iPod Nano Supports FireWire for Charging, but Not Synching

From Glenn Fleishman’s iPod Nano review:

Of less importance is the iPod Nano’s reliance on USB: it cannot be synced via FireWire, although it can be charged via FireWire. With USB 2.0 on all Mac models and all modern PCs, this is but a footnote. (Older Mac owners with USB 1.1 gripe because of the dramatically lower transfer speed; however, for 2 or 4 GB of storage, it’s a bit less of an issue than with a full-scale iPod.)

I noticed on the day the Nano was announced that FireWire wasn’t supported, but I didn’t know until now that it still worked for charging. Anyone know the reason for this? My guess is that it’s about saving space internally; that FireWire data support would entail additional hardware inside the case, but that accepting a charge over FireWire works “for free” with the Dock Connector port.

★ Wednesday, 14 September 2005