APRIL FOOLS: Apple Will Be Entering the PDA Market!

[Darius Wey]

<img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050401-ApplePDA1.jpg" /><br /><br />Forget <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=29202">this</a> story. It seems as though Apple have changed their stance on the whole issue about whether to enter the PDA market or not. Last week, I got in touch with an Apple employee, who has declined to release his name for obvious reasons. Following the current blooming success of Windows Mobile-based PDAs, Apple are looking to join in for some of the fun, with the Apple iPoc. It's an interesting (and quirky) name, and I wouldn't believe it at first, until I saw it with my own eyes (that's also when I started going crazy with my camera). The anonymous employee (hereafter, <i>Mr. A</i>) showed me the first takes on what appears to be a solid Apple-based operating system being run on an HP iPAQ. If you're interested, read on to find out more. <!><br /><br />So why is it running on an HP iPAQ and not some fancy form of Apple-based hardware? <i>Mr. A</i> informed me that they were looking to get it running on a generic device before focusing on developing their own hardware to run it. Obviously, porting it over to Apple-based hardware takes a bit of work, but getting the foundations right is the most important thing - hence, the reason why they chose a Pocket PC to test things first.<br /><br />Below are more pictures I took, each with a breakdown of what I was able to see and do with this flashy iPoc. The first picture you see (above) is of the iPoc on startup. Looks neat, huh?<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050401-ApplePDA2.jpg" /><br /><br />This second screenshot shows you the main starting page of the OS in all it's glory. The usual Finder bar is located at the top, and evidently, has been compacted down to include a volume icon, the time, the Spotlight search feature as well as the standard menu button in the top left. The Spotlight search feature worked really well - it was easily accessible and performed searches very quickly. Next on the list of neat features is the desktop, which comes standard with three shortcuts: iPoc (for accessing the contents of the PDA), iSync (for synchronising, using .Mac technology), and Help (which I believe needs no explanation). More shortcuts can be added on the left and right, so effectively, you have room for two columns worth of shortcuts. The final feature worth talking about is the famous dock which sits at the bottom. As you can see, there are a plethora of icons accessible at the bottom. The ones shown can be customised, but you are only limited to ten due to space constraints. I found the default ones to be suffice, and it was interesting seeing mobile versions of famous applications on offer (e.g. Safari, Mail, iTunes, QuickTime, iCal and so on). iChat was not available, but I was told by <i>Mr. A</i> that it would be available in the final release. Since the iPoc was still in its beta stages, it was easy to see why it was absent.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050401-ApplePDA3.jpg" /><br /><br />So here's a compact version of iTunes in all its glory. Most of the extended features can be accessed from the menu by clicking on the Apple button in the top left. It supports playlists, album art, radio, as well as access to a mobile version of iTMS (although it was not available yet). I was quite impressed by its performance, and wait for it - yes, it does support gapless playback! The player can also be moved around the screen, with help from the stylus.<br /><br />Microsoft do have a reason to be concerned, because from what I've seen, Apple could really do some serious damage with their iPoc. I hope these few paragraphs and pictures have helped you gain an appreciation for what will be available in the near future, and I'd like to thank <i>Mr. A</i> for offering his time showing me what Apple is doing for the PDA market. I know most of you love commenting, so be sure to post your thoughts. Apple iPoc, anyone?

[dangerwit]

Holy crap, you totally almost got me on that one. Hitting where I'm so vulnerable, you naughtly little... red... thingy. :) I gotta stop reading so late at night.

*Phil

[Muntasser]

Competition is the mother of Innovation, so I say >>> rock on iPoc!

Although with a name like that I cant help thinking of the character from StarTrek :P

[krypticide]

Which picture viewer did you use to show those doctored images fullscreen on your iPaq? ;-)

[Ketsugi]

Agh. Almost got me with that. >_&lt;

[MitchellO]

Which picture viewer did you use to show those doctored images fullscreen on your iPaq? ;-)

Yeah, it could easily be a fake picture. Anyone with a little bit of photo editing experience could do that.

A video of it in use would be a bit more convincing!!

