Apple may be considering adding wireless file sharing capabilities on iPod and iPhone. At least this is why a patent filled on September 2006 describes. And while we are in the topic, on other (old) Zune news back from November, Microsoft may start paying Zune owners who share wirelessly ...
From AppleInsider :
The September 1, 2006 filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office describes methods "for delivery of data to a portable electronic device from another electronic device" over a local wireless network -- a technique eerily similar to one introduced by Microsoft with its Zune media player last November.
"In one embodiment, one mobile device discovers another mobile device within its vicinity. The mobile devices can then wirelessly transmit data from one mobile device to the other," Apple wrote in the filing. "Typically, the mobile devices are associated with persons (users). The mobile devices, or their users, can control, request or influence the particular data content being delivered."
Capable iPods and iPhones, the filing states, would include a processor that is configured to discover other electronic device via a wireless link, request data from the other electronic device over the wireless link, and receive from the other electronic device a wireless transmission of at least a portion of the data requested via the wireless link.
Here are some photos from patent 515270 :
