iLounge

New accessory developer Belch Co. has introduced the Carbon Fiber Case ($50) for the second-generation iPod nano, a modified carbon fiber design intended to look good and offer a higher degree of protection than prior carbon fiber cases. Founded by two Purdue University Engineering students, Belch made these cases so that protective tabs on the top and bottom keep the iPod inside while at the same time providing access to the player’s controls and docking port. Similar cases for other iPod models are planned to debut later.

Google has again beat out Apple for the top spot in an annual global brand ranking. The survey by online branding magazine BrandChannel.com asked 3,625 branding professionals and students “Which brand had the most impact on our lives in 2006?”. Globally, the top five were Google, Apple, YouTube, Wikipedia, and Starbucks. The North American results, however, saw Apple in first place, followed by YouTube, Google, Starbucks and Wikipedia. “The poll does not take account of economic brand value, the murky science of assigning a financial value to brand, which regularly puts Coca-Cola in first place,” says Reuters. “Neither does it ask respondents to consider whether the brand’s impact is positive or negative.”

The expected popularity of the iPhone could create challenges for some of the device’s parts suppliers. According to analysts, Asian handset-component makers may see shortages of key components if the iPhone takes off quickly. “While niche firms from chip maker Toshiba in Japan to Germany’s Balda, a touch-panel supplier, stand to gain from the phone’s debut, analysts say parts makers need to be prepared to quickly ramp up output or risk shortages if the product is a quick success,” reports Reuters. “Companies at the greatest risk are makers of the NAND-style flash memory that will power the phones, as well as makers of product-specific components like the special touch panels that will set the iPhone apart from other more traditional cell phones.” Apple the iPhone in the U.S. in June, with a target of 10 million units in 2008.

Rogers Wireless has confirmed that it will be the exclusive carrier for Apple’s iPhone in Canada. “Rogers is actively working with Apple to launch the iPhone in Canada as soon as possible and will be the exclusive provider of the iPhone in Canada,” the company said this week in a customer service email. Rogers Wireless is the largest Canadian wireless communications service provider. An exact date and service pricing were not mentioned. Apple is set to release the iPhone in the U.S. in June.

AT&T/Cingular plan to aggressively push Apple’s iPhone to new customers, offering them 18 months of free service, according to Jim Cramer, director and co-founder of investment site TheStreet.com. “The company made it very clear that it’s going to use Apple’s iPhone to get customers from Verizon Wireless by giving away its service for a year and a half to those customers who buy the phone,” Cramer said after speaking with executives from AT&T/Cingular.

“Management sounded like kids when talking about the iPhone and how it was going to remake AT&T and that it was the greatest invention they’ve ever seen,” Cramer said in a related article. “Now, AT&T’s all about market share, and if you read between the lines, I think you see a strategy coming where the device’s $500 price point is preserved but the service contract is greatly reduced. I think that AT&T—and not Apple—is the key to this next leg, and CEO Stan Sigman can make it happen.”

Update: According to a Cingular representative, the company will not be offering a free period of service with the iPhone. “The report is nonsense,” the spokesperson said. “We’ve always said the only way you can get the iPhone is with a Cingular rate plan.”

Norway’s consumer ombudsman said Apple must open access to its FairPlay copy-protection technology by October 1, 2007 or face legal action. “They must make iTunes music compatible with other players than the iPod by the end of September, or we will take them to court,” the ombudsman, Bjoern Erik Thon, said. “iTunes is imposing unreasonable and unbalanced restrictions that are not in accordance with Norwegian law.” Last June, Norway’s ombudsman said iTunes violated Norwegian law by only allowing consumers to play purchased music on an iPod. Other European countries, including Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France, and Finland have joined in the battle. The ombudsman said the courts could impose fines on iTunes until songs could be played on rival devices.

As a fun experiment - still in progress - iLounge has just released the 2007 Guide to New iPod Accessories & More, an iPod-formatted downloadable guide to the major new iPod accessories and announcements from this year’s Macworld Expo and International Consumer Electronics Show. Developed using Mogopop - a web site that leverages Apple’s iPod Notes feature to create downloadable packages of linked text, photos, and videos - the Guide features videos of Apple TV and iPhone, numerous pictures of new iPod accessories, and details on their vendors, all viewable on a fifth-generation iPod. It’s intended as a “carry it anywhere” version of our Expo coverage from earlier this month.

“The Guide is the most ambitious project yet published to Mogopop, showcasing the scope and scale of what the Mogopop system can tackle,” explained Kara Berklich Weber, co-founder/VP Strategic Development, Mogopop. “With photos, videos, and dozens of pages of useful, informative text, the New iPod Accessories Guide is just the sort of content our users want in a portable format. This will dramatically improve anyone’s next accessories shopping trip.”

