Friday Poll: What's next for Apple and video?

CNET News Poll

Video dreams
What video-related pursuits will Apple tackle next?

Taking on YouTube with iVid site
Coming soon! Mashable iMovie online!
Streaming video greeting cards for dads and grads
Collecting and indexing clips for you--for $99 a year
Phil Schiller's head on all your relatives

View results

(Credit: CNET)

The iPhone has a video camera, and as of this week, the iPod Nano is getting the video treatment as well. Apple is really pushing video these days, which prompts the question: what's next for Apple and video?

Vote in our poll, and be sure to add your two cents in the TalkBack section below.

[viccapen]

A webcam on front of Iphone would be nice.

[boy444]

Scam,will be new iphone then.

[cnet.aaron]

Here's my bet on the real answers:
a camera on the touch
live streaming
as the commenter above notes, a front facing camera for video chat.

[boy444]

Nope.

[jakemochas]

how about ichat for the iphone with voice chat?

[WhiteDog]

Call me shortsighted, but I don't see Apple (or anyone else for that matter) successfully competing with YouTube. You can already publish your videos to Mobile Me, of course, but that's not the same thing, is it? YouTube is where viral videos are born.

What Apple should do is add a still/video camera to the iPod touch. Whether they will or not, and why the didn't do it when they gave a camera to the iPod nano, are open questions.

[playthecharade]

I was a part of the masses that was waiting for integrated mic and camera (Stills AND video, please) on the ipod touch refresh, but since it didnt happen, I (and others see the same thing now) can now stand back and see why the Touch doesnt have those features.

If apple created the Touch with camera and integrated mic, the only thing separating the Touch from the iPhone is the phone service, and that wold make a HUGE dent in their iphone sales. Why buy an iPhone and pay a premium for data and phone use when you can just stick to a cheaper phone/plan/service provider and buy an ipod touch? Pumping up the Nano with radio and video wouldnt be as threatening to the iPhone as a pumped up Touch would be

[cvaldes1831]

Remember that Apple doesn't not consider MobileMe to be a major profit center. Apple uses services/content (iTunes Store, App Store, MobileMe) to drive sales of its high-margin hardware.

Anyone who has followed the tech press over the past few years should know that.

The iPhone is basically the number one "camera" device on Flickr. With a strong lineup of handheld devices that record video, Apple can take over YouTube.

Apple removed the video camera from the iPod touch at a very late stage. They had plenty of time to spec out the components, test them, build some prototype units, test them some more, etc. The fact of the matter is that they were yanked out of the device at the last moment, they quickly respun the motherboard, removed camera-related apps from the 3.1 firmware (version 3.1.1 was the official iPod touch release), and a bunch of third-party case manufacturers feel stupid warehousing product that isn't ready to ship.

I, too, was disappointed that at least still camera capabilities, even if not video, weren't added to iTouch this time around. I suspected it was for the reason described by playthecharade. However, it's a fact that many folks like me are unable to get cell phone service by any carrier because of distance from any relay tower, and thus would not buy an iPhone. I use a generic cell phone with prepaid card when I'm in an area where I can get a signal, but I'm certainly not willing to pay for an AT&T contract for service I can't get just so I can use the device's camera! I guess I'll have to buy a new Nano so I can get a camera! That's just not fair!

[LunarFlame17]

Why would you buy a Nano for the video camera? Just buy a Flip camcorder instead. I just recently bought a Flip Ultra HD and it works great. Plenty of space (8GB), good battery life, plugs right into my laptop or my Playstation 3 for easy transfer of videos, and, oh yeah, it's got fantastic picture quality. Certainly a lot better than the $500 Samsung MiniDV camcorder I bought back in 2005. Basically, unless you're obsessed with the idea of having a bunch of functions in one little device, if video is what you're looking for, buying an iPod Nano just seems like a really bad idea to me.

[bigbabyjesus76]

HiDef, front facing video/camera on the Touch

[FletcherKane]

Yup, a camera on the ipod Touch would truly make it a "Phoneless" Iphone.
I too see that as a major dent in the iphone sales...shoot, I would by another Ipod touch and keep my cheap cellphone service instead of upgrading to an iphone for that price.
Didn't see the nano with video coming, but wasn't surprised at the lack of video on the touch.

[banana_skin]

difference is... I (and possibly lots of others feel the same) would never buy an iPhone with a still/video camera or not... but I would have bought a Touch with a still/video camera... I already have a phone that does all that I want phone wise (its on PAYG and gets very little use)... an iPod Touch with the ability of a Cam-Corder would have been a ideal for my ipod needs...

[Aras_Samy]

why not apple enable video recording on iphone 3g in the next firmware upgrade?

[cvaldes1831]

Apple says that the camera sensor in the 3G device is not optimized for video recording.

