iPhone Nano Rumors – Who Cares?
12:05 am, December 30th, 2008, Lonnie Lazar
More Apple oriented websites felt obligated to post the news on Monday that casemaker Vaja has added an iPhone Nano category to its offerings of cases for Apple phone products. Coming on the heels of last week’s news that XSNS had done the same, the pre-Macworld rumor mill seems to indicate a strong likelihood that Apple will introduce a mini-me version of its popular mobile phone next week in San Francisco.
Is this what we’ve come to? Roughly 10 million people have bought iPhones this year. AT&T is selling refurbished iPhones for $99 and now you can buy them new at Walmart, too. Who, exactly is dying for an iPhone Nano?
I have to go on record as saying I’ll be disappointed to see Apple cave in to the mobile handset market’s mystifying tradition of churning out 1001 minutely varied executions on a theme, for the sake of what? Surely not functionality.
Prior to the iPhone you had relatively similar smartphones made by a few companies (Palm, RIM, Nokia) and hundreds of other devices that were just, phones, made by dozens and dozens of manufacturers. Even within the smartphone realm, my eyes glazed over at the number of “different ” Blackberries, for example.
The iPhone came along and changed everything. And in perfect Apple fashion there were basically two choices, a perfectly fine device and another one for those whose device must, under any circumstance be perceived as “bigger.” Hey, fine. There’s nothing wrong with a Corvette…
But now, a Nano? Something smaller? Less functional than its big brother? Less touchscreen real estate? A virtual keyboard for really tiny fingers?
Knock yourself out, Apple. I would think there are greater heights to scale.
Posted by Lonnie Lazar in Apple, News, Opinions, iPhone | Comment on this article
I think something like an iPod nano with a touchscreen instead of the clickwheel would be a nice thing and fits very well in the iPod line. Adding a simple phone to it costs next to nothing (one chip for less than $20 and an antenna) and allows to sell the thing via the phone companies while generating extra profits for Apple. They would be silly to *not* offer it.
uhuznaa, on December 30th, 2008 at 12:34 am
Said it before, but I think if this is something that really does happen it might be for the Eastern market only, where they do have smaller hands, and where cultural and political pressures only allow the iPhone to be sold with some features disabled. Perhaps taking physical components out allowed them to make it smaller for that market?
owen-b, on December 30th, 2008 at 3:18 am
If Apple wants to make two versions, perhaps a CDMA version along with their GSM model so we could operate an iPhone on Verizon or Sprint. I live in cold, snowy North Dakota and since we have absolutely no AT&T coverage in the entire state, I’m forced to limp along with my Blackberry.
Brandon, on December 30th, 2008 at 6:09 am
I hear what you are saying. However, a smaller version of the iPhone may be what some are waiting for — myself included. Don’t get me wrong, I love my original iPhone. But the one thing I truly loathe is its overall size. I’ve always preferred small and conpact, not big and bulky (to each his own I guess). So if rumors be true, and the “iPhone Nano” or whatever it’s to be called is released, I’m fairly confident that myself and others out there will be extremely interested. I would certainly consider an upgrade at that time.
Ibo NÃÂall, on December 30th, 2008 at 7:46 am
If an iPhone Nano were to come out then all the developers who designed their apps specifically for the normal iPhone-sized screen would have to create a special nano version with a redesigned UI.
Seems like this would throw a major wrench into the works.
Barry Wood, on December 30th, 2008 at 11:30 am
It won’t be a nano. Like Barry Wood said, iPhone UI is mostly are bitmap files. Say, if there willl be a Nano comes out soon, why there are no devs talked about it??
I more interested on a quad core iMac
it sure will make iMac stand out from their PC counter part.
ncus, on December 30th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
[...] gizmodo US, cultofmac-iPhonenano. Appleizer-Shirt] .gallery { margin: auto; } .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; [...]
Gerüchte und kein Ende: Nano iPhone oder Maxi iPod Touch? - Gizmodo DE - Gizmodo DE, on December 31st, 2008 at 4:59 am
Not to be argumentative but when you place the iPhone3G & iPhone nano cases side-by-side there’s an optical illusion that makes the iPhone nano’s screen *look* smaller.
But when ya place the iPhone3G & iPhone nano *screens* side-by-side
you can see the screens are *precisely the same size* !
Apple in thier genius didn’t change the touchscreen real estate at all
and instead shaved centimeters off of the iPhone nano’s case’s top & bottom.
Go Apple! 8^ ]
CaryMG, on January 1st, 2009 at 1:10 am
iPhone nano, yes! FTW!
The biggest (pun) issue with the iPhone is it’s size and weight, IMHO.
Copy and paste, one photo per email, no attachements, meh!
It’s weight sits in my pocket all day, every day.
Rick, on January 1st, 2009 at 2:48 pm
perhaps it’s an entry level phone without the i. not a smartphone, limited net access…
As a shuffle is to the iPod.
or, alternatively, a new iPod Touch nano, without the phone?
Ed, on January 1st, 2009 at 2:54 pm
GO NANO!
scott, on January 4th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Am I the only who thinks that the iPhone will lose its “hipster” appeal the second it shows up in a Walmart. To add insult to injury, Walmart can’t even offer it for a steep discount; it’s only like two bucks off. This seems like a lose lose situation for both companies — iPhone degrades its own brand image by selling in Walmart, and Walmart can’t even wield its power to buckle the phone into a lower price.
NanoMano, on January 9th, 2009 at 11:18 am