New Hitachi drive may pave way for 6GB iPod mini

Word that Hitachi will soon unleash a new version of its slim-type hard drive has raised speculation that Apple Computer could release a slightly larger capacity iPod mini by next year.

In an interview with DigiTimes, Hitachi's vice president and general manager for the Asia-Pacific region, Pete Andreyev, said the company plans to unveil a 6GB slim-type drive in the fourth quarter this year. Apple's current iPod mini uses a 4GB Hitachi slim-type drive, which measures approximately 1 inch.

In March, Apple was forced to delay global sales of the iPod Mini into July because it couldn't get enough of the hard drives to meet the demand in the United States alone. In response, Hitachi's hard disk drive unit said that it would invest approximately $200 million in its Thailand factory to double disk drive output of its 1-inch, 4-gigabyte disk drives that are found in the iPod Mini.

The investment would reportedly boost production of Hitachi's Microdrive to about 2 million units per quarter by the end of the year, up from about 600,000 in the first quarter of this year.

It's no small secret that Apple is striving to release a digital music player with a price tag below $200, and hopes to do so with the next revision to its iPod mini. Mass production of a 6 GB iPod mini compatible drive could allow Apple to introduce a new high-end mini while slashing the cost its 4 GB player to $199.