When: Gen 3 with fancy new dock and USB2?

He's some info suggesting the imiment release of a fancy new dock:

Our most solid OEM source has provided MacWhispers with a report of a new iPod docking cable that is scheduled to go into mass production during "the next 30-days or so." The all-white cable is unique in that it has a full-dock connector at both ends.

The cable was apparently one of the variations submitted to this OEM manufacturer along with the original bid package, as far back as December, 2002, but is the last cable version to receive the production go-ahead from Apple. While we are not at liberty to enumerate the many iPod functions offered and controlled by the 32-pin dock connector, we will point out that Apple only pays for the inclusion of internal wire extensions in a cable that are actually used at both ends; for instance, the standard cable, with a dock connector at one end and a FireWire connector at the other only carries the eight Firewire related wires all the way though the cable, as none of the remaining 24 wires from the dock connector are used at the computer end of the cable. Apple saves money by omitting unused wires from cables.

We have been told that the new cable carries all 32 wires the entire 600mm to 800mm length of the cable, from one complete 32-pin dock connector to another complete 32-in dock connector.

Originally posted by jasperstory
when these fancy docks and the usb come into being... will they ship with the ipod or are they merely add ons... it seems stupid to sell a g3 15 gig ipod with a dock when a better one is a available.

The current basic dock will still be shipped with the iPods in the future, and the new docks will be a seperate purchase. Apple will make lots of money this way.

Originally posted by mongoos150
The current basic dock will still be shipped with the iPods in the future, and the new docks will be a seperate purchase. Is this just your speculation? I know Apple will offer any new docks separately for original Gen 3 iPods. But wouldn't Apple just go ahead and throw the new docks in with the new batch of iPods? They'd spin it as a new "upgrade".