
AppleInsider has published a report in which they detail two filings made by Apple computer with the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department for trademarks on two iPod related terms that reference to unreleased products or services.
The first of these, made on September 20, 2005, requested a trademark for the term 'iPod Hi-Fi'. The description of 'iPod Hi-Fi' found in the filing describes the device in the broadest possible terms as: "Computers, computer hardware, computer peripherals, hand
held computers, personal digital assistants, electronic organizers, electronic notepads, apparatus for recording, transmission and reproduction of sounds, images, or data."
It would seem that this filing references an iPod that can reproduce sound, images and video at a higher fidelity than the models previously available, and it might be that the term 'iPod Hi-Fi' was considered by Apple as the name for the fifth-generation iPods that include video capability.
The second filing, made on the 13th of June, requested a trademark for the term 'iPod Boombox'. The device is described in the same broad manner, using the same specification description as the first filing.
The term iPod Boombox ties in to reports published by AppleInsider in December about 'iPod companions', which were supposed to have been introduced at the recent MacWorld Expo in San Francisco. One such companion was reported to be an iPod Boombox that was supposed to be "unlike anything seen in boombox world" and strikingly different from "anything Apple has released in the past."
It is unclear what has become of this iPod Boombox, but there is much talk about products having been pulled from the Steve Jobs keynote at the last minute and many are sure that these last minute withdrawals will resurface soon.