Good Morning Silicon Valley

Let’s see — yesterday’s rumor was that the next iPhone would have a form factor like the iPod Nano. That speculation from a JP Morgan analyst was shot down within hours (by another JP Morgan analyst, no less). That clears the decks for today’s rumor that the next iPods will have touch-screen interfaces like the iPhone. The word from occasionally reliable DigiTimes, based on reports from “sources at upstream suppliers,” is that Taiwan-based Wintek has a contract to supply capacitive touch screen panels to Apple for a next-generation iPod due in August. According to TechCrunch, “Wintek is known for using a technology known as chip-on-film, a flexible piece of film mounted with components and often used in small-screen devices like cell phones. The film can be folded in places containing no components (like corners), which would make it a good option if Apple were to stretch the screen across the entire front of the yet-to-be-officially-announced device.” Remember, the standard Apple-rumor caveats apply.

Back here in the real world of real products, iPhone owners who were disappointed that the device couldn’t be used for data storage now have a semi-solution. Ecamm’s iPhoneDrive lets you drag and drop files from your Mac (but not from Windows) onto your iPhone. This makes it useful for transporting or backing up data, but that’s it — you still can’t view the files. At least not until that big iPhone upgrade that’s been rumored.