The new longer iPod Nano seems like it’s definitely going to happen. Kevin Rose also seems to be confident about the new Nano and iTunes 8. There are more rumors that iTunes will get a cooler looking visualizer and a Genius that guesses what kind of music you like, just like last.fm and Pandora. Other iPods seems like they are getting cosmetic changes and/or price cuts. All the rumors sound good and are welcome upgrades, but they all sound underwhelming. It’s trange that Apple wants all the media to be at their event even though it sounds like a snoozer.

It may be that Apple has something up their sleeve that still haven’t been leaked. I’m going to make a prediction now. In conversations when talking about MP3 players and/or car stereos, I’ve always brought up the question “why doesn’t Apple or Creative get together with a car stereo company like Pioneer or Alpine to create an aftermarket head unit with a detachable face that you can also use as an MP3 player?” I’ve even done mockups and advertisements for a graphic design class I had in college in 2000. It seems logical to me. People obviously like MP3 players and aftermarket head units have detachable faces to prevent break-ins and theft.

The aftermarket head unit market is not as large and profitable as the MP3 player or iPod market, so I think it makes sense for an aftermarket head unit company to cut in to this market. If any of them partnered up with Apple, they would see an immediate increase in the sales. It’s possible that it’s not guaranteed that if you partner up with Apple, you will have success i.e. Motorola, but you would see a definite increase in stock value.

I don’t understand why Sony doesn’t do this, they have their Xplod car stereo line and the Walkman MP3 players (which are great BTW). They should’ve been doing this a long time ago. I must be missing something. If anyone know why, please comment below.

Back to the annoucement, so when I saw the new iPod Nano pics, that is what I immediately thought of. It looks like it would be a perfect fit for the single DIN-sized aftermarket head units. I hear it might be touchscreen but it has the clickwheel. It would be perfect to have actual buttons so you can change songs or raise volume by touch alone so you can keep your eyes on the road. Anyway, I know it’s a long shot but I just thought to put it out there. What do you think?

Published by Sung