Into production next month, apparently

By Tony SmithPublished Monday 15th November 2004 12:25 GMTFind your perfect job - click here for thousands of tech vacancies. Talk of iPod`s rumoured low-cost Flash-based iPod continues with the claim that Apple will put the machine into production next month in a bid to build stockpiles sufficient to satisfy post-Christmas demand.

According to an AppleInsider report citing ``extremely reliable sources``, Apple wants to have at least 2m of the machines ready to sell before the ship date in order to avoid a re-run of the problems it had meeting demand for the iPod Mini.

That player, a 4GB hard drive-based unit, was announced in January 2004 at Macworld Expo in San Francisco. If the iPod Flash reports are correct, that show seems a likely venue for the new player`s unveiling.

The possibility of a Flash-based iPod surfaced in October this year, when Thomas Weisel analyst Jason Pfaum claimed, citing ``numerous`` Asian sources, that Apple will use MP3 chip maker SigmaTel`s controller chip in an upcoming music player scheduled for a pre-Christmas launch. SigmaTel already produces controllers chips for Rio and Creative Flash-based music players. Indeed, it signed a two-year deal with Rio round about the time of the Pfaum report.

Apple`s current player controller partner is PortalPlayer, which provides a similar ARM-based SoC product that supports a variety of transports, including Firewire, USB and Bluetooth, and include memory, LCD and other controllers in addition to the audio stuff. PortalPlayer`s chips can also control Flash storage.

While the iPod Mini was originally pitched against lower-priced, lower-capacity Flash players, it has essentially built a mid-range niche of its own, rather than hinder Flash-player sales, which continue to be strong, especially in the Far East. Apple may have been dismissive of the segment in the past, but if it`s not only to maintain its market dominance but increase it, a move into all parts of the digital music player market make sense, hence the iPod Flash.

It`s not hard to imagine a Mini-like device that uses the same screen and controller, but without the hard drive can be significantly thinner - like Creative`s MuVo Slim, say. ®