Based on various comments from people who have jailbroken their 3G units to enable makeshift video recording, it appears that Apple is correct. It's not the right combination of hardware and software for video recording.

What they really need is to give us a memory card slot to store all my movies on
that way I can take them and my songs with me. It won't eat all my disk space.
When I buy all those apps I love on iTunes.

[myles taylor]

None of the above. The closest one was the online iMovie one. They aren't going to try and take on youtube. If anything they will get more into the editing and making of movies rather than the actual publishing. Established markets are really hard to crack into. The iPhone did it by being revolutionary. It will take a lot to crack into some of these other markets. Apple is good at creating new categories (and failing at like 2 out 3) and doing outrageous things to crack into old markets. I just don't see them doing either with video.

[happygolucky101lol]

Where's the iPod touch's camera????!?!?!?!??

[boy444]

In the iphone

[NJMetsHero]

No way Apple ever takes on YouTube. That's just ridiculous.

[banana_skin]

they should have added a Still / Video Camera to the top of the range 64GB Touch... would have made a brilliant product even better... shame they didnt I was ready to spend some money... :( guess I will have to wait some more...

[irueludruel]

Youtube can't make a profit.

[jcmark42]

I've said this in other posts, but IMO the iPod Touch will eventually die off or just get incremental upgrades if the Tablet does come out. There won't be a need for an iPod Touch if there is a Tablet which will be a glorified and bigger iPod Touch. That is why I think only the Nano got a camera and not the Touch.

[winexz]

People like devices that fit in their pockets. Your statement is not backed up by anything.

[alhayat7]

There is no doubt that Apple is on target to take over the world of entertainment. basically, all they have to do is combine the mac mini and Apple TV into one unit, and allow it to record and sync easily with other hardware, and BAM, they control the world. When the Touch has a camera, and they create a youtube substitute, they will have the dominate position in the entire entertainment industry. Films already come out on itunes, which could stream easily to their apple tv unit, and videos could be easily uploaded from the touch to the unit. Basically, the mini/apple tv hybrid would unify all the data transfer problems that are so annoying. And it would have access to VIOP, basically taking up 20 years into the future, all in one move.

[myeggsareboiled]

There is a device that is already a mac mini/apple tv hybrid. It's called a, er, mac mini. Apple tv doesn't do anything that the mini can't do, so why would you need to 'hybridise' them?

[bmccain]

I would like to see video conferencing on the iPhone and iPod Touch. I would like to see these devices get flash video as well!!!

[SamtheAppleman]

I was really surprised that we didn't see a video camera on the iPod Touch, 1. because its probably going to become the most popular ipod Apple make and 2. ipod touch has the internet capabilities to do things with the video, i mean having it on the Nano is a great idea, but consumers have to go back to their computer to do anything with the video.
Also. I don't know why but i can't see Apple putting a camera in the front of the iPhone, it would be really nice and a lot of users probably want it but its not Apples thing.

[GroundBreakingGames]

Actually putting a camera on the front of its screens is Apple's way of doing things. Apple can and could have found a classy stylish way to do it just like they have on there MacBooks and displays. Apple does see a future for its iPhone and iPod Touch lines but they have to make incremental upgrades if they did everything in one blow then what would be left for the next year or the next year after that. They need you to keep coming back that's what businesses are all about.
But i do have to say that this update to the iPod touch was a pretty lame move from Apple.

[bossdj120]

review:
no stills on the nano
no camera on the touch

still and video available on the iphone (keeps iPhone in a different class of device)

speculation:
iphone gets front facing camera for video conferencing / iChat (3g signal would be necessary after all... or WiFi )

nano and touch stay limited in functionality (video only, if the touch gets one) because.....


NEW PRODUCT = iCamera !!!!

Anybody?

Anybody?

[AustinTierney]

Apple could easily make a ICamera that isn't a phone but is like some of Sonys Models where it would either send it to your computer or upload it to YouTube. Of course apple would make it all tricked out and basically incorperate tons of features like Ipod/Apps/Etc.

[AustinTierney]

As for my takes on this, of course the camera inside of it will be the equivalent of a cell phone camera, very low Mega Pixels, and who knows if this thing will zoom. But seriously people stop buying things because they have a added camera! Buy an actual digital camera!

Most schools don't allow video cameras/ cameras of most sorts some don't even allow cell phones with a camera in them. What will happen when this comes out? They are not going to check everyone's IPOD for a camera so they would just simply say NO IPODS.

[patrick_i]

Video Chat..... at least through WiFi.

[gsw01]

I would suggest HD video support. I tried to get cnet shows in HD but my iphone 3gs does not support them. Why is apple ruining cnet experience. Man i just wish microsoft can join the party and come up with a serious zune phone