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Within the next two weeks Apple will announce an updated iPod mini with a color screen and higher capacity hard drive, Think Secret has learned.
Highly reliable sources have confirmed that the next iPod mini will gain a full-color active-matrix TFT screen while the form factor will remain largely unchanged. The color screen will be able to display colors clearly and brightly regardless of ambient lighting, even outdoors in direct sunlight. The new screen will be about the same size as the current iPod mini display and will sport a 176x132 resolution.
Apple's move to a color screen on the iPod mini is part of the company's shift away from monochrome displays, sources said. Standard iPods will also gain color screens across the board with the next update later this year. The move toward color screens is part of an effort by Apple to keep its industry-leading iPod looking new and fresh. In the last 6-8 months, prices on small active matrix TFT screens have dropped sharply and several Apple competitors are already using them, including Rio, iRiver, Creative, Gateway, and Samsung.
The next iPod mini will also pack a higher capacity Seagate drive. Sources hinted at a 6GB drive, but Seagate currently only offers its 1-inch hard drive the iPod mini would use in a 5GB capacity. The possibility always remains that for a customer as large as Apple, Seagate may quietly roll-out a 6GB version of its ST1 Series hard drive alongside the new iPod mini.
Regardless, a bump to 5GB or 6GB will keep the iPod mini more competitive with the myriad of similar players from competitors that already use a 5GB drive. Seagate's ST1 Series also offers another advantage over the current 4GB Hitachi drives being used in the iPod mini: the company's RunOn technology ensures consistent music playback regardless of operating conditions. "RunOn Technology senses a high motion environment and compensates for it, enabling the drive to consistently and continuously deliver music even when the listener is out for a run," according to Seagate's Web site.
Pricing on the new iPod mini will remain the same at $249 (o_O asame price as Sony PSP Value Pack) . Expect the new iPod mini to be announced early next week, if not the following week at the latest.
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Posted: 2005-02-18 23:45:50
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