14 DAY TRIAL // Once an impenetrable fortress where secrecy was of upmost importance, Apple has recently become a leaky company whose prototype devices, and device parts circle the globe in a frantic manner, ending up in the hands of tech journalists who ruthlessly publish photos and videos of them online for the entire world to see Apple’s next move.
And the given situation is not helping Apple clean up its reputation one bit - Apple.pro and Mac.com.hk are showing pictures of may be the touch panel employed by an upcoming iPod shuffle. If proven true, this 1.18″ square, 3cm x 3cm touchscreen, complete with an Apple copyright branded on the connector cable may be the first clue that Cupertino is revamping its iPod line yet again, just in time for a Fall 2010 unveiling.
Apple’s current iPod shuffle is a tiny, yet stylish media player which puts design before function. Since it lacks vital playback controls and a display, the player has to compensate by forcing the user to double click, and sometimes to triple click the volume controls located on the headphone cable, in order to choose a song to play, pause the music etc. The latest iPod shuffle also uses VoiceOver - a software utility which speaks out the names of songs and playlists as the user browses through their content. VoiceOver compensates for the lack of a built-in display. Needless to point out, it can be a pain to use Apple’s shuffle for those used to see their playlists on an LCD screen, be it one inch small.
As such, it is believed that the hardware part photographed and leaked by the aforementioned sources is Apple’s answer to these potential drawbacks with the shuffle. Again, if the prognosis is proved accurate, the device would have on-screen controls, like many of Apple’s portables, and could possibly run scaled down versions of some of Apple’s iOS apps, such as Weather, Clock, and Calendar.
The shuffle is not a big pillar of Apple’s business, therefore the company does not disclose sales figures for this particular iPod model. Some may agree it was never much of a propeller for the iPod brand. However, starting this Fall, things may change dramatically.
