Future iPods may be able to work with cellular phone networks. Two patents filed by the company point towards an iPod design that can allow users to tag a digital media file on one device and network and download it to another device on another network. This is similar to how Sprint and Verizon allow you to buy a song over the air, and then tag it for downloading to your PC at some later time.
If Apple builds out the technologies described in the 2004 application, the company Apple can stake a claim on the ringtones market again. Patent application #20060095339 describes a wireless-enabled device that can purchase ringtones and graphics, as well as eBooks, over a cellular network. It also specifies personal area networking technologies such as Ultra Wide Band.