Apple announce Nikon iPod

Apple have today announced a partnership with Nikon in Japan to release the Nikon iPod or what we’re affectionately calling the “niPod”.

The move apparently comes as people expect quality cameras to be blended with their music players, a trend that Apple looks to be following in the footsteps of companies like Samsung who previous had models such as the Digimax i50.

The Nikon iPod, or what we're calling... the niPod.

The Nikon iPod isn’t the replacement for the iPod Classic but looks to be available for an extra two-hundred dollars and features a 9 megapixel sensor with flash and 3x zoom. To use the camera, users just run the application from the menu entitled “Nikon Capture” and the camera loads up with the lens cap automatically sliding away as you’d expect.

It’s interesting to note that while Apple & Nikon are playing catch-up to Samsung with this device, they’re also removing features and going for a new way of taking pictures. The camera in the Nikon iPod looks like it lacks many of the features that have been staple features for years including Scene Selection and Movie Mode.

The Nikon iPod, however, has a custom streamlined interface designed to work quickly with Apple’s established controls and lets you play with Flash, zoom, and then quit and go back to music.

Obviously, the problem most people will expect with the niPod is how do you get your images off?

Well it looks like Apple have finally decided to do something about this with iTunes’ Photo side of things now working with this camera. Images are automatically added to the Photos section in the Nikon iPod and when synchronised with the base computer, users will automatically download the images.

We’ll have more on the Nikon iPod when we get one to play with.