Apple-Branded iPod Speakers?

[MacRumors]

According to AppleInsider, Apple will announce its own brand of iPod speakers in January.

Along with the new iMac, reliable sources say the company will also debut its own brand of powered iPod speakers.

Currently, the online Apple store offers iPod speakers ranging from $24.95 for lightweight 4-watt Sony personal speakers to $349 for powerful Logitech "THX" 500-watt surround sound speakers. Apple retail stores also showcase various brands and types of iPod speakers. It is not known where Apple's own speakers would fit on the price/performance scale.

Note: This report is a mere sentence in the AppleInsider story about the headless iMac and is on Page 2 because of the lack of further information.

 

[CTerry]

I would personally assume that any Apple Speakers would be similar to be the Altec Lansing/Bose/JBL sets where the iPod Docks with the Speakers.

 

[themacman]

Cool

im shure anything they make reguarding the ipod will be good

 

[asif786]

i cant really see this happening after apple's tie-up with Bose..

apple should let the experts do what they're good at (making speaker systems) and concentrate more on designing computers and ipods.

i think

 

[crakly]

This is going to be one hell of a keynote! So far I have:

Hardware
- eMac G5
- Powerbook updates
- Headless iMac
- "Asteroid"

iPod
- iPod Mini updates
- iPod Flash
- iPod Speakers
- Satellite Radio for iPod

Software
- Tiger demo
- iLife '05
- Kenote 2
- "Slingshot"
- "Crossbow"
- "Sugar"

Other
- iPhone - partnership with Motorola

How is Steve gonna fit this into 1 hour? Something has to give!

 

[swissmann]

I just wish they would get good quality earbuds. I know a lot of people who have earbuds go bad quickly with their ipod - me included.

 

[Doctor Q]

How is Steve gonna fit this into 1 hour? Something has to give!

The keynote is 90 minutes, which might help a little, but then again Steve likes to start with a summary of previous products and some sales figures, e.g., "We've now sold at least one iPod to every human on Earth, and already have 5% of the market on the other eight planets."

I have the feeling he could speak all day if they scheduled it that way, powered only by enthusiasm and an occasional sip of water.

 

[hob]

How is Steve gonna fit this into 1 hour? Something has to give!

Well the answer is - something WILL give, you could kinda sum-up your keynote speech prediction like this:

Hardware
- eMac G5 sorry, i don't think so
- Powerbook updates will take 5 minutes
- Headless iMac ok, that's a big deal but still could be covered in 5 minutes
- "Asteroid" would only take a while if he chose to do a demonstration like he did with garageband. Still, 10-15 minutes...

iPod
- iPod Mini updates
- iPod Flash
- iPod Speakers
- Satellite Radio for iPod

the ipod section will just be a brief whirlwind "state of the union" lasting 10 minutes tops...

Software
- Tiger demo 10
- iLife '05 10
- Keynote 2
- "Slingshot"
- "Crossbow" These three can all be put into one 15 minute section
- "Sugar" no-one know what this is, so there's no way to tell... 10 minutes
Thats 1h05m, leaving 25 minutes to talk about iPhone, do an Asteroid demo, or talk more about the headless iMac and also for anything else we don't know about yet...

It also is important to note that whilst all these rumours are spreading at the moment, we don't know if they'll actually be ready for MWSF - the iPhone might slip, steve might get annoyed about the iMac and cut it, the new powerbooks might explode just as they're being tested...

 

[Trowaman]

Hob I jsut want to say that iLife will definately take longer than 10. Put that one down as 30. That's 7 minutes per app. The deciding factor is wether they do anything with iTunes or announce iTMS Australia during the keynote.

I'd also like to note that no one is mentioning anything about the XServes. They are a long shot, but it seems weird they have fallen out of the rumor cycle completly. Personal thoughts, 3 weeks after MWSF with XSan, speed bumps to the XServes. eMacs will be in March or April with a G5. Powerbooks are getting a G4 speedbump soon, expect the G5 at WWDC along with the 3 GHZ Powermac. Afterall, we need something for WWDC, don't we?

 

[applekid]

I really don't expect many product announcements from this one keynote.

 

[SiliconAddict]

All I know is I'm waiting for a speaker set that is compatible with my 60GB iPod Photo. Yes they have ones that you directly plug into the headphone jack but I'm looking for one that you simply drop into the cradle. So far natta.

