As usual, developers have been lightning quick to expose the inner workings of the new iPhone firmware, and device IDs hidden inside have highlighted the possibility of interesting new devices.
As the source on BGR points out, each previous iPhone and iPod touch has had a device number:
iPhone First Gen - 0×1290
iPod touch 1G - 0×1291
iPhone 3G - 0×1292
iPod touch 2G - 0×1293
The next generation?
But in the recent firmware, the following IDs have been shown, and there are some interesting product concepts in there:
iPhone2.1 - 0×1294
iProd0.1 - 0×1295
iPod2.2 - 0×1296
iPhone3.1 - 0×1297
iFPGA - 0×1298
iPod3.1 - 0×1299
The iFPGA (FPGA usually stands for Field Programmable Gate Array) likely represents a re-programmable circuit that can be changed through software alone. While this could be used simply for development, it's also possible that it refers to a standalone device, possibly the forthcoming Macbook mini, Apple's supposed netbook.
And don't even get us started on the iProd... we have absolutely no idea what that could be, other than a new tablet device. And even if it was, there's very little chance it would be called that!
It also seems possible that the new iPhone 3.0 software will carry support for two new iPhone models, as 2.1 and 3.1 are also mentioned in the device IDs.
Of course, only Apple can know the real meanings of these IDs, but as experience has shown last year, all the pieces are falling into place to expect a new iPhone launch this summer.
