Today the technology and Apple related blogs are all fired up with speculation that Apple may be about to introduce a pico projector or a product with an embedded pico projector. This conjecture is based on the discovery that Apple has taken control of the www.applepico.com domain name. Until recently, the domain was registered to, and managed by, “DNStination, Inc.”, an arm of MarkMonitor, a “Brand Protection Company.” Apple’s name now appears under the Administrative and Technical contacts. Since one of MarkMonitor’s services is anonymity, Apple may have owned this site since it was first registered in 2005, around the time the iPod Nano was introduced.
Mix together 1) the tendency for Apple to register domains related to new products just before those products are introduced, 2) Apple’s pico projector related patent applications 3) Apple is said to be looking for features to add to the next iPhone, and 4) the likelihood that Apple’s next new product introduction will be next month, and it’s easy to see why many Apple watchers theorize that a pico projector is coming from Apple.
The introduction of a pico projector by a company with the market power Apple commands, and the state-of-the-art product design they wield, would change the market forever. Any doubts about the credibility of these products would vanish overnight. Manufacturers who continue to sit on the fence would immediately dive in, including far too many of the top Mainstream projector makers, bringing fresh new products with them. It’s just about the best thing that could happen to the New Era market.
While it may well be that Apple plans to release a pico projector related product, it’s equally plausible that the iPod Nano is about to gain a little brother, the iPod Pico. Or, there could be nothing at all to any of this.