Japanese Company Offers Docking Station For iMac G4 With iPod Bay

March 21st, 2002 at 2:00 PM - Macworld Expo by Bryan Chaffin and Darla Sasaki

A very cool innovation found on the showroom floor of MACWORLD Tokyo is a docking station for the new G4 iMacs made by a local company called IMTG. Normally, youid have to reach around the base of the iMac to plug in your peripherals, but the new docking station brings everything to your fingertips. Called (roughly translated) "The Button," this is one gadget that weid love to have cradling our iMac.

Adding approximately four inches (in diameter) to the iMacis footprint, this smooth looking gadget puts two USB and two FireWire ports right in front of you, as well as adding a separate, rectangular port just for an iPod. The iPod seems to fit into its dock much in the way that game cartridges would load into a SuperNintendo console, albeit horizontally. Inside the bay is a FireWire port that the iPod slides onto, mounting it on your desktop for integrating with iTunes.

Click the thumbnail for a larger image.

The Button in all its glory

A close up of the front, including the iPod bay

The bad news is that the company does not have a Web site for you to check out, and is not accepting orders outside Japan.