Scribbled by Sven L. L. Rafferty

There’s been rumors galore about the iPod getting Wi-Fi, but I’ve seen little to no mention about Bluetooth for it outside of speculation. Well, if I know Steve Jobs - and let’s face it, I don’t :) - he’ll be hot to add this inexpensive feature to the next iPod for it’s extreme added value.

What worth could this struggling technology possibly have you ask? Ask their partner, HP. If you haven’t noticed, they just released a Bluetooth headset for their PocketPC hardware line, the iPAQ. Dave’s iPAQ has a great review of these headphones and when you’re done reading it, you’re going to be saying the same thing I’ve been saying for nearly a year, “Apple has to make Bluetooth a standard on the iPod’s, now!”

Think about it. You’ll be able to skip songs, pause, decrease, increase, mute volume and a whole slew of other cool things all from the headphones mounted controls. No cords! Plus you’ll be able to do this up to 30 feet away from your iPod! So you won’t have to just have it strapped to your belt, but keep it docked in your cube at work and wonder to the coffee room for a refill while never missing a beat to Latrimm’s “Cars That Go Boom”.

Yes, I think it is a must for Steve to plop Bluetooth into the iPod. Besides having the headphone functionality (and I’m sure HP would be more then happy to make their headset work with their iPod,) you’d also have the ability to grab your address book via iSync. Heck, dare I even suggest some kind of connectivity with the upcoming iPhone by Motorola where it would be able to stream music from the iPod? See what I’m saying? Endless possibilities and since no one else has done it in the portable music arena, it’s Apple’s chance to be first… again!