I was playing with my new iPod nano today and was blown away. This little device is $200. It has 2 Gigabytes of flash memory. A cheap 2 Gigabyte compact flash card is $150 today. Flash memeory is waay less likely to malfunction. I have two 30 Gig iPod’s with dead hard drives ($800 down the tube). The nano has this flash memory and a bright LCD color screen, a navagation system in the scroll wheel, a processor, software, and a rechargable battery. What an amazing value. I have hundreds of my favorite songs, many memorable images, my contact list, and my calander on this tiny device. This all downloaded easily from my iMac by enabling a few synch buttons.

I can see the evolution of this device. It will have Blue tooth and WiFi, so when in range of a connection, it will be able to access the internet, make internet based free phone calls to anywhere in the world. (phone companies are in trouble), print to a WiFi or Blue tooth enabled printer, send images, take picture with a digital camera, and receive emails. It will serve as a phone with a blue tooth earpiece. You can keep it in your pocket while making calls. It will connect with your car via Bluetooth and play your iTunes songs. It will display content on your car’s LCD screen amd turn over key controls to your cars interface. It will track it’s location through GPS and transfer this information to your car. It will use a local network harddrive as it’s harddrive via a WiFi connection. This will enable huge storage. It will act as a RF and IR remote for devices in your home. It will act as a key to start your car. I suspect it may even pick up digital television signals and enable you to watch television on it. I just saw a USB television tuner that will allow a laptop to get a television signal. This will be released in Europe this fall. Can’t wait!