The iPod Bluetooth?
posted Feb 19th 2005 1:16PM
Think you can handle one more iPod rumor? No? Well, this might be a good time to discover the scroll wheel on your mouse. Ok, for everyone still reading this, Mac4Ever is reporting that a Motorola product manager in France has "accidentally" confirmed that Apple is going to introduce an iPod with built-in Bluetooth (ostensibly for wirelessly streaming audio to your car stereo or something along those lines). This comes in addition to all the other gossip lately that Apple is going to unveil a new 5GB or 6GB iPod mini (possibly with a color LCD screen) and may or may not be rolling out new versions of the 20GB and 40GB iPods that come in the iPod mini colors. Not sure we're feeling this latest one (as much as we'd love to see more MP3 players with Bluetooth), but the one thing we do know is that whenever the Apple rumor mill starts grinding 'em out all fast and furious like this it usually means that there is something big on the way.
Note that Apple is the first vendor to include Bluetooth 2.0+EDR in a product, the new Powerbooks. Plus Bluetooth 2.0 uses much less power than the previous - which would minimize its impact on the iPod battery.
These two factors do make this rumor more credible, especially since there are no phones or PDAs yet that support 2.0.
On paper, this would be an exciting evolution of the long-promised universality of Bluetooth.
I'm still reading nagging stories about incompatibilities between different manufacturers' implementations of the standard, though. This results in supposedly compatible Bluetooth devices not being able to link up with the Bluetooth functionality in certain cars, for example.
As long as these issues remain unresolved, that universal dream of compatibility will be difficult to attain. Fingers crossed...
Carmi
http://writteninc.blogspot.com
I can't wait for the hacks on this one... Sharing music on the go. I'd love this to be true! Can't wait. But Wi-Fi would be more useful - integration with Airport Express, use as airport booster... erm, I dunno - Bluetooth 2.0... any experiences here?
But won't bluetooth be an extra drain on the battery thus having it plugged in via the dock connector which you can have wired up to the stereo..
Bluetooth would be rather pointless. WiFi would be better IMHO.
I would really like to see iPod to iPod transfers. I know it probably won't happen though.
DId you forget the BT wireless headphones ?
well remember that the gigabeat has a bluetooth feature to link up with the computer so it is definetly possible... then agian looking at the gigabeats pricetag it might not sell well for a 500 to 600 dollor i pod... not to mention the size factor...
If Apple does this, they will be the first company to create an MP3 player that utilizes Bluetooth 2.0.
I believe they were the first company to create an MP3 player that interfaced via FireWire too.
Bluetooth for the car would be a welcomed addition to the iPod line. I would definitely buy one if a universal Bluetooth receiver is made for cars.
Check out Motorola's iRadio preview at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1764799,00.asp
The iRadio system will have a Bluetooth adapter for the car. Note that Motorola tested an iPod with a Bluetooth adapter hooked up to its prototype system. Since Motorola "accidentally" leaked this, I guess that's one part of the connection.
There's something definitely more with iRadio, a Bluetooth iPod, the Bluetooth iTunes phone. Maybe someone can dig, tie it together, and help us to see this next big thing.
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Supposedly Bluetooth 2.0 uses only half the power of the previous 1.1 version; that's why I can see it being added to the iPod - the additional 3 Mbps connectivity capability (vs. 770 Kbps of v1.1) gained outweigh the little bit of power that it needs.
WiFi uses significantly more power, and I can't see Apple adding it to an iPod unless/until (if ever) the iPod gains a user interface for accessing the Internet or a larger display to watch streamed video. But a future device sized between today's iPod and iBook could have it, since there would be more room for a larger battery.
I think the Bluetooth is more useful for the purpose of receiving phone calls or notifiying the caller that there is call on their moBile... many people are just too preoccupied with their ipods.. I can't Blame them... :p
BLUETOOTH!!!
Maybe the Airport Express will get Bluetooth too, then :)
Do you think you'd be able to listen to your iPod over a bluetooth headset (for a cell) with that? or maybe have some kind of compatability with an iTunes phone?
When i saw the earlier article about the 1gb boost (maybe 2gb) in the ipod mini, i was not convinced the whole story was there. apple very rarely updates their big products with such small changes. when apple upgrades their products, especially the ones that are their huge cash cows, i don't think they are goign to risk the bad press of a 1gb boost. that would be rather pathetic. the next ipod is probably the most anticipated product refresh of the year, i really think apple has something more interesting than 1gb in store for us. bluetooth or not, i expect it to be better than 1gb.
What about wireless Bluetooth headphones?
Maybe not. I dunno. Hehe.
How many of these rumors are Apple plants? You just know that 90% of them are. Throw everybody off the scent so that the *real* news gets lost in the shuffle.
