14 DAY TRIAL // While Apple has not made any comment; and rumors regarding upcoming iPods say they will be late, some interesting factual information has surfaced.
One of the AppleInsider forum members who goes by the name of "VL-Tone" dissected the latest iPod firmware update to come across some very interesting clues about what Apple has been doing behind the scenes.
The latest iPod firmware includes references to a "t_feature_app_PHONE_APP" application and variables such as "kPhoneSignalStrength," "clPhoneCallHistoryModel," prPhoneSettingsMenu," "prPhoneSettingsMenuView," prPhoneEnableSetting" and "prPhoneMenuItem." While there have been similar finds before in iTunes, this time it is very unlikely to be anything related to an external product as this is the operating system of the iPod and will never make it into anything other than an iPod. Also, they seem to be in no way related to syncing applications.
VL-Tone also discovered references to an iPod-based search application, some form of iPod-based instant messenger application, an iPod keyboard, and what appear to be two new game applications: Simon and Stacker.
The existence of these strings inside the iPod firmware indicates that Apple has been toying around with a great deal of things in their labs, and the fact that they are still present in the firmware suggests that the iPod might be able to make use of their functionality at some point in the future. Also, these strings are only to be found in the firmware of the nano, as they are not present in the 5G (iPod Video) firmware.