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Kevin Rose foretells iPod Nano redesign

The Digg founder offers up a sampling of details on what could be changes in store for the iPod lineup in September.

Jon Skillings Editorial director
Jon Skillings is an editorial director at CNET, where he's worked since 2000. A born browser of dictionaries, he honed his language skills as a US Army linguist (Polish and German) before diving into editing for tech publications -- including at PC Week and the IDG News Service -- back when the web was just getting under way, and even a little before. For CNET, he's written on topics from GPS, AI and 5G to James Bond, aircraft, astronauts, brass instruments and music streaming services.
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  • 30 years experience at tech and consumer publications, print and online. Five years in the US Army as a translator (German and Polish).
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Jon Skillings
2 min read

Expectations are running high that Apple next month will bring out new iPod models.

Certainly, September has a solid track record as the month that Apple favors for its iPod launches. And as my colleague Tom Krazit pointed out the other day, drawing on a report on AppleInsider, some inventory management changes at retailer Target lend credence to the notion of old iPods giving way to new iPods next month. Tom has also pointed to reports of a potential redesign of the iPod Nano.

iPod Nano redesign, maybe
Blogger Kevin Rose offers this photo of what he says is the redesigned iPod Nano. Kevin Rose

Against that backdrop, we bring you to today's tip sheet, the blog of Digg founder Kevin Rose. His take: "Sometime between now and the end of next month, Apple's going to be refreshing quite a bit of their iPod line."

Rose offers some details on what he says will be coming, though he doesn't provide any info on his sources. The Nano, he says, will see a significant redesign, with a shift to a longer, skinnier case. As it happens, that matches up with design murmurings from earlier in the summer. The iPod Touch, meanwhile, will see just cosmetic changes, Rose reports.

The Touch will be the first, he says, to have the 2.1 software, after which Apple will bring that software to the iPhone. The world will also see the arrival of iTunes 8.0--"a true point upgrade," according to Rose.

Price cuts are on the way for the iPod line, too, to avoid cannibalization from sales of the $199 iPhone 3G, Rose says.

And will OS X 10.5.6 include Blu-ray support? Could well be, Rose reports.