Bono, Oprah introducing iPod nano Red tomorrow?

If there's anyone better than U2 frontman Bono at playing both sides of the fence in the OS wars, we haven't met them yet. One day this guy is hanging out with Bill Gates and sleeping over at his cushy pad, and the next day he's convincing Steve Jobs to release a special (non-U2) iPod and donate 5% of the proceeds to his HIV / AIDS charity. Well, at least that's the word from AppleInsider, who's claiming that the rocker was at the Apple Store in Chicago today filming a promo spot with Oprah Winfrey to prepare for the device's debut on her show tomorrow. This iPod nano Red (artist's rendition pictured above), as it's being called, will supposedly be yet another addition to the rainbow of 4GB 'Pods first unveiled at last month's "Showtime" event, but unlike the U2 models, this one will cost the same $200 as its multi-colored brethren. Each DAP sold will reportedly net PROJECT RED $10, which will then be re-donated to The Global Fund to help African women and children afflicted with the deadly disease. Get a Mac? Get a PC? An iPod? A Zune? When you're Bono, you don't have to decide.

[Thanks, Tom]

[AKBlade13 @ Oct 12th 2006 4:56PM]

Well add yet another + 1 Mill for Apple.

:D

AKBlade13

[Brad @ Oct 12th 2006 4:56PM]

Where is my bright yellow one???

[KennyB @ Oct 12th 2006 5:03PM]

Hope they slip a new MacBook Pro during the announcement

[andy @ Oct 12th 2006 5:04PM]

Looks like an iPod representing Target Store

[ROFLROFFLES @ Oct 12th 2006 5:05PM]

Should have been the 8 gigs only option just for the heck of exclusivity.

[What the... @ Oct 12th 2006 5:07PM]

Bono is a whore.

[Clint Bradford @ Oct 12th 2006 11:09PM]

>>...Bono's a whore...

Yeah...eliminating third world debt, working on world poverty/hunger issues, and now working towards finding a cure for AIDS. If Bono's a "whore," then we need a new definition added to Webster's, with a synonym being, "humanitarian."

Clint Bradford

[mike @ Oct 12th 2006 5:30PM]

bono has never supported anything to do with Windows.

:S

Engadget is grasping at straws with the Gates reference.

I guess ... 'Red iPod out tomorrow' wasn't an interesting enough headline.

[dubious @ Oct 12th 2006 5:55PM]

Actually Bono has close ties to the Bill and Melendi Gates foundation and Gates and he are knowen to be friends. There are quite a few quotes in the Time Magazine person of the year for 2005 about this.

[Nic @ Oct 12th 2006 5:24PM]

the thing better be all red, red click wheel, red front, and a red metal to the back

[TL @ Oct 12th 2006 5:36PM]

Who the hell goes out and buys something because it is endorsed by Bono??? So they got Oprah in. So they are also aiming for the obese housewife market. Yay! They should just bundle a few condoms with the red one to make Bono even happier in his plight.

Oh joy.

[Brian @ Oct 12th 2006 5:42PM]

People would buy it because it' for Bono's charity, not because Bono says to. He hasn't made a decent album since Joshua Tree (U2's best effort, still barely tolerable) but I still have to respect the work he's doing.

[Rob @ Oct 12th 2006 5:44PM]

Perhaps you missed the point: unlike other ipods, part of the purchase price of these DAPs will be going to what sounds like a very worthwhile charity. Bono is apparently just using his celebrity in order to give the fact exposure. I don't really care for U2--but that doesn't sound like a bad thing to me.

[What the... @ Oct 12th 2006 5:40PM]

THIS JUST IN:

Apple releases yet another "newer" version of the same product. Unnamed sources have informed engadget that Apple intends to do the same thing for the next 3 years.

[Todd @ Oct 12th 2006 5:41PM]

Sorry Apple, Microsoft already beat you to "color associated medical illness" MP3 players...

Its a well known fact that the brown colored Zune was announced in conjunction with Continence Foundation's Awareness Week - hence its brown color

http://www.continence-foundation.org.uk/awareness/index.php

[iMike @ Oct 12th 2006 5:49PM]

I think this might be true, just checked the (RED) timeline @ http://www.joinred.com/products.asp and it shows an October 13 launch date for US products.

This is coool.

I would also like a yellow LiveStrong (Lance Armstrong) iPod.

[dubious @ Oct 12th 2006 5:58PM]

ps... see this interview

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1142285,00.html

[Calvin Le @ Oct 12th 2006 7:51PM]

I'm betting everyone who's part of the Oprah show audience tommorrow will all get this for free.

[p-diddy @ Oct 12th 2006 5:59PM]

Well, I was on the fence about an iPod nano and this may just be the justification to get one. The $10 is a little weak (maybe $20 for a $200 player guys?), but the color is pretty cool.

We'll see. I may have to hold off what with Guitar Hero II, Gears of War, etc. etc. coming out in just three weeks.

-p-

[Mike @ Oct 12th 2006 6:11PM]

Getting quite true, check this out:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2006-10/25865863.jpg

[Shredsled @ Oct 12th 2006 6:51PM]

Yay?

[The Jeremy @ Oct 12th 2006 8:27PM]

Anyone suppose this will expand to include Mac Minis, iMacs, MacBooks and MacBook Pros?

Maybe while they're at it, they can drop the Core 2 Duo chip into the MacBooks and MacBook Pros.

[Dan @ Oct 12th 2006 10:22PM]

I've been wanting a red nano.

If it weren't for the fact that I already wanted a red nano, though, I doubt that the $10 to charity would sway me from a different DAP. Might make me consider a red nano instead of, say, a black nano.

Nonetheless, good publicity for Apple. $10 is a bit weak, but I'm happy to see potential millions of dollars going towards a good cause.

[Sean DL @ Oct 13th 2006 1:27AM]

10 dollars is a bit weak?

That's alot more then most products/events give to Charities.

$10+1 million nanos sold=10 million.

And I'm sure Jobs will throw in alot more afterwards. Afterall he can't be bested by Gates. :-p

[Sudi @ Oct 14th 2006 4:52PM]

This would look like a bright red jolly-rancher hanging from somebody's ears....

[kucho @ Oct 13th 2006 4:21AM]

OMG!! RED!!!! it's better than adding radio to it!!! i'll buy four!

[o rly @ Oct 13th 2006 3:08PM]

Sean DL : "$10+1 million nanos sold=10 million.

And I'm sure Jobs will throw in alot more afterwards. Afterall he can't be bested by Gates. :-p"

Well atleast 28.7 million iPods need to be sold to compete with the amount Gates has donated to HIV/AIDS research this year. It seems in terms of donations, Jobs was bested years ago.

[MrPoopie @ Oct 14th 2006 7:03AM]

They should come out with the Brown Nano, to support people suffering from chronic diarrhea

[claritycounts @ Dec 13th 2006 8:01PM]

HIV defeated in 1992.

Here's a quote attributed to Winston Churchill:

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened."

Sir Winston Churchill
British politician (1874 - 1965)