The new Guide is free for download, and available now from this link. Follow the link, download the Mogopop Manager, connect your iPod, then download the Guide and install it on your iPod with the Manager. To find the Guide on your iPod, start at the main menu, pick Extras, then pick Notes. Please note that limitations of its design - for instance, the requirements that pictures and videos be linked, rather than embedded - are limitations of Apple’s iPod Notes software; we’ve tried to make the Guide as easy to use as possible given these constraints.

Digital Music Group—a “content owner and global leader in the digital distribution of independently owned music and video catalogs”—has announced that Apple’s iTunes Store will begin selling content from its television, film, and video catalogs. Under the three-year agreement, Apple will pay fixed wholesale prices for each downloaded TV program, movie or other video. According to Digital Music Group, the company “acquires the digital rights to media catalogs and digitally encodes them into multiple formats for distribution to online music, mobile, and video stores. Our retailers include: the iTunes Store, Google Video, RealNetworks, Napster, Wal-Mart Music, Yahoo! Music, InfoSpace, Moderati, Zingy, 9Squared, and many others.”

Sakar International recently announced the iView, a new 7-inch portable viewing device for the iPod. Priced at $150, iView promises a high-resolution picture and built-in stereo speakers. Features include a Dock Connector cradle for playing media and charging the iPod while in use, a built-in rechargeable battery which provides upwards of five hours of run time, a thin design, and A/V outputs to connect to a larger screen.

According to internet metrics firm Hitwise, online searches for the iPhone have passed searches for the iPod since the all-in-one device was announced at Macworld Expo earlier this month. “For the week ending 1/13/07, the share of searches for ‘iphone’ was greater than the weekly share of searches for ‘ipod’ at any time during 2006,” reports Hitwise. “The week ending 1/20/07 still showed a greater volume of searches for ‘iphone’ versus ‘ipod.’ This early surge in interest should indicate a rosy future for the iPhone when it becomes available in later in the year. Interestingly, the volume of searches for ‘ipod’ peaked during the last week of the year, rather than before Christmas as one would expect.”

German and French consumer groups have joined regulators from Norway, Denmark and Sweden in the ongoing effort to force Apple to make songs bought from the iTunes Store compatible with devices other than the iPod. The Associated Press reports: “Last June, consumer agencies in Norway, Denmark and Sweden claimed that Apple was violating contract and copyright laws in their countries. Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman Bjoern Erik Thon said French consumer lobby UFC-Que Choisir and its German counterpart, Ferbraucherzentralen, joined the effort late last year, and other European countries are considering it. Finland’s Kuluttajavirasto consumer group is also part of the effort.”

Record labels are considering a move towards finally offering unrestricted MP3 music files, according to industry insiders. The New York Times reports that executives of technology companies, in attendance at the annual Midem global trade show for the music industry, are apparently aware of “at least one of the four major record companies [that] could move toward the sale of unrestricted digital files in the MP3 format within months.” Even with solid sales on the iTunes Store and other online music services, it is reported, digital sales of restricted music has seen slow growth. Physical CD sales have likewise continued to take a hit.

Quiksilver and Plantronics have announced a new line of Bluetooth-enabled snow apparel and accessories, which offer wireless stereo audio for mobile phones and iPods. The collection includes the Quiksilver Double Daffy Snow Jacket ($370; shown) and Quiksilver Pulse Helmet ($250) for men, and the Roxy Teen Angel Snow Jacket ($340) and Roxy Shiver Helmet ($250) for women. A compatible iPod Bluetooth adapter will also be required.
 
“The new collection integrates Quiksilver’s high-quality outdoor sports apparel with Bluetooth equipped mobile phones, iPods and MP3 players, allowing users to effortlessly access their favorite tunes and mobile calls without the worry of snagging a cord while blazing the slopes. Plantronics’ technology, embedded within the Quiksilver apparel and accessories, enables stereo sound to stream wirelessly from compatible products so that users can play and control music as well as answer incoming calls—all at the touch of a button.”

iPods in disguise? BigBadToyStore.com is offering an imported iPod speaker system integrated into a Convoy (the Japanese equivalent of Optimus Prime) Transformers toy. “Two iconic products have merged to create the new Convoy iPod Docking Bay,” says the online store. “Convoy is presented in an entirely white iPod color scheme and fully functional iPod Docking Bay with Speakers. The trailer holds two speakers and all standard size iPods will mount in the center of the trailer to play your favorite tunes.” The Convoy iPod Docking Bay is priced at $145 and will ship in July.
[via Gizmodo]

Quantum Research Group has sued Apple, claiming technology used to make the iPod’s Click Wheel infringes on a touch sensor patent it holds. “We are suing Apple over charge-transfer technology in iPods,” said Quantum CEO Hal Philipp. “Some are based on Cypress’ PSoC chip and used in a way we believe infringes our patent… There are settlement discussions going on but I believe it will go to trial later this year. I am hoping iPhone does not contain Quantum-patented charge-transfer technology.” The legal action against Apple was initiated in December 2005 but has been kept under wraps until now. Apple recently filed an answer “denying all material allegations and asserting numerous affirmative defences.” The company also filed “counterclaims for non-infringement and invalidity” in July.

