Back on July 18th the Wall Street Journal speculated that Apple will be adding video capability to it’s iPod device. And Robert Cringely wrote back in May 5, 2005 that “Looking at the unused iTunes icons that shipped with your new version of 10.4, you’ll notice icons for […] a variety of video formats.” Now that’s interesting. Which leads me to a recent search…
…on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office site in search of more evidence. A trademark document filed by Apple on October 18, 2001 states that “IPOD” is a trademark for “portable and handheld digital electronic devices for recording, organizing, transmitting, manipulating, and reviewing text, data, and audio files.” A more recent trademark document filed on June 18, 2005 expands the description slightly, stating, “portable and handheld digital electronic devices for recording, organizing, transmitting, manipulating, and reviewing text, data, audio, image, and video files.” Note the word “video” was added to the description. I would consider this a very reliable confirmation of all the discussion and rumor floating around regarding the iPod becoming a video viewing device. Now the question is when will Apple release this new puppy? And besides music videos, what other video content will we be able to find at the iTunes store?