Apple's iPod nano could return to taller form, rumor says

Apple's iPod nano before its massive shrinking began.

(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

If there's one chameleon in Apple's iPod lineup, it's a close race between the iPod nano and the shuffle. Both have changed dramatically over the course of their respective product lifespans, and a new rumor says the it could happen all over again to the next nano.

According to Japanese Apple blog Macotakara, Apple's next iPod nano will return to an earlier form of sorts, reverting back to the tried and true "oblong style" form-factor. As a frame of reference, the current nano is more like an iPod shuffle, just with a touchscreen on the front instead of click controls.

One curious thing about this rumor is what this means to the cottage industry that's been built up around using the iPod nano as a watch. There have been numerous third-party accessories that use the iPod nano as a digital time piece, so much so that Apple made it a point in one of its last major iPod nano software updates to add additional faces.

The benefit in all this, Macotakara offers, is that the device will sport a dedicated home button, and run an iTunes app, presumably meaning it will ha... [Read more]