| Video iPod == iEdsel? There are persistent rumours doing the rounds that Apple plans to launch a video iPod later this year. Given the success of the regular iPod, the consensus seems to be that it will be a smash hit. I'm not so sure. I'll stick my neck out and suggest that it might well not have anything like the impact of the iPod. Of course it won't completely bomb, some people will buy it because it's Apple and they liked the iPod. Not, I wish to point out, that everything Apple produces is wildly successful. Who remembers the Apple III? The Apple Lisa? Or how close Jobs came to killing the Apple Mac before it ever saw the light of day? I think amongst the tech savvy community there is a failure to understand the difference between video and audio. It's fundamental - you can do other things while you listen to audio. Video requires your concentration. How many people drive watching television? Or walk down the street watching a video? How many even walk along the street reading a book? Now tell me about how many people drive with the radio or car stereo playing? How many people use Walkman or MP3 players while they do other things? Interesting isn't it? So where does a video iPod fit in? Where would you use one? The iPod is an incremental development of existing, widely used technology - the Sony Walkman and its imitators. I see nothing similar in the works for a video iPod. True there are teeny televisions with three inch screens, but they are exotic sports, not mainstream. Hell, the technology for video phones has been around for years, but no one buys them, despite the predications of everyone from science fiction writers to respected tech commentators. We shall see - after all we don't even know that Apple have definitely decided to launch such a beast yet. I may well have to eat humble pie over this one! But I doubt it.
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