CES and MacWorld are just three weeks off now, with both shows taking
place the week of January 5, 2009. It looks like I'll be staying home
in the Bay Area to cover MacWorld, since we may have a hookup in the
works for some live on-the-scene coverage from CES, as well. Rest
assured we'll keep you all abreast of whatever phone-related stuff
comes out of either or both shows.
Speaking of which, a few rumors about new phones at the January shows picked up a bit of steam today. First is the report in BusinessWeek
that the "New-ness" that Palm is so excited to release in Vegas will be
their new Nova OS and a new device (actually the first in a forthcoming
family of new devices) aimed to bridge the gap between iPhone-like
consumer phones and BlackBerry-esque handsets for the hardcore email
crowd. Sounds like a big, vauge, hard to acheive goal if you ask me,
"filling the space" between an iPhone and a BlackBerry, but Palm's
executive chairman Jon Rubenstein is heading up the project, and he cut
his teeth as an SVP at Apple, so he's got a shot, anyway. Look for
whatever Palm's cookin' up to be unveiled on January 8.
Next
is the much sketchier, if more often heard, rumor that Apple is
readying a lower cost, lesser featured version of the iPhone: iPhone
nano. This latest round of iPhone nano talk is being fueled by a
report in iDealsChina
that XSKN.com has a silicon case for the new iPhone already in
production, and that they're just one of "a number of company [sic]
producing cases as of last week." iDealsChina posted some low-budget
looking renderings of the new "Nano iPhone XSKN Case," and based on the
mockups, the new iPhone will be about the same height as the current
iPod nano while more or less retaining the iPhone 3G's width,
thickness, and contours.
Take the following as entertainment only at this point ... iDealsChina goes on to say of the new iPhone :
It has 3 sensors, camera, mirror
screen but no 3G. Production will start on the 20th with 60,000 to
80,000/day pieces coming off the assembly line. Steve Jobs will be
announcing it during the January MacWorld Show and you will find it in
the stores shortly afterwards. I am putting my money on this as the
final new iPhone rumor. This phone is targeted at the people who
couldn't afford an iPhone. I am told it will low priced and sold in
Walmart stores along with all of the current resellers. There is a
rumor that there will be a new iPod Shuffle too.