 

[virus1]

glad to see apple joining the big bandwagon of ipod accessories. they should have an advantage obviously, but the ipod socks have been a really unpractical start.

 

[corywoolf]

This is going to be one hell of a keynote! So far I have:

Hardware
- eMac G5
- Powerbook updates
- Headless iMac
- "Asteroid"

iPod
- iPod Mini updates
- iPod Flash
- iPod Speakers
- Satellite Radio for iPod

Software
- Tiger demo
- iLife '05
- Kenote 2
- "Slingshot"
- "Crossbow"
- "Sugar"

Other
- iPhone - partnership with Motorola

How is Steve gonna fit this into 1 hour? Something has to give!

not all will be announced...

emac g5 isnt happening at least i think so
it will be a headless mac that is for education or consumers

no satellite radio (yet)

slingshot is actually a remote control for airtunes and keynote 2.0

i think sugar maybe the imobile cell phone

 

[corywoolf]

I really don't expect many product announcements from this one keynote.

same here, it will be bittersweet because it wont be all the products, but it will be a few awsome products, like always

 

[J-Squire]

iPod socks - not that pathetic

glad to see apple joining the big bandwagon of ipod accessories. they should have an advantage obviously, but the ipod socks have been a really unpractical start.

I got a set of iPod socks for Christmas from a friend. I think they are pretty cool, but I would like pretty much any product with the Apple logo on it. It was the reaction of all my non-apple or non-ipod using friends that made me think that perhaps these socks were more tasteful that i thought. Everyone who saw them thought they were "funky", "cute", "awesome" etc, and these are people who are not just won over by the apple logo. So maybe they have more fashion appeal than my apple-bias eyes could see

 

[vollspacken]

I think they'll be rebranded Bose speakers...

don't bring back the days when Apple had a mish-mash of products

as a previous poster pointed out, stay with the core line of Macs, iPods and software... just rebrand a pair of excellent (new) speakers

vSpacken

 

[sjpetry]

I know they will look and sound great.

 

[sjpetry]

All I know is I'm waiting for a speaker set that is compatible with my 60GB iPod Photo. Yes they have ones that you directly plug into the headphone jack but I'm looking for one that you simply drop into the cradle. So far natta.

I was at a Bose store last week and they said that they will come out with one soon.

 

[Xtremehkr]

I hope to Chutullu that Apple does not stoop to rebranding a product made by someone else. Cause that is surely done only to cash in on Apples reputation and does not help that reputation as essentially you are making consumers pay more for the same product that you could get from the original manufacturer.

 

[Mord]

i think the g5 emac will arrive very soon, the emac came out about 4 months after the imac went g4 and near matched it's specs bar the lcd.

it will get an update as it's lagging a bit and i think it will be a g5 one.

 

[Freg3000]

http://www.apple.com/r/ipodstore/battleofthespeakers/us.html

Pretty strange...I've never seen Apple do anything like this before.

 

[Manzana]

iPod speakers..

will they be as good as apple earbuds...hope not as the majority feel they suck. I will try them out in 3 days as part of Best Buy's PSP program.

 

[ifjake]

true, it'll probably be just a rebranding of a product manufactured by another company. i think it'll probably be something like those sound sticks that i think it is JBL who makes them. it might not be apple branded, but it was designed to match the apple style, so they might as well be. it's like the LCDs. essentially there just samsung LCDs in an apple case. we'll see i guess. i feel like these rumors have given away pretty much all the secrets. is it usually like this? kind of ruins the fun of it. that "one more thing" might not be a surprise like it should.

 

[Doctor Q]

http://www.apple.com/r/ipodstore/battleofthespeakers/us.html

Pretty strange...I've never seen Apple do anything like this before.

How interesting, a "Battle of the Speakers". Where at apple.com are there links to this page?

 

[dontmatter]

hmm.... not sure where speakers fall on price/performance scale...

I hate to break it to ya, but there are already a million options all over the price/performance scale-what will sell the apple speakers is where they are on the style scale (particularly apple like simplistic white plastic style scale). That is where they will be excellent, and that is what will sell them.

Probably in the mid range on quality, and a notch higher on price.