iPod Nano and Rokr, BIG Disappointments - I Dream of Video iPods
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What I was really looking forward to was the rumored “Video iPod.” I was hoping that video capabilities would be the highlight of Apple's special event.
Earlier this year, Apple contracted with a company called Alphamosiac, a British chip designer specializing in multimedia chips. Alphamosiac’s VC02 chip is touted as “The Worlds Most Advanced Mobile Multimedia Processor.” It has handled 3D video on a small 3.5 inch screen, as well as working as a digital camera with 8 Megapixel resolution. That's serious hardware for a music player.
It is also well known that Apple has held discussions with four major music companies (Warner Music Group, EMI Group, PLC, Vivendi Universal, and Sony BMG) seeking to license music videos and sell them through the iTunes Music Store. Rumored to go on sale in September, the videos were to be sold for $1.99 each, with a discount if consumers bought the song and the video at the same time. And as we all know, sometimes a really good music video will make a very bad song much better.
This news added up to some serious speculation and anticipation the part of many technology writers. There may be other companies on the verge of producing portable video products, but they lack the all-important “cool” factor that drives Apple’s sales.
And again, the early images of possible designs were very slick looking:
The aura of “coolness” would soon descend and envelop me. But alas, twas not to be. On September 7th Apple revealed two new products, the Nano and the Rokr Phone. I quickly said goodbye to my hopes of playing video on my iPod and downloading music videos from iTunes until another “special event” from Apple.
Next: Introducing the iPod Nano >>
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