It happens all the time in the game industry, I know that (whenever a new console is about to be announced - like, for example, now). Console manufacturers will throw all sorts of stuff out there through backdoor channels like this; all of it false. That way, if somebody does get hold of some real, hard info, nobody believes it. Or at worst, they know some of the rumors may be true but not all, and they don't know which are which.
I'm sure Apple does the same thing. Because it definitely is odd how just before every product announcement there's this major flurry of rumors, and invariably some of the rumored features actually happen and others don't.
why use the Bluetooth for a wireless headphones when the white earbuds have become such an iPod signature (and even a status symbol)? Apple's all about the style over substance...
There are numerous reason why Apple would want to go with a Bluetooth solution, and one of them is not for syncing songs (be honest - BT is not that fast a syncing Palm data... you want your 20GB mp3 collection going over BT?). Now, I will say, as a former SkullCandy user (http://www.skullcnady.com), I would be ready to buy a 40GB BT iPod (I currently have a 40GB 3rd Gen iPod) to go along with my SonyEricsson P900, BT headphones and a BT car stereo. Using the SkullCandy idea: I can stream my music to my speakers (car or headphones) and the cellphone can then control the volume of the music as a call comes in.
My one main reason for this? Commuting to work? Please... if someone other than my family, my staff or my boss calls me on my way to work, I'm cracking skulls when I reach my office.
Nope... my main purpose is for when I'm walking my dogs. All these damin cords get caught up in my coat and the leashes. It really sucks.
Someone needs to hack a PSP to save games to this thing wirelessly, so I won't have to waste money on the overpriced memory cards. Then let me watch movies on my PSP streaming from my iPod. (I know it's not that fast, but can't a man dream?)
Might as well do that for cameras too. SD to Bluetooth adapters, anyone?
Holy handgrenade of steve jobs!
this would be amazing if you would be able to sync your ipod with your computer via Bluetooth. Just walk in the room and you get new songs. oh my god i'm getting all warm and fuzzy inside just thinking about it. Like mold- but better. wifi would be better for this kind of application though ...
Mike.
Personally, I'd rather see a lower power implementation of WiFi or wireless FireWire. This would have enough bandwidth so that one standard could handle syncing and streaming music to headphones or a stereo. By the way, wireless devices are not allowed on airplanes although WiFi is starting to gain acceptance.
if bluetooth is added, i think the main applications are to stream iPod songs to a headset (white, of course), car speakers, and home speakers (using rendezvous/bonjour just like the airport express). i can see an even bigger "ecosystem" grow up around it.
firewire and usb would still be the primary methods for initial song transfer (since you still need to charge your iPod), although bt would be acceptable for adding a few new songs/podcasts daily. and isync over bt could be fixed to download calendars, contacts, and notes.
bt could also be used for internet access thru your cell phone, so it could tie in with .mac syncing and the home-on-iPod concepts. and maybe we could have specialized notes formats for weather, maps/directions, headlines. or better yet, those could be downloaded from the internet to the iPod as audio files and played aloud. so using your phone, you call up mapquest on your cell, give it your locations, and it sends you the turn-by-turn directions as audio and notes (a map) which are stored on the iPod. wow, there are lots of possibilities - the iPod could be viewed as a storage accessory for your cell phone.
Bluetooth would only be useful for headphones.
WiFiFiWi would be very nice, though.
Bluetooth connection to Mobile Phones. So when a call comes in the music pauses and you can take the call on the new iPod Chat headphones.... contact details would com up on the iPod screen as well...
erm that's what I would like.
iPod bluetooth wouldn't really allow song transfer - but would we want it to? I mean, I think it's rather nice to be charging the iPod off the USB or Firewire port.
I could see it working with iSync/PDAs/Outlook/phones and other iPods to move contact information. I could see it working with digital cameras and camcorders to provide a portable mass storage solution for your digital imagery - no more memory cards. (Apple likes revolutionary ideas - eliminating memory cards would be appealing to them.) I could see it used in stores at kiosks for track-at-a-time digital media purchases. It _could_ support playback on bluetooth speakers/headphones, but they would need to have a battery and reciever, which means either a bulky set of headphones or a reciever between the earbuds.
WiFi iPod with a SD WiFi card 4 cameras and the like. Now that could kill the storage card thing.
All the assumptions about syncing speed issues are irrelevant if your iPod can connect to your computer within a 20 -30 metre range it can be as slow as USB1
The key is it can sync ALL the time.
When you sync all the time you don't have to be fast
I find it hard to believe because Bluetooth wouldn't be the imediatelly required functionality for an iPod.
Really look forward to an iPod with Bluetooth. It's just too time consuming to connect my iPod to my notebook just to transfer one song...
Does anyone have any updates about the possibility of a Bluetooth enabled iPod? Or when the next generation of iPods is released for that matter. I can not wait.
BRAD