HandStands today announced the iSnug Accessory Kit, a five-piece set which includes an iPod FM Transmitter, headphone splitter, audio video cable, 12v car charger, and an accessory case designed to house all of the included accessories. Retailing for $59.99, HandStands has set an introductory price of $45.99 through its website.

A case of 42 iPod nanos was stolen earlier this month during business hours at the Apple Store in the Twenty Ninth Street mall in Boulder, Colorado. “Employees at the 1755 29th St. business told police they noticed a 2-foot-by-2-foot Plexiglas display case was missing from a table about 10 feet inside the front door at about 5 p.m. Jan. 9,” reports the Boulder Daily Camera. “The case, which weighed about 30 pounds, contained 42 of the new 4GB iPod nanos. The stolen case had been set up the night before it was taken. It wasn’t taped or wired down, and store managers said they won’t display a similar case in the future.”

Frustrated by offerings from hardware partners Creative Technology and Dell, a Microsoft executive considered a partnership with Apple to bring Windows Media support to the iPod. In a 2003 internal email entiled “sucking on media players,” Windows chief Jim Allchin suggested he talk to Apple CEO Steve Jobs to get the iPod to work with Microsoft’s software for fear the iPod would “drive people away from Windows Media Player.” The email is part of evidence in a civil antitrust trial against Microsoft in Iowa. “My goodness it’s terrible,” Allchin wrote about one of Creative’s devices. “What I don’t understand though is I was told the new Creative Labs device would be comparable to Apple. That is so not the case.”

Following up on its successful Nike + iPod Sport Kit, Nike plans to release a series of at least two and perhaps three hybrid watch and wireless remote control accessories for Nike + iPod Sport Kit-equipped iPod nanos, iLounge has learned. One is Flight+, a sophisticated digital wrist watch and wireless remote control, while another is Amp+, a less complex watch design previously disclosed in an issue of Men’s Health magazine, but now fully detailed by an iLounge reader. A third model, Aero+, appears to be destined for iPod release as well; as of press time, iLounge is awaiting additional details from Nike.

Planned for release on May 1 of this year, Flight+ ($129, shown above) is a wireless iPod remote control with a complete digital wristwatch as its body. In a novel design, Flight+‘s music controls, such as volume and track adjustment, are built into a rocking bezel around its central Electroluminescent (EL) backlit watch screen. Available in two colors, this watch will feature standard time, date, and chronometer features, including alarms, plus the ability to trigger the Nike + iPod Sport Kit’s voice feedback feature.

Previously disclosed to Men’s Health by Nike, the upcoming Amp+ is a bracelet-styled remote control with a stripped-down subset of Flight+‘s features. Amp+ includes its own integrated LED display with the ability to display either time or iPod control status, an iPod shuffle-styled control pad to let users change tracks, adjust volume, and play/pause songs on the iPod, and special Sport Controls to call up the Sport Kit’s special voice feedback and PowerSong features.

Like Flight+, Amp+ is listed as a May 1, 2007 release, but this model is shown in five different colors - two pinks, two reds, and an orange - each at an $79 price. Though the majority of its body appears to be made from plastic, Amp+ is described as using a solid stainless steel double action clasp to seal shut on the wearer’s wrist.

A third watch called Aero+ also appears to be in the offing for iPod owners. Shown in two differently colored versions, Aero+ appears to be a men’s version of the Flight+ design, with a larger body, more rugged look, and similar wireless remote and clock functionality. Neither pricing nor a projected release date are listed for this model.

The three watches appear to be part of a larger move by Nike into the Sport Kit Sensor-ready watch business - including steps to be taken without Apple. Two additional products, the Nike Speed+ Kit for Men, and the Nike Speed+ Kit for Women, are each apparently planned to ship in two colored versions, packaged along with a Nike+-branded USB receiver and Nike+ Sensor for $129. These Speed+ watches eliminate the need for an iPod to store your performance data, instead transferring the shoe-mounted Sensor’s distance, pace, elapsed time and calorie details to the watch’s simple built-in LCD screen and memory chip, then sending the saved data to the USB receiver and your computer. Without an iPod, both music and voice feedback will be missing. The Speed+ Kits will also be available at the beginning of May.

iSkin has announced the availability of its Tokidoki-designed Vibes for Apple’s second-generation iPod nano. Available in eight different Japanese-inspired styles, the lightweight, scratch-resistant case comes with a clear film screen protector and a detachable, rotating RevoClip2 clip. “The newest Vibes showcase some of the latest Tokidoki creations, adding sophisticated fun and flair to portable music while making a cutting-edge fashion statement with the best protection available for your nano,” says iSkin. The Tokidoki Vibes are priced at $25 each.