Is the iPod past it?
Apple’s iPod was a form factor success – learning from the mistakes of the disastrous Newton they went for the cigarette packet standard rather than try and invent something new.
Lately, however, I’ve noticed that the Sidekick/PS2/Blackberry are onto something with a genuinely new form factor that will possibly blow away Apple if they stick to the iPod format.
The problem is that Apple can’t stick to its own format anyway – the thumbwheel doesn’t leave enough room for a large enough video screen – and if it gets replaced by on screen navigation with the device being landscape rather than portrait, it begs the question as to whether that is the same design at all.
In fact any viable full screen video iPod would be half way towards the two-thumb typing Sidekick style format that is now ubiquitous on Japanese and European phones which will hit the US in earnest in a year or so.
So for all the hoo ha about having separate music players from phones and IM, that was just because the interface on phones used to suck when they tried to cram in extra features without a sizeable screen or useable keyboard – it no longer does.
What does suck is the design – Sidekick, Blackberry, Windows driven phones with slide out keyboards – they all leverage the fact that typing with two thumbs on a small keyboard is good enough, but they are all terribly designed at the detail and features level.
Now if Apple did a Sidekick style handheld then the combination of the right style device and elegant design would be perfect – but my guess is that they are probably too complacent because of the iPod’s success.