[Jereboam]

Hehe good one...someone has too much time on their hands... ;)

[ombu]

Yep, great!!! Seems Apple is leaving the hardware business to become a real MS competitor, after all iPods won't sell forever.

This is a real threat for MS and Linux based PDAs, not to talk about Palm Source. Right now they're planning on-line distribution and do have some trouble with Handango and others, everybody is afraid the servers will burn due to massive downloads from the very beginning.

And, best of all, it'll be virus free! :)

:twisted:

[socrates63]

ya got me :lol:

[MitchellO]

http://img166.exs.cx/img166/7307/xdaminimacos41om.th.jpg (http://img166.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img166&amp;image=xdaminimacos41om.jpg) http://img128.exs.cx/img128/6665/xdaminimacos33he.th.jpg (http://img128.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img128&amp;image=xdaminimacos33he.jpg) http://img117.exs.cx/img117/122/xdaminimacos27jv.th.jpg (http://img117.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img117&amp;image=xdaminimacos27jv.jpg) http://img110.exs.cx/img110/3540/xdaminimacos15sn.th.jpg (http://img110.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img110&amp;image=xdaminimacos15sn.jpg) http://img235.exs.cx/img235/9314/xdaminimacos1rz.th.jpg (http://img235.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img235&amp;image=xdaminimacos1rz.jpg)

What do you think of my Mini running iPoc :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Only took 15mins in paint!!

[Dave Conger]

DAMN YOU DARIUS...

I so can't believe I almost fell for that. Wow.

...but it does look kind of pretty....

...wait did I just say that?

MitchellO, great job as well with your pics.

[MitchellO]

Thanks! Its easy to do....anybody can. I did it with MS Paint and a screenshot of MacOS X from Google Image Search in 15-20mins!!

[surur]

I guess pocket informant 2005 isn't being released today either :( And the Pope is playing the biggest practical joke on the world ever.

Actually if anyone could pull of a pure play pocket computer (not cell phone) it would be apple, and it may look very similar to this mock-up too. The finder and dock may suite a mobile device very well. It certainly looks attractive enough.

Surur

[MitchellO]

I think I remember Pocket PC Thoughts playing an April fools joke last year. What was it again.... I remember it being called OQO Thoughts and i think there was something else.

[hamishmacdonald]

Brilliant! Very nicely done.

The second I saw it, I thought, "Would I switch back? I really could" -- which just goes to show how much mindshare Apple is leaving untapped.

I swear I use a PC because it supports my Pocket PC better!

[Menneisyys]

Is it Fools' Day today? ;)

(sounds too good to be true....)

[dMores]

AAAARGH !!! I FELL FOR IT AGAIN !!!!!!!

dang !

i hate pocketpcthoughts !

;)

[gavinfabl]

this may be a joke but here's the irony , i am under a NDA for something by Apple, but that all i can say publicly .

gavin

[Jon Westfall]

DAMN YOU DARIUS...

I so can't believe I almost fell for that. Wow.

...but it does look kind of pretty....

...wait did I just say that?

MitchellO, great job as well with your pics.

I can't believe everyone here is just dismissing this as some april fools prank. Any avid reader knows we don't partake in those kinds of childish pranks on days like this. Personally, you'll see no humor from me this morning... :devilboy:

[MitchellO]

PPCT has done tricks like this before.

[mversion]

You evil, evil bastards. Does the 40GB SD Card that Pocketnow announced work with this baby?

Sweet.

[DaleReeck]

Actually, this article with a MacOS "running" on an iPaq got me thinking. In all seriousness, I see the day where PDA's become like PC's. You buy the PC with an OS already (like PC's today, where most ship with XP), but you can easily change it by simply buying another OS: PPC, Palm, Linux and, someday I'm sure, Apple. I would be surprised if Apple really wasn't working on their own PDA OS. As they release new iPods that do more and more, an Apple PDA is a natural progression.

Right now, PDA's are pretty much locked with whatever OS is there. But soon, we will be buying hardware that can easily change the OS running on it. Processors are pretty much the same across the board finally and as other PDA hardware standardizes (video, wireless, etc), our choice of OS could be a reality.

