Gizmodo
The evidence keeps stacking up about the upcoming iPhone, and now a patent was granted to Apple this morning, referring to a handheld computing device, specifically a cellphone and media player combination. It looks a whole lot like the iPod mini and the current second-gen nano, doesn't it? Apple notes that it could have more controls than just its click wheel, meaning perhaps a trackball or keypad as well.
That drawing looks a whole lot like this mockup:
Apple patent furthers evidence of cellphone work [Electronista]
Comments
I wonder what service providers it will work for...
When are people going to realize the difference between a patent application and a granted patent? This is just a published application (all applications publish if you don't opt out). In this case it doesn't matter because it still means that Apple is seeking a patent on such a device, and thus possible building one. In other cases people get upset thinking a silly patent was granted because someone filed a silly application.
I just hope Apple does eventually make a phone. No I do not want the iPhone, but rather a good looking phone with an intuitive interface. No more going through 70 button pushes just to do something simple and mundane.
I really think apple screwed themselves over by taking so long to come out with this thing. It seems much less innovative and a bit dated vs. if it would have been out a year ago or so.
If the clickwheel was a bit smaller and the two round buttons above were a bit larger the phone could have been made by disney as well as apple... for some reason the mickey mouse similarity was the first thing i noticed...
I wonder if it's not so much combining a phone and an iPod as it is releasing a mobile version of OSX?
While I think a slider is the correct form factor, wouldn't the other patent of a having a clickwheel appear when the surface is touched be a better combo? Thus the top portion could be all-screen with a numeric keypad below.
Now the real question is whether it will be Nike+ capable!
I think wallosoup is right, this is just a patent application.
But this is still really cool. Ceramic gadgets! I didn't see that coming but it makes perfect sense. Ceramics can be incredibly hard (some car manufactures use ceramic to prototype and test engine blocks), but they're still easily molded and shouldn't interfere with wireless signals.
Call me a consumer but if this phone is as easy to load with music as an iPod, half-way pocketable, and works better than my Treo as a phone (which wouldn't take much) I'll be all over it. Convergence is my bag and I'm game to new ideas.
I don't see any direct relationship to a phone in this application - it looks more like it describes how to make a wireless iPod. The application seems to deal a lot more with making cases for portable devices than any particular application.
lpranal, much less innovative and a bit dated? Yeah, this could be just a smoke screen. But show me a phone that actually is innovative and easy to use. iPhone may never come out, but I'm pretty sure that Apple would give us one that much more innovative and USEFUL than anything else out there. We can only hope...
The iPhone is coming. My friend works for them, and for some strange reason has been told it's coming. I would put money on an announcement at WWDC.
Ugh, more slider phones?? Why would anyone ever use something other than a clamshell?
yawn. the mini iPod design is like 6 years old.
Gizmodo has pressed the envelope suggesting it was granted, which it was not (clearly, as shown on the US Patent search site). But alas, it is so easy to type and press publish my blog.
I'm worried that Apple might be starting to rest on its laurels.
If an "iPhone" came out that was nothing more than a nano with cellphone capabilities, I'd expect it to flop. The battery life wouldn't be enough to get through a full day of use. It's not that hard to carry a nano AND a phone.
A proper Apple smartphone, or a wi-fi iPod, now those could be worthwhile.
I think it's going to take a real competitor to scare Apple back into high gear again.
why would anyone ever want a clamshell???
wallosoup is right. A granted patent could be 2-3 years away.
In addition, Gizzy, this is a utility patent, not a design patent. Any drawings in a utility patent are simply shown for clarity and and have nothing to do with what the product will actually look like. Note the iMac utility patents that showed the base as a pyramid.
What is actually important here is to read the claims, where they talk about
or claim 3
or claim 7
or claim 8
or calim 20
dude, it could be a seamless fake diamond. but thats not interesting or anything....
Wooo! iPhone!! I hope it comes in pink!
Aye. Treo or candy bar for these pockets.
HaHaHa. There's a conspiracy theory budding here in my office. The first time I opened this thread in Safari it crapped out on me. How ironic is that? Or maybe a "feature" built into Safari that it doesn't like to see the word iPhone?
As for "BlindsidesDork says: I wonder what service providers it will work for.."
I'd be very surprised if the first release isn't a GSM device. That means T-Mobile or Cingular in this country.
i am waiting on a smartphone with a mini apple OS on it.....i have an ipod, i could care less if they are combined. in the business world it not going to do me any good to be listening to wutang clan in the elevator between meetings....unless i am meeting with wu tang financial..
Yeah, 'cause how many years has it been since Apple announced the iPhone anyway?
<clueForTheSarcasmImpaired>
Zero
</clueForTheSarcasmImpaired>
Hmm - why was the RAZR the most successful phone ever?
BTW - No special keys to lock the keypad with the clamshell = no odd calls to thyself. :o)
Ask Spock or Kirk
Wow, the RAZR as a landmark reference. Don't see that often.
Seems to me the reason the RAZR is the best selling phone ever (and I'm quoting that whether it's true or not) is because Verizon Wireless practically gave them away to anyone who would take them (like, my mother, for example), and not because everyone was clamoring for a clamshell phone.
Nobody who's ever stepped foot in cool-land uses a clamshell. It's all candybars and sliders down there.
Please let it be pretty. Please.
It would also be great when the phone would come with a mini-OS to run navigational software on, but for now, I'd be happy with those very sexy looks.
Zirconium-based ceramics aren't cost effective yet...we're talking thousands of dollars per ounce to produce.
More likely, there will be a tiny bit of CZ in the screen, making it slightly more scratch resistant. Patents are intentionally vague. The use of that material suggests this device is a LONG ways off, not around the corner.
Trust me on this one. Four years in Material Research
The speculation on the web about the iPhone is rife and with so much demand for one it would seem churlish of Apple to deprive us much longer.
Having said that, what I would really like to see is a smallish (size of a paperback perhaps) device that was a small computer, music player, and phone (a slot for a sim card and bluetooth headset that could dial out would do...)
The image above looks inviting, but this one is on eBay and looks likely but quite different...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Iphone-Domain-Name-Apple-Ipod-Repair-I...
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