Now playing: Another video iPod sighting
Why is there so much chatter and speculation over a possible video iPod, a product that seems as inevitable as a disposable razor with four blades? Because it involves Apple.
That the innovative and secretive Apple will have an iPod capable of playing video has long been predicted by would-be Nostradamuses across the globe, including . As a result, there seem to be weekly "scoops" about when it will appear and what it will have under the hood.
The latest video iPod sighting comes courtesy of Arstechnica, which published "unverified" information that salespeople for Sharp are crowing that Apple will use a Sharp system-on-a-chip in a video iPod.What to make of a previous Arstechnica article that argued Apple will use Intel's XScale processor in video iPods? (Of course, both could be true: Sharp first, then a transition to Intel. But that's getting way ahead of the story.) And what is the hapless Apple follower to make of this April story: "SiliconValleyWatcher has learned that Apple has contracted to use the powerful video, image and music chips designed by Alphamosaic, in Cambridge, UK, in a future multimedia mobile device."
Apple, of course, won't comment. Indeed, if asked to comment on whether the sun will rise in the east tomorrow, Apple's reps would reiterate that they don't talk about "speculation" or "future" events. Fair enough, most companies don't telegraph their product plans, unless they are prescribed by Moore's Law. (And when Microsoft does it, critics accuse it of stirring up FUD.) But that won't stop the video iPod from happening, unless you think Apple would leave that market to Sony's PSP.