Comments on: Is iPhone Nano Still in the Works?

By: Lauren

Lauren — Tue, 27 May 2008 12:33:34 +0000

This is a patent of what was about to become an iPhone. If you read the creation story for iPhone, they were using a single model for a while and then they switched at the last minute. I think they were working on the iPod phone idea first. They need to patent it, to cover their butts, but they have moved away from that model. It would surprise me from here on out to see the iconic click wheel on a phone. We may see a phone with reduced size and functionality (or more). Don’t bet on this nano, though.

By: William

William — Mon, 26 May 2008 14:37:01 +0000

Internally it is called the iPhone Mini – not Nano. It will be as cheap as an iPod – or free from select carriers. Sales goals are now 100 million in the second year – and that is only because of production ramp up impossibilities.

Apple internally predicts it will be the number 3 seller of mobiles by 2010.

By: hrmpf

hrmpf — Mon, 26 May 2008 13:26:31 +0000

@Gerald

Thanks for the comment- I think you’re right that they obviously just patent whatever intellectual property they have whether it will become a product or not. But, these patent apps are interesting because they keep referring to using the scrollwheel and have Jobs as an inventor. It seems to indicate continuing development — I suppose we’ll see :)

By: Gerald

Gerald — Sun, 25 May 2008 22:24:01 +0000

This is a CYA/RH patent. Apple has a huge stack of them.

Their purpose is to cover every variation your products could conceivably come in. This has the side-benefit of allowing you to not tip your hand while coving your butt.

…and you HAVE TO cover your butt! Remember: Creative sued (and WON) because they had the “alphabetical listing of songs on an MP3 player with blue colored highlight” patented. Even though iTunes was “alphabetical listing of songs with blue colored highlight”, until the iPod Photo Apple’s MP3 player version was always monochrome.

The red herring in this patent is the photo. The pictures in a patents do not have to reflect the looks of a final product, it just has to illustrate the method being patented. In this case, “dialing a phone on the touch screen of a portable music player” and “joining two separate calls into a single conference call” is illustrated without giving away the final iPhone design.