Rumor: Apple working on wearable iPod with Siri control

According to the NYT, Apple is rumored to be testing wearable iPod-like devices that fit around your wrist and are controlled not by touch, but with your voice using Siri.

Apple has also experimented with prototype products that could relay information back to the iPhone. These conceptual products could also display information on other Apple devices, like an iPod, which Apple is already encouraging us to wear on our wrists by selling Nanos with watch faces. [...] One idea being discussed is a curved-glass iPod that would wrap around the wrist; people could communicate with the device using Siri, the company’s artificial intelligence software.

Apple previously experimented with a nearly buttonless, voice controlled iPod shuffle but quickly returned to physical controls for the tiny device. Siri, which unlike the older VoiceControl system, currently requires a network connection to properly parse voice queries. Since no iPod other than the iPod touch currently has Wi-Fi, let alone cellular data, that raises the same interesting questions about the future of Siri and the iPod line both.

We've been asking for an iPod nano watch with Bluetooth connectivity for a while now. Perhaps the iPod will work as a tethered link to your iPhone?

Although it may be some time down the road before we actually start to see something like this materialize in Apple's product lines, it's still good to know they're considering ideas like this.

Source: NYTimes Bits

Concept image credit: Yanko Design