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Apple to kill iPod classic?

By Stuart Turton

Posted on 8 Sep 2009 at 09:10

As Apple's annual September event draws closer, we round up the rumours to find out what Steve Jobs and co have in store.

Fresh off the rumour mill is a suggestion that Apple intends to kill off the ageing iPod classic. The classic is the direct descendent of the original iPod, but has increasingly been bolstered with larger storage - now up to 120GB - and little else. With the touch and nano hogging the limelight, it's believed Apple sees little value in continuing with the classic.

However, with the classic being sidelined that seems to suggest Apple will shower even more love on its flagship iPod touch. It's long been speculated that the touch is set to receive the integrated camera and microphone recently implemented on the iPhone 3GS. This would also allow the company to introduce the voice control technology found on the iPhone.

If the rumours pan out expect the new iPod touch to arrive in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB varieties with price tags of $199, $299, and $399 respectively. As usual UK pricing will follow.

Rumours of a tablet look increasingly hollow, especially with the title of the event "It's only rock and roll, but we like it," suggesting Apple has its sights fixed firmly on music

Just beneath iPod touch on the rumour pecking order, is a likely iTunes update and the introduction of Apple's Project Cocktail. ITunes rumours would have the software bulked out with greater integration into social-networking services such as Last.fm. Support for Blu-Ray playback is also thought to be on the agenda.

Project Cocktail meanwhile is apparently Apple's attempt to reinvent the album, and will offer a bunch of interactive content including lyric sheets, photos, cover art and liner notes.

Initially envisioned as "interactive books" the downloads would be self contained, allowing users to play tracks from within the bundle rather than through iTunes.

And, it wouldn't be an Apple rumours roundup without some mention of the nearly mythical Apple Tablet. The device is apparently a 10in touchscreen running the iPhone OS that can also hook up to a Mac and be used as a secondary screen, or clever touchpad. These rumours look increasingly hollow especially with the title of the event "It's only rock and roll, but we like it," suggesting Apple has its sights fixed firmly on music.

Of course, the big rumours swirl around Steve Jobs himself. The man's resumed work but is he ready to resume the keynote duties that have been handed over to lieutenants, Tim Cook and Phil Schiller? We'll find out tomorrow.

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User comments

It'll appease the studios for a while. no more carting around a years worth of music movies!

By darkhairedlord on 8 Sep 2009

I still don't understand...

Why iTunes would get BR playback, instead of FrontRow or DVD Player, they would be the logical places to do it...

I think we are seeing Apple move away from the MP3 player market. It is saturated and they lose out on value for money. I think they are moving more into the smart device market with the Touch and iPhone It is currently a differentiator that allows them to keep premium prices, whilst the MP3 market has become cut-throat and offers little in the way of differentiation and premium pricing is going to make it look like the Mac line-up excellently designed devices, but you feel you are paying purely for the name - why pay €50 for a shuffle, when you can pay €10 for a similar sized device with more memory and an LCD?

The fashion concious will buy the designer look, but the average punter won't. Therefore they need to tap the next up-and-coming arena.

They have made a good start with the 1G and 2G Touch and the iPhones, update the Touch to take pictures and have a microphone and you have a non-cellular VOIP and web device, with apps and games. Throw in the rumoured tablet and you have a new range of web enabled devices with a simple touch interface.

By big_D on 8 Sep 2009

...

I meant changing focus to the next big thing.

I think they will keep the nano and shuffle in the compact MP3/video player market, but will concentrate development in the smart device arena.

By big_D on 8 Sep 2009

I don't really care what they do with the iPod classic, just so long as they the tablet rocks.

By Perfectblue97 on 8 Sep 2009

I have a 160Gb classic and it is full. I could not get all my music on it. I skipped the podcasts though in the end opted to stick movies and TV shows on as well. There is a definite market for large capacity iPods though probably not enough to keep developing for. A new larger disk is fine. Until flash storage is cheap to offer 250 Gb competitively they should stick with hard disk versions as well.

By Amnesia10 on 8 Sep 2009

I agree with Amnesia regarding the large capacity. Having recently got an iPhone, I hadn't realised how little of my music I could fit on it after I installed various apps onto it. I would think there is still a market for 200GB media players, especially for those who also like to carry movies on holiday.

However, if they start using large capacity SSDs then the price will be prohibitive for many.

By mviracca on 8 Sep 2009

Personally, as a newcomer to Apple, I would prefer they speed up iTunes, it's quite slow to react to clicks and not always very responsive on my PC.

By mviracca on 8 Sep 2009

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By viviandding on 16 Jul 2010

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