Toshiba Doubling 1.8-inch HDD Production

Anyways, could this mean what I think it does? Thinner, lighter 4th generation iPods? 1" thick ain't bad. Anyways double the iPod sales (how long until I hear 2 million sold?).
:D

Would these drives also be used for a portable video solution or device?

Some good news for the iPod, especially after all the iPod-bashing over at CNET recently. Eventually Apple will go with a 1" drive which will then make the iPod even more competitive, lighter, still able to hold about 204 billion tunes ...

1" HD + .8" battery = I hope better battery life one day.

interesting... do the new dell or samsung players use the toshiba drives? i'd like to see apple use the new 1" drives in the nextgen ipod

I just think this means that the iPod and iPod-like devices have been very popular.

Increased production should eventually lead to decreased costs.

arn

Originally posted by arn

Increased production should eventually lead to decreased costs.

i like the sound of THAT. i posted a few weeks ago that i expect to see price drops before the Christmas season, as a move to thwart people from buying the new dell player

Originally posted by Macrumors
Toshiba is the only manufacturer of 1.8" hard drives and plans to expand into 1" hard drives in the future.

According to this CNET article Hitachi already makes 1.8 drives, albeit in smaller sizes such as 15 GB and 20 GB.

I could easily see 1 inch drive ipods in the future. That could free up more space within its structure to allow more features (color video screen, FM transmitter, etc..) or expanded features (longer battery life, cheaper price,etc...)

Either way I sure would like to see this next generation. :)

I do not think that this news implies anything about new capacities, just that the demand for these drives has gone up. This was to be expected with Dell and Samsung/Napster ripping off the iPod with their own music players. There is also the iPod itself which is dominating the music player market.

When 1" disc capacities start reaching 5-10 GB and 1.8" discs exceed 100 GB I can see Apple spliting the iPod into two products: music and video. A new, smaller iPod that would use the 1" drive will be for music and backup, much like the current model is. The bigger iPod will be for video on the go, with the capacity to hold near-broadcast quality movies and the capability to output these on either a built-in screen or an external television through standard AV cables.

Whatever happens, Toshiba will be in the middle of all this.