Without the bothersome smartphone or awkward timepiece, Apple has created a pocket-sized companion that (theoretically) does it all: music, movies, AND books. Ahead of you, Cupertino.
Apple recently drew up a patent application for such a gadget, a headphone case turned pocket computer with a touchscreen display and the necessary hardware for browsing music, viewing movies, checking the weather, and even using a mapping program to go about. Or, to put it another way, Apple created the iPod all over again because time is a flat circle.
According to the patent application, Apple wanted to patent a small iPod Touch- or iPod Nano-like device with a compartment for charging wireless earphones. Unfortunately, there is no (zero! nada!) sign that a supercharged AirPods case like this will exist beyond some drawings, as this is merely a patent application.
Given its well-known interest in intelligent earbuds, the corporation may be looking into such a product. On the other hand, apple may merely use this file to put up figurative barriers for competitors. In any case, a revival of the iPod? To me, that sounds dreamy.
In 2001, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs remarked, “The best thing about iPod is that you can take your whole music collection with you, right in your pocket.” Since then, everything and nothing has changed; music is still, in my opinion, the coolest feature of the iPhone, which is one reason why iPod nostalgia keeps popping up in various forms, such as an unofficial, iPod-inspired app, nostalgic tweets, a silly smartwatch accessory, movie cameos, letters to the editor, etc.
But what about our strong desire for gadgets that do less now that the iPod is no longer? That endures.