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.
4 responses to “Death of iPod Scroll Wheel?”
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.
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 The Scroll Wheel was a great piece of technology back in the day, but as with everything; It gets outdated and replaced by something much better.