What Might the iPod Phone Mean For Podcasters?

July 19, 2006

An AppleInsider has sniffed around the latest iPod Nano operating system update and found some clues pointing to phone functionality in the tiny device. This leads one to assume that the Apple will use the Nano iPod's operating system - and its functionality - as the basis for its phone.

Apple had made it known that the phone project was on the backburner and not to be expected until next year sometime. Perhaps that was just Apple's notoriously Gestapo-like PR machine spreading misinformation before a big release. (How they control their product information is pretty spooky. It reminds me of the "Big Brother is Watching You" of their famous 1984 commercial - where the Big Brother Jobs cult hypnotizes its followers and has all types of systems in place to hunt down employees/subjects who pre-release product info...)

Anyway - so what might an Apple phone have to do with podcasting and how might it affect publishers of audio and video?

The hope is that, unlike most current phones, there will be an easier method for phone users to download audio and video content wirelessly - without having to sync the device to a pc. And further: that this content will not be limited only to what the "gatekeeper" cell phone company and their big $ cronies choose to give users access to. With Apple's acceptance of podcasting there is hope that there may finally be an easy way for regular folks to publish audio and video 'casts that cell phone owners can easily access.

My prediction, however, is that just like all other phone companies, Apple will closely control how media gets onto the device - ie, it's either through them or it's not at all.

The question will be: what kind of hoops will publishers need to jump through to make contact with their audience on mobile phones? My suspicion is that for us publishers it may not be as easy as simply publishing our 'casts as we are doing now for mp3 players and web browsers.

I hope I'm wrong. Time will tell. And it looks like it may tell sooner rather than later.

Permalink 1 Comments

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Comments

1. Handy ohne Schufa

   Handy

   Now we know: Its not the ipod phone-its the iphone ;-)

   September 28, 2007

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