Next iPod Touch, iProd

iProd will support high speed wireless networks like 3G

Apple's upcoming iPhone OS 3.1 firmware update will provide a few new features like augmented reality API support and several bug fixes. After the third beta of iPhone OS 3.1 SDK was released, a developer tipped Ars Technica with information that updated USBConfiguration.plist contained details about Apple's upcoming unknown device dubbed as iProd and also third generation iPod Touch. The evidence of the unknown Apple product dubbed iProd first came up in March this year when Apple seeded the iPhone OS 3.0 beta SDKs to developers.

A property list file USBConfiguration.plist found that an unencrypted iPhone OS 3.1 beta firmware shows information about new Apple product models along with the existing ones. For instance, the "iPhone1,1" represents the first generation iPhone model and "iPhone3,1" is the latest iPhone 3GS model. Apple uses such numbers to distinguish between different hardware models where in the number before the comma represents hardware version.

The unknown device with hardware model "iProd0,1" refers to the prototype being tested while "iProd1,1" would be first generation unknown product expected in September. This iProd1,1 device is also said to support high speed wireless networks like 3G.

The iProd is likely to be the much rumored $800 Apple Tablet that might be launched along with third generation iPod Touch. As Philip Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, told David Pogue of New York Times, Apple iPod's Yearly Product Cycle (Timeline) falls in October.