But Wait, There's More...

[Kent Pribbernow]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=898' target='_blank'>http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=898</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Apple will soon introduce an iPod with Bluetooth wireless capabilities, according Bogdan Nedelcou, an automobile product manager for Motorola. In an interview with Radio France, Nedelcou let it slip that consumers will soon be able to broadcast music wirelessly from their iPod through their car speakers. Similarly, he said that users will be able to answer incoming phone calls without having to operate their mobile phone handset."</i><br /><br />The plot thickens. Apple has a new Ace up its sleeve, or so it appears. Unfortunately, if this turns out to be true, the folks at Griffin Technology are going to be very unhappy. Their iTrip accesssory for the iPod essentially does this already, though not via Bluetooth.

[wesley762]

itrip is great, but how nice would it be to be able to send a file via bluetooth with your ipod and the fact that you could pair it with something and not worry about transmitting to some other radio. it would be Great. the key is how much lock down are they going to put on it being able to work with other devices. there is going to be alot of yea and nae but I would be all for it.

[Jason Dunn]

Interesting. Knowing Apple and their love of proprietary products, my hunch the Bluetooth will be locked down and only work with their Bluetooth headphones...the ones that they'll announce when they announce this product. :D

[James Fee]

I don't know about that Jason, but I am certain they wouldn't allow file transfers.

[Latch]

The question is, what will be the upgrade path on these devices? Will people upgrade their iPods every Two Years or are they buying them now and not planning on buying another for 5 years?

Is there enough critical mass of consumers to really have the Bluetooth conectivity take off in this segment? Seems unlikely if I've got to buy a new iPod and a New Car/Stereo to take advantage of this functionality.

Seems Niche.

[klinux]

Knowing Apple and their love of proprietary products...

Hmm, it is hard to generalize Apple into black and white.

On the one hand, they are a good supporter of various open source projects and standards (BSD, Darwin, KHTML, Rendevous, USB, SMB, Apache, Java, MPEG-4, etc) but on the otherhand they can be quite proporietary as well (FairPlay/iTunes, ADC display standard, hare-brained licensing of firewire). I would say their records are better than most but still mixed.

[James Fee]

Is there enough critical mass of consumers to really have the Bluetooth conectivity take off in this segment? Seems unlikely if I've got to buy a new iPod and a New Car/Stereo to take advantage of this functionality.I think at this point, most people have to buy new receivers in their cars to play digital music (beyond FM modulators and cassette adapters) so why not bluetooth?
Seems Niche.Well if done right, this certainly won't be niche. If Apple works with car and stereo makers to ensure that iPods work on a universal platform, then this could be huge as iRiver and Creative will not be far behind.