Then everyone will sue Microsoft for violating antitrust laws by cornering the PDA OS market :D

[DaleReeck]

You evil, evil fatherless-children. Does the 40GB SD Card that Pocketnow announced work with this baby?

Sweet.

I'd be happy if Sandisk released the 2GB one they announced as "available" six months ago, but no one has or has ever had to actually purchase :evil:

[general_zod]

They can get Lycoris to run on Pocket PC. I believed it until I read comments.

Then again,... Apple is so hardware obsessed (IMHO,... a very LARGE mistake) they would never "taint" their image by installing on third-party hardware.

"Are you from the planet Houston?"

[cslaughtermd]

Nice one - hook line and sinker! I always fall for at least one of the ppct April Fool's posts.
(I almost dusted off my Newton!)

[jerboa]

This one is a just a little too cruel - I think a lot of us would love to see what Apple could do for PDAs. As I read this, I really wanted it to be true...

Ah well...

Nicely put together though!

[JohnJohn]

My wife and I could each get one. Would we then have 2Poc? :)

[stevelam]

You evil, evil fatherless-children. Does the 40GB SD Card that Pocketnow announced work with this baby?

Sweet.

I'd be happy if Sandisk released the 2GB one they announced as "available" six months ago, but no one has or has ever had to actually purchase :evil:

I just cant wait for a 2gb SD. I could put the entire Wikipedia on it as well as tomeraider :D

[David Prahl]

This is the reason I came to PPCT this morning!

Good work, Darius! :mrgreen:

[KTamas]

Good job, mate :)

[cubed]

I too am under an NDA with Apple, so don’t tell anybody about this…

Apple is planning on unveiling the IPoc with a media blitz featuring Bono from U2 browsing his address book while the song “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” is played.

After the IPoc becomes a symbol for pop-culture, Apple will go after a bigger market share with the IPoc Shuffle. It will be the first PDA to lack a screen. You simply press a button and it will randomly tell you the phone number of someone in your Contacts List.

Apple was thinking of releasing the Ipoc Mini with a monochrome screen and 2 MB of memory, but realized that Pa1mOne had this market all wrapped up.


P.S. Nice job Darius.

[stayputnik]

I too am under an NDA with Apple, so don’t tell anybody about this…

Apple is planning on unveiling the IPoc with a media blitz featuring Bono from U2 browsing his address book while the song “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” is played.

After the IPoc becomes a symbol for pop-culture, Apple will go after a bigger market share with the IPoc Shuffle. It will be the first PDA to lack a screen. You simply press a button and it will randomly tell you the phone number of someone in your Contacts List.

Apple was thinking of releasing the Ipoc Mini with a monochrome screen and 2 MB of memory, but realized that Pa1mOne had this market all wrapped up.


P.S. Nice job Darius.


:rotfl: good god that's funny... you shouldn't make me laugh that hard at work. everyone is looking at me like i've lost my mind... bravo cubed! :werenotworthy:

[koriel]

take a look at minivMac at http://web.tiscali.it/moustar/ppc_index.html

[beq]

Ohhh you sneaky devil... I was incredulous (until I saw the follow-up posts).

[mobilemail]

We've all been waiting for a new benchmark device in mobile technology, and what did we get? a Poc-Mark! :D

[Dave Conger]

You know, you can "run" OS X on your Pocket PC. Earlier this year there was a news story about that:

http://www.davespda.com/index.php?itemid=200

Ok, ok, it is just VNCing into an OS X machine, but still, it has a similar effect.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Well done Darius!! :lol:

[Jason Dunn]

After the IPoc becomes a symbol for pop-culture, Apple will go after a bigger market share with the IPoc Shuffle. It will be the first PDA to lack a screen. You simply press a button and it will randomly tell you the phone number of someone in your Contacts List.

Bwaahahaha....!!! Awesome! :lol: Well done sir!

[Jason Dunn]

GREAT job Darius - one of the better jokes we've had on this site. :lol:

[Patrick Y.]

Can anyone send me a screen shot of "iPoc" without the hardware included in the picture. (I don't have a Mac at home.)I want to trick my friend with my pocket pc too. :D 8O This article is totally awsome!

