Inside Bay Area has some analysis of Apple's June patent filing (which did not appear online until last week) for what will most likely be the next generation of the video iPod - the one long rumored to composed entirely of touch-sensitive screen. The interesting thing about the patents is that in at least one version of the drawings, Apple has abandoned the now famous click-wheel design entirely, opting for a touch-sensitive frame to control the device. The patent also mentions a combined frame and click-wheel version, so it's possible that the click-wheel may not be disappearing entirely.

What's interesting about all of these designs is that it makes me wonder what else Apple will change about the controls of the next iPod. Will they make it easier to create playlists, for example, or delete files from the hard drive? Will the interface display more information about what you're looking at or listening to? speculation will turn to discovery soon enough, I'm sure.