Apple's touch screen iPod de-invents the wheel

IT LOOKS like the iconic wheel on Apple's eyePod might be headed for the scrap heap of history.

According to ZD Net, a recent Apple patent has indicated that the maker of entertainment gear is looking at building a "multiple-function multimedia device activated by touch-screen "bezel" technology".

Also included in the patent seem to be the specs to provide a digital camera on the MP3 players. according to this patent, this indicates that Apple wants an iPodcam with touch-screen capability to switch back and forth between music-player and camera modes.

Of course if you have a touch screen, it is less likely that you would need that wheel on the front, unless you would use it to get to more touch screens. However the diagrams in the patent suggest that the wheel is unnecessary.

More here. µ