Patent Brief: Apple Thinks Unibody iPod Classic & Beyond
Apple introduced a breakthrough unibody design for their latest MacBook line-up last fall and proudly produced a video wherein we see Jonathan Ives, Senior Design VP, Dan Riccio, Product Design VP and Bob Mansfield, Senior Mac Hardware VP review the revolutionary manufacturing process and hear their thinking behind it all. The unibody is a seamless enclosure carved from a single piece of aluminum. That's exactly what Apple describes in one of their latest patent applications revealed today. And while the MacBook is one of the products covered by this patent, it is in fact the iPod that is the design in focus. The thin sharp design, shown below, appears to reflect a future iteration of the iPod Classic - being that it still retains the classic iPod click-wheel. Apple's patent states that "the sheet metal may be formed in such a way that the final part looks like it was machined down from a large thick slab of material. By utilizing sheet metal, the overall cost of the part can be reduced." While the new process will apply to a plethora of future devices on the drawing board, Apple's mention of a television is perhaps the one that we all secretly long for. That's for another day. For now, it's the unibody iPod Classic with a very cool aluminized makeover that Apple is focusing on.
Some of the Devices Covered by this Patent
Comments