[MitchellO]

http://img239.exs.cx/img239/9275/macosppcportrait5cg.gif

http://img219.exs.cx/img219/3144/macosppc3iw.gif

Here ya go!

[Patrick Y.]

Thanks!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D Those are really great pictures! I am really going to have some fun when I meet my friend! Thanks again :D

[Darius Wey]

Can anyone send me a screen shot of "iPoc" without the hardware included in the picture. (I don't have a Mac at home.)I want to trick my friend with my pocket pc too.

Link #1 (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050401-iPoc1.jpg) | Link #2 (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050401-iPoc2.jpg) | Link #3 (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050401-iPoc3.jpg)

Have fun! It's never too late to be a fool, or to be fooled. ;)

[Darius Wey]

DAMN YOU DARIUS... I so can't believe I almost fell for that. Wow.

Dave, it was a pleasure to be damned. Same time next year, eh? :lol:

[DaleReeck]

You evil, evil fatherless-children. Does the 40GB SD Card that Pocketnow announced work with this baby?

Sweet.

I'd be happy if Sandisk released the 2GB one they announced as "available" six months ago, but no one has or has ever had to actually purchase :evil:

I just cant wait for a 2gb SD. I could put the entire Wikipedia on it as well as tomeraider :D

Actually, the last Wikipedia with images that I built about a month ago was over 2GB. It won't fit :)

[MitchellO]

With those three pics you could create a slideshow to pretend it works!


Download iPoc Video (right click and save as) (http://us.f2.yahoofs.com/bc/424dfa5b_119b/bc/My+Documents/iPoc+web.mov?bf8LgTCBIAAFdMeu) - 1.6Mb

[MitchellO]

http://img110.exs.cx/img110/9383/ipoc0am.gif

[Patrick Y.]

I tried to save your "iPoc video." Though, my browser was unable to locate the file. :( :( Hope you can figure out why............ Thanks.

[stevelam]

You evil, evil fatherless-children. Does the 40GB SD Card that Pocketnow announced work with this baby?

Sweet.

I'd be happy if Sandisk released the 2GB one they announced as "available" six months ago, but no one has or has ever had to actually purchase :evil:

I just cant wait for a 2gb SD. I could put the entire Wikipedia on it as well as tomeraider :D

Actually, the last Wikipedia with images that I built about a month ago was over 2GB. It won't fit :)

It looks like i will have to wait for a 4gb SD card then (or just get a microdrive :bad-words: )

[MitchellO]

http://us.f2.yahoofs.com/bc/424dfa5b_119b/bc/My+Documents/iPoc+web.mov?bfdQmTCB80TOdMeu

Try this one.

[dMores]

something i wanted to add:
i could have pulled this trick with at least 4 people. i have an apple-oriented theme on my p900 smartphone. the apple sign in the background, the white bar with gray lines in it, the little apple icon in the corner ... and i swear, 4 people i showed my phone to asked me if it was running an apple operating system. some were actually dissapointed, because then that'd mean they couldn't use it with a windows computer.
heh heh :)
but no, friendly as i am, i explained the whole symbian, palm, pocketpc thing to them.

[bnycastro]

nicely done :mrgreen:

[gphillipk]

Has anybody seen the Apple iNote? http://www.theappleblog.com/2005/04/01/inote-the-apple-pda/

[dMores]

the design is nice.
but the miniature icons gave it away.

ok, that and the fact that i've learned that april 1st also infests various blogs, boards and sites ;)

[elrondo23]

You evil, evil fatherless-children. Does the 40GB SD Card that Pocketnow announced work with this baby?

Sweet.

I'd be happy if Sandisk released the 2GB one they announced as "available" six months ago, but no one has or has ever had to actually purchase :evil:

I just cant wait for a 2gb SD. I could put the entire Wikipedia on it as well as tomeraider :D

i've SEEN 2gb MMC cards on ebay, mostly out of korea but hey, its still a VERY tempting add-on for my new mp3 phone. if only it had a standard jack so i could use it with etymotic earphones.... plus the way my bank account looks, its one or the other. *shrug* i hate it when gadgetry tempts me... :?