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Mix: ROKR, nano teardown, Synaptics, iPod cemetery
Motorola’s Carson Schmidt said the ROKR is “the first phone in a series of phones that we will be launching over the next year. You can expect an announcement on a quarterly basis for new phones in the range. A 3G model would be the obvious progression.”
A Japanese tech news site has already dismantled one of Apple’s new iPod nanos. See the destruction here if your stomach can handle it.
Synaptics, which supplies scroll-touch technology for full-size iPods, wasn’t tapped for the new iPod nano. “We believe its uses an alternative solution,” Synaptics Chief Financial Officer Russ Knittel said.
Merrill Lynch said it was disappointed with the new ROKR phone. “We do not expect that the ROKR will contribute meaningfully in the near term,” the firm said, adding that it is a “poor compromise” and has “an outdated look and feel.”
Engadget has posted a roundup entitled “The iPod family cemetery” of all of the discontinued iPod models over the years.
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1
“We believe its uses an alternative solution,� Synaptics Chief Financial Officer Russ Knittel said.
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Well, if it’s not using theirs, that’s JUST MIGHT BE a good guess. Maybe. Duh. It’s a good thing they have a GENIUS for their CFO.
Posted by papayaninja on September 8, 2005 at 5:07 PM (PDT)
2
that* not that’s.
Posted by papayaninja on September 8, 2005 at 5:09 PM (PDT)
3
The obvious question is: who owns the concept of the click wheel? Apple? PortalPlayer? Synaptics? Moreover, who owns the technology behind it?
papayaninja: this sounds like the sort of answer from someone who’s not <u>actually sure</u> if the technology used in the nano IS actually different than their own. I would suspect that Synaptics may be doing some tear downs and decompiling of nanos just to see how really different Cypresss’s scrolling technology is from their own click wheel solutions.
They still do business with Apple; I doubt they want to say anything combative if only not to upset Apple and Jobs at this point without first investigating their competitor’s tech first.
Posted by flatline response on September 8, 2005 at 9:55 PM (PDT)