Apple Moving to All Flash-based iPods?

As reported by Appleinsider, Prudential analyst Jesse Tortora claims that Apple may be moving to an all Flash based iPod line.

"We believe that the video iPod transition from 1.8-inch hard disk drives to NAND flash memory may occur as soon as late 2007," Tortora wrote. "Our checks indicate that Apple is considering canceling its next generation HDD-based iPod design, with the form factor refresh involving a move to NAND flash memory."

Despite the larger cost per GB for Flash memory, Tortora believes that the transition could be feasible with sizes as large as 32GB sizes of Flash memory.

One big advantage of the transition from Hard Drive to Flash would be increased battery life. The current 30GB Hard Drive based iPod only offers 3.5hrs of video playback, while a theoretical 30GB Flash iPod would allow for 5.5 hours of video playback.

Of note, MacRumors has been keeping track of previous predictions and claims made by Jesse Tortora regarding upcoming Apple products, and his analyst reports have generally been inaccurate.

That being said, another analyst (Daniel Amir) had previously predicted a 16GB Flash Video iPod back in December of 2006. This new report may add a bit of credence to that original prediction.