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
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0 Votes
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RE: Apple rumors round-up
FAULKNE 13th Oct
Good day to confirm this comment I would appreciate T h e b e s t o f Z D N e t d e l i v e r e d your website very nice to everyone Yes, Oracle is the only one with shared-disk architecture, but that is there advantage. It means you can add or remove nodes and the database lives on. In a shared nothing architecture, if you lose a node, you lose the system. I'm sure Oracle appreciates EMC highlighting their advantage.I also desire to signal in your RSS feeds. Thank you as soon as once again and maintain up the great operate Awesome post! Thank you very much || thanks for nice content this is really benefit to me.

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