Apple to ace the iPod click-wheel? Not likely.
Nothing starts the day like a freshly squeezed Apple rumor, right? Well you're looking at 10 supposed iPod (and one iPhone?) "redesigns" which AppleInsider extracted from the bowels of a European trademark and design office. Credited to Andre K. Bartley, an Apple interface designer with several iPod-related patent filings in the US and Europe under his belt, these designs were registered in January 2006 without any descriptive data. We don't doubt the authenticity of this filing, however, what's hard to stuff down the ol' pie-hole is the idea of Apple walking away from its much loved, and oft imitated, click-wheel interface for the iPod as AI suggests. And certainly not in favor of a Gigabeat e(S)que cross-hair controller or uh, Creative's scroll strip. Considering Apple's long history of litigation over interface design, we're probably just looking at some legal maneuvering here. Next.
