Just as expected, the invitation to Apple’s iPod event on September 9th has dropped into the SlashGear inbox, and that means we’re off to San Francisco to live-blog the whole thing. Already a tradition on the Apple calendar, the September music-themed event is the chance for the Cupertino company to show off their latest advances in the segment-dominating PMPs, and this time we’re expecting camera functionality to join the party.
It’s been about 10 days now since we last spoke about TomTom’s upcoming iPhone Car Kit, but it’s getting a bit exciting now, with the device slipping through the FCC inspection with a passing grade. And although we knew there wasn’t a ton of information to be had the first time around, we’re still pretty excited by what the FCC filing has laid out for us. Right up front, we’ve got the TomTom Car Kit showing off its own GPS chipset. And if that wasn’t enough, it also comes along with Bluetooth, for some good old hands free communication.
All eyes are on Snow Leopard and the growing queues outside Apple stores today – we’re told London’s Regent Street store had a line round the block before it opened – but another exploding iPhone report could sour the good mood at Cupertino. According to TechCrunch UK, Belgian news sources are reporting that a 15-year-old boy was holding his iPhone next to his ear, about to make a call, when it “imploded”.
It’s hard to imagine the sort of arguments Altec Lansing’s MIX Boombox iPod speaker system might inspire, hooked up to so many different PMPs as their eye-catching press shots suggest. The chunky boombox not only has a universal dock for your iPod, iPhone or iPod touch, but dual aux-in ports, a digital FM radio and a side-mounted 5.25-inch subwoofer.
We’ll admit to having been quietly dubious whether Apple would approve Spotify’s iPhone and iPod touch app, but according to paidContent UK it’s all settled in everything but the rubber stamp. Apple have told the site that “The current status as of right now is it’s been approved and we hope to add the app to the more than 65,000 apps on the app store very soon. We’ve been in constant communication working with the developer and have already notified Spotify that the app will be in the app store very soon.”
While the software is free, access to Spotify’s streaming music service will require a Premium subscription; this is currently priced at £9.99 ($16) per month in the UK. Spotify is also not yet available in the US, though the company has previously stated that it hopes to have the service up and running by the end of 2009.
Video demo after the cut
Some times there’s just news that seems too huge to believe, and this would be one of those cases. Let’s take a look at the last few months in our government, and the fact that recession was thrown around at least a few times, makes it seem almost ridiculous the findings from AdMob. Sure, things looked better in July than they had in the past, but still. In any case, Apple shouldn’t be anything less than ecstatic about the results.
Apple’s yearly iPod event is tipped to take place on September 9th, after people “familiar with the matter” informed Apple Insider of the freshly confirmed date. While no press invitations have yet been issued, the Cupertino company is believed to have informed its industry partners of the settled date, having also been discussing September 8th. Other information about the event suggests that the new, camera-bearing iPod nano and iPod touch models expected to launch – and which will apparently have 3.2-megapixel CMOS sensors – will only be “one piece” of the overall news.
Sirius XM have announced their first radio dock for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch, the XM SkyDock taking advantage of OS 3.0’s third-party peripheral integration to add a satellite radio tuner to the handheld and have it controlled by the new companion app. The dock slots into a car’s power point, supporting the PMP with a flexible arm and custom cradle, and not only allows for listening to Sirius XM radio but for tagging tracks that you later want to buy on iTunes.
While we hate to admit it, a universal charger doesn’t seem to be something that’s going to happen any time soon for the mobile phone industry. And while we don’t expect anything from the other personal gadget manufacturers, it’s pretty ridiculous that we usually need to buy a new charger when we get a new phone. Making a standard seems to be the obvious thing to do, but hey, what do we know? Then again, if we had a universal rule of thumb for charging our phones, we wouldn’t get cool devices like this.
RealNetworks have submitted a Rhapsody iPhone app to the Apple App Store for approval; if it passes Apple’s notorious software guardians, it will allow on-demand streaming of Rhapsody’s 8m+ tracks over WiFi and 3G connections. In addition, the Rhapsody To Go iPhone app – which will also run on the iPod touch – gives access to the users’ own library and existing playlists.
Access to the app will require subscribing to Rhapsody To Go, currently priced at $14.99 per month, while the app itself will be free. There’ll also be a free trial for new subscribers, though no word on how long it will last.
Video demo after the cut
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