Saturday, February 10, 2007

Bluetooth iPod

The Apple iPhone is probably the most hyped tech product of 2007 so far. Yes, it's the first Apple phone and the first widescreen video iPod. However, in all the buzz, there seems to be one feature that's been overlooked - bluetooth. This is the first bluetooth iPod. We've all been wanting it, and here it finally is. One question remains: will Apple do the right thing and enable the A2DP profile? If they do, we can finally get rid of the stupid wires that connect our head to our pocket. We can finally stop ripping the earbuds out when we catch the wire on something. We can finally roam away from our iPod like we can with our mobile phones.

Stereo bluetooth headphones are currently available have been for a little while. However, the selection is small. This is a technology that has been waiting for a product to drive its development and production. I remember a few years ago when I waiting for Verizon to start releasing bluetooth capable phones so I could use a bluetooth headset. The phones started coming out, and the headsets became prolific. This is the same situation we see with bluetooth headphones currently. They need a driving product. With the release of the iPhone and the typical accessories market for iPods, the bluetooth headphones market could take off finally (again, assuming A2DP).

What other possibilities might the bluetooth iPod open up? Car stereos could start including bluetooth for use with music playback and phone audio over the car speakers (a few models are already supporting bluetooth phones). The iPod could also stream music to home stereos and alarm clocks with bluetooth. Who knows what other ideas manufacturers will come up with. The only problem will be having to occasionally pull out a charging cable.

Before long, we could all be talking on the phone AND listening to tunes without the irritating wires. Please help us out Apple!

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