Taiwan’s DigiTimes are reporting that Wi-Fi is coming to the Apple iPods. Expected to launch in the second half, the new iPods will sport Wi-Fi modules manufactured by Universal Scientific Industrial (USI). USI will ship start shipments to Foxconn this month and Foxconn should ship completed players to Apple in the third quarter, according to DigiTimes sources.
Rumours of Wi-Fi on the iPods are not new but, given that both the Microsoft Zune and the just announced SanDisk Sansa Connect sport Wi-Fi, Apple may have finally decided that it was time to add this capability to its lineup.
It remains to be seen how Apple plans Apple to use the new iPod Wi-Fi capabilities. Possibilities include wireless synchronization, music streaming to a friend’s iPod, music sharing (but how will that work with the DRM-free music coming to iTunes?) and perhaps even over-the-air iTunes purchases (probably further out in the future).
DigiTimes also reports that both Samsung and Sony are also planning to add Wi-Fi capabilities to their digital audio players.