Apple has recently filed a patent with the U.S. Patent Office for a device that is very reminiscent of the iPod. The device is meant do everything a smartphone does without the annoying calls and texts interfering with the user experience.
It can contain music, videos and books. It seems the main notable difference to the old iPhone is that it can host wireless earbuds. That’s definitely an improvement over the older model and a feature worth having.
However, thus far there is no news on whether the device will come to market. It is still for now just a patent and many patents never see the light of day.
Apple could indeed be trying to stop the competition from ever inventing anything that could cut into the company’s market share.
In July of 2017, Apple officially killed off the iPod Shuffle and Nano. The company stated at the time :”Today, we are simplifying our iPod lineup with two models of iPod touch now with double the capacity starting at just $199 and we are discontinuing the iPod shuffle and iPod nano.”
A top-secret iPod mission
However, in August of 2020, news surfaced of the firm working with the government to build a top-secret iPod. A former Apple software engineer, who worked for the company for 18 years, shared the story of how Apple helped a U.S. Department of Energy contractor modify a 5th-generation iPod to secretly record and store data.
The events took place in 2005 when the engineer was approached by the director of iPod software to try “help two engineers from the U.S. Department of Energy build a special iPod.” The secret iPod was to be developed right under Steve Jobs’ nose, with only four individuals being aware of the project at that time.
