New Prototype iPod: Or is it?
Not sure what to make if this discovery. I was reviewing a new service today called Wayki. It is based on the Google Maps API and allows users to put place marks on a world map. It allows for comments, pictures and replies in tabs when clicked. The thing that I liked was that you can also get a link from the place mark and link to it from your blog or where ever you like, some are included in this post. The pictures are displayed in a nice flash window. That’s the site in a nutshell.
But that is not what this post is about. I was looking about and decided to have a look at San Francisco. Not much there although I did find the host of Mythbusters had put an entry in (which was cool). I went down the coast to Los Angeles not much there either. Then I spotted something in San Diego. On hover it displays the title of the place mark… “New prototype iPods” so I clicked on it.
In the detail tab is written, “prototypes for apple”. Then I clicked the replies which had “12/13/06 7:25 PM Testing comments in IE7.”. That to me says that it is the developer testing the service. That alone casts doubt as to the rest of it, because it just could be bait to get people to use the service. Then I clicked the photo tab and I was amazed to find this:
Click for full sized screenshot on Flickr.
Now I have no idea if this is real or not and I am not saying it is. But it could be. I am sceptical because it looks like a developer put it there as link bait. The other thing is that I thought it was a strange place geographically for the iPod to be developed. Anyone know where Apple bases their iPod development? In addition to this is the fact that the comment is dated from last year. It seems strange that it has been there that long and not noticed.
But the case for might be that this developer knows more than we give credit for. Bored iPod developer? It is also a very sneaky place to put a photo of a prototype iPod. Something that an individual would think was cool to get away with. It also seems like a lot of effort to go to for link bait. I would love to know that there was a picture sitting right under people’s noses of the new iPod and no one found it. It does look part of a bigger image as well. The quality of the image is not great so it is hard to tell if it is fake or not. It is clearer on a smaller image.
I have searched all the usual haunts for these images and have not found anything. There has not been any images posted anywhere that I can find that depicts these “prototypes”. I found that strange as well.
Me, I am going the way of saying that I think it might be link bait. But then I have no idea either. What do you think, cast your vote in the comments. Looks like a cool idea for the new iPod though, huge touch screen and what could be a “mini Mac” based on the tag line. But this is either cleaver link bait or the real deal.
March 3rd, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Yeah I have to agree, it looks a lot like bait. But there again is this a sneaky peek into the future? Apple always hold their cards close to their chest and it’s probably someone sitting at home bored thinking - Hey! what if apple designed a kind of PDA with everything you would get on a mac mini or mac book. Sounds cool if it did happen but we will have to wait and see….