Last night, the legal department at Apple contacted several web sites, including 9to5mac and Gizmodo, to request removal of blurry “spy shots” purportedly showing a future iPod model. As a hybrid of the current fifth-generation iPod and second-generation iPod nano models, the new iPod features a colored metallic casing and a screen similar in size to a full-sized iPod, with a nano-sized Click Wheel underneath.
Tapered edges show a thinness comparable to current nanos, suggesting that the device is a flash-based video player that falls in-between the current nano and 5G iPod in performance.
The images, which originated on 9to5mac.com, showed a flower-style grouping of new iPods, in wine red, light green, light blue, silver, and black colors, which the site claimed would be the new colors.
Both sites have preserved artists’ renderings of the new design, more notably Gizmodo’s, which can be viewed here. Reader opinions on the design have been overwhelmingly negative.