“Apple Computer Inc. on Monday said it will announce a new product in early September and fanned expectations it will introduce an updated iPod Shuffle music player with much more capacity,” Reuters reports. “Apple is known for its marketing prowess and keeps new products under tight wraps before unveiling them at carefully staged events. The company is widely expected to introduce a relatively roomy four-gigabyte iPod which uses sticks of flash memory, the type of storage used in digital cameras, rather than a hard disk drive. That would hold about 1,000 songs.”
Reuters reports, “Industry analyst Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies Inc. in Campbell, California, said the news could be a new 4-gigabyte Shuffle, which would have four times the memory of the current model. ‘The obvious news may be the higher density iPod Shuffle,” he said. “But (Apple CEO Steve Jobs) may have something else up his sleeve. Steve loves surprises,’ he said.”
Full article here.
Dawn C. Chmielewski reports for The San Jose Mercury News, “The Cupertino company e-mailed an invitation to reporters Monday, alerting them to a ‘special event’ Sept. 7 at Moscone Center. The invitation featured a close-up image of the watch pocket on a pair of jeans… ‘1,000 songs in your pocket changed everything,’ the invitation reads, in a clear allusion to the 2001 introduction of the iPod. ‘Here we go again.'”
Chmielewski reports, “Well-placed music industry sources believe Apple will introduce a version of the iPod that plays videos. The Cupertino computer maker has been engaged in active negotiations for the rights to sell music videos and has secured rights from at least one major record company, according to people familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The e-mail sparked rampant rumors about what Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs might announce. Apple-watchers say the debut of the much-anticipated iTunes phone is just as likely as a video iPod. The iTunes phone would allow callers to buy songs using a mobile version of Apples’s music software. Tracks would be stored on the phone’s flash-memory chip.”
Full article here.
John Borland reports for CNET News, “Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg cautioned against expecting anything too far out of Apple’s existing product line, saying that a video iPod is unlikely. The iTunes-compatible phone is a likely candidate, he said, but added that the company could have surprises in store. ‘When it comes to Apple announcements, expectations are often set unrealistically by Apple enthusiasts,’ Gartenberg said. ‘But Apple has been known to pull rabbits out of the proverbial hat. It may be a new category of device altogether.'”
Full article here.
Don’t forget the rumors from last March regarding Apple building a satellite-based content delivery system or the “Tablet Mac” rumors or the July Forbes report that Apple has plans to become a phone company as a “mobile virtual network operator” (MVNO) that might even be tied into the iTunes Music Store.
Related articles:
Apple announces ‘special event’ to be held September 7th – August 29, 2005
Forbes: Apple Computer planning to become a phone company? – July 08, 2005 (MVNO)
RUMOR: Apple Tablet exists running ‘reduced version’ of Mac OS X – May 24, 2005
Apple building satellite-based content delivery system? – March 29, 2005
RUMOR: Apple building satellite-based High Defintion Video Delivery system – March 22, 2005
RUMOR: Apple Computer building its own mobile communications carrier ‘AppleMobile’ – December 28, 2004
