WiFi Syncing, Carbon Fiber Coming to iPods - Report

Steve Jobs is “pushing hard to get WiFi syncing into the next-generation of iPods,” says a person who claims to be aware of Apple’s plans. These involve releasing a new generation of players dressed up in carbon fiber to allow better WiFi reception.

The news comes amid a hiring at Apple that goes hand in hand with talks of Apple creating carbon fiber bodies for its gadgets.

A certain Kevin Kenny recently started work at Apple as Senior Composites Engineer after 14 years of building carbon fiber bicycles as President and CEO of Kestral Bicycles.

The man also has his name on a patent called “Reinforced Device Housing” filed by Apple in 2009 and published in 2010.

Apple’s plans to put WiFi radios inside iPods (other than the iPod touch) allegedly hit roadblocks every time the company’s engineers tested the functionality with different materials and case designs, but not with carbon fiber.

The feature has not been perfected yet, but the choice in material has shown great improvements, this person said.

“They’ve tried multiple different body designs and materials to get it to work well but it’s been slow going,” said Cult of Mac’s source. “They have however found many improvements using a carbon fiber design.”

According to the source, Apple has been testing iPod classic and iPod nano prototypes.

“They’re still not ideal or to the engineer’s satisfaction,” says our source. “They are however making a lot of headway.”

WiFi syncing has been a burning wish for fans of Apple’s iDevices, though few expect the company to implement the functionality in the smaller iPods, rather than in the iPhone, or iPod touch, both of which have built-in WiFi radios already.

The iPad is also a good candidate and may, in fact, end up being the first to get WiFi syncing, as the device is used to handle more types of files, and for more diverse tasks (including office work).