Apple will bring out an iPod with Wi-Fi wireless connectivity on board during the latter half of the year - if the latest whispers coming from Taiwan's electronics manufacturer community are to be believed, that is.

So claims local newssite DigiTimes today (http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20070403PD200.html), which mentions moles from contract manufacturers Foxconn and Universal Scientific (USI). Foxconn is making the player; USI the Wi-Fi module it's said to contain.

Wi-Fi is one of those features of questionable value in a personal music player. Certainly, Microsoft's Zune, which uses Wi-Fi for song-sharing, doesn't appear to have won swathes of converts to wireless music.

More likely, if Wi-Fi is part of the iPod programme, it's to allow the player to grab content directly from the iTunes online store. That's almost certainly going to be a feature of the iPhone - albeit over cellular rather than Wi-Fi - and it makes particular sense if the facility will be a part of the much-rumoured video-centric widescreen iPod.

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