Like most aging celebs, the iPod looks like it's also thinking of getting some work done. A series of designs registered by Apple Computer with a European trademark and design office early this year suggests the company may soon abandon its Click-Wheel interface in future iPod versions.

In one of the design sketches for the iPod nano (see image above), the Click-Wheel has been replaced by a keypad layout that resembles a traditional cell phone handset. Below the nano's screen is a circular navigation pad, flanked by two input buttons. Right below these controls is a keypad layout consisting of what could be 12 numeric keys in the traditional cellphone keypad layout. The second iPod nano design sketch includes a display and what appears to be a 4-way directional pad similar to the Nintendo Entertainment Systems game controllers.

Apple's filings also include four additional designs (see image below) based on the iPod nano. It includes a navigational interface unlike anything seen on current iPods today. One sports a square Apple TrackPad, another has an elongated scroll strip with a rounded top and base. The third and fourth designs include some form of elliptical controller .

The last two designs show an iPod nano and a fifth-generation video iPod with a display screen and nothing more. It could be related to another iPod audio interface patent Apple described as a voice-activated menu navigation system.

What do you think of these new designs? Let us know via the comments.

"Let's face the music and dance."  - Irving Berlin, 1936

Fred Astaire sang those words seventy years ago, and it seems appropriate for Apple as it heads into the "winter of its discontent" with its European customer base. Between chat-room scuttlebutt questioning the device's reliability and leaking news of questionable labor practices in its Chinese factories, the shiny new toy that Britons fell in love with two years ago is starting to lose its lustre.

According to Britain's YouGov Brand Awareness Index, the Apple i-Pod has been showing a steady and "very significant" decline in popularity. Some 50 million units have been sold in the U.K. since 2001, and Apple insists there are no problems with the product. Despite the decline, the iPod remains Britain's most popular portable music player.

This recent apparent fall from grace may be linked to bad publicity when last year, after coming out with the iPod Nano, Apple admitted that some of the models had screens that were scratched too easily. Other people have complained that the iPod Shuffle's lacks a screen.

 FirstGov's Sunpid Chahal says, "Apple used to stand for corporate reputation and quality, and people were prepared to pay more because they got it back in quality."

Apple's own Greg Joswiak disagrees, however: "A lot of products don't enjoy such a low failure rate - mobile phones can be up to 30%. The vast majority of customers are extremely happy and have never experienced a failure." He also points out that many people aren't exactly gentle when it comes to delicate electronic devices, adding, "Most problems are caused by mishandling. They are complex electronic components and they can be broken if dropped or mishandled."