HP Plans on Friday to Announce the hPod

[James Fee]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/HP%27s+iPod+to+lead+consumer+push/2100-1041_3-5325176.html?tag=nefd.lede' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/HP%27s+iPod+to+lead+consumer+push/2100-1041_3-5325176.html?tag=nefd.lede</a><br /><br /></div>"<i>The iPod, while expected to be similar to Apple's version, is important both as the company's entree into the music market as well as a part of HP's strategy to become cool enough to be allowed in the living room. "There is nothing hipper and nothing cooler than an iPod," said Gary Peterson, an analyst with Gap Intelligence, a San Diego-based market research firm. "They have to stop being a boring old printer and server company." </i> <br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/hpipod.jpg" /> <br /><br />Looks like we'll finally see what the hPod looks like and how they expect it to integrate into their existing and future line of consumer electronics. Could there be a way to copy photos from your HP camera into the hPod and then connect to an HP printer and print them? Most likely not, but this is the kind of integration HP needs to focus on.

[Kent Pribbernow]

Don't you find HP's timing suspicious? They are introducing this product nearly parallel to Microsoft's Music service launch. Could this hPod support WMA perhaps?

And I wonder if this will be based on the 3G or 4G iPod model?

[Kent Pribbernow]

Nevermind. I see in the News.com story that it will be based on the 4G model.

[Tim Williamson]

Will the final model be grey like that, I wonder if they can make a nice design any duller? I'm surprised Carly isn't coming out with a flagship pink or rainbow color hPod... :roll: