Death of iPod Scroll Wheel?

Leander Kahney ()

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The iPod’s scroll wheel is doomed. Multitouch is such a compelling user experience, it must supplant the scroll wheel. Writes Newsweek’s Steven Levy in one of the first reviews of the iPhone:

Also, the new way of navigating—swiping down your song list or fast-browsing by skimming your finger on a vertically arranged alphabet on the right of the screen—is a superior interface.

I can’t see Apple selling another large-capacity iPod with the old scroll wheel interface. Everyone is going to want multitouch, and maybe soon Apple will have the economies of scale to put it on a sub-$400 device. I doubt the nano will go multitouch, but it’s the beginning of the end for the wheel.

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About the author

Leander Kahney

is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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Posted in iPhone, iPod |

  • DJ Rizzo

    And with Apple focusing more and more on the video side of iTunes the wide-screen format of the multi-touch would probably allow them to sell more movies and TV shows.

  • http://www.hammyhavoc.com Hammy Havoc

    The Nano finally went MultiTouch and the world became a very different place. The Scroll Wheel was a great piece of technology back in the day, but as with everything; It gets outdated and replaced by something much better.