“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
Given that motorola are expected to launch the iTunes phone on the same day I think its more or less certain that Apple will too ….
Apple will introduce a time machine. Mac fanboy users will complain that it only allows travel forward in time, not backward and that the $25 price tag is too expensive.
Most will say they are waiting for time machine 2.0
‘1,000 songs in your pocket changed everything, Here we go again.'”
This is too bold a statement to be the damn phone. Plus if it was the phone..it’s still about offering 1000 songs in your pocket…doesn’t make sense with the quote, “Here we go again”…ie. something new that will be revolutionary.
Video iPod with vTunes here we come.
Does anyone know if there’s an online video of the original iPod announcment event? I’d love to see that!
New iPod enabled Phone
New Updated iPods
Release of QuickTime 7 for Windoze
Update to iTunes
AppleWorks is listed in software for Macs sold in Finland. But it might be, that they are not preinstalled but are available just like Classic in on the software CD/DVD.
I think these guys got it backwards, it’s not going to be a new shuffle. They’re going to make the minis Flash based instead of hard-drive based.
I think I’ve got it. It’s going to be an iPod wireless Borg implant. Well… it’s being announced on Seven of Nine!
Guy from Finland- about Appleworks
Pro macs don’t have Appleworks and WorldBook but iMacs iBooks, and eMacs do. Quicken does not come preinstalled in home macs, but if you do a software restore from the disks Quicken appears in your Applications- strange. (It’s the US$ version though.)
Beam me up Scotty. I would go for one of those borg implants! Hate the earbuds.
WHY do peopLE CARE if it’s calleD ITUnes or IPod or IPHOto or IPhoto or iphoto or icon or iCOn SHeEESH!
CAPITAList DICtators.
On Sept. 7th, Steve Ballmer will be announcing he changed his shirt.
(Happens every 6 months or so….)
Here’s an idea: an iTunes phone along the lines of a Blackberry or Treo, a PDA/phone/iPod hybrid, with, of course, a toned-down version of OS X. Can you imagine a Terminal on a cell-phone, preconfigured and optimized right out of the box?!
People say that OS X is ripping off the Linux/freeBSD open source community, but actually it’s Apple committing some of the best engineers in the industry to the average end-user, instead of some snide-ass bitch with his HOWTOs and “if you don’t have it, make it yourself” attitude.
And it was about time Microsoft ported Windows to NeXTSTEP. They were really lagging behind, there.
Except, of course, they had to do it the Microsoft way. The call it GONAD, or msh, which stands for must sell house.
twidldee, i would love that!
while i’m tempted to think it’s something like moving the mini from HD to flash based, i don’t think that’s going to be it. While that is a big difference for those of us that follow all these details, to the average consumer, that’s not much a difference at all. Also, so much information has already been released about the Motorola iTunes phone that the shock value on that would be so low that i don’t think that will be it either.
a video iPod could be it. if that’s the case, i would expect some major changes to the hardware in order to make watching videos easier on the eyes.
but as i said, i’m holding out for something that could replace a Treo or Blackberry.
“Apple will introduce a time machine. Mac fanboy users will complain that it only allows travel forward in time, not backward and that the $25 price tag is too expensive.”
hammer, you’re being silly…Apple wouldn’t price a time machine below $999.
And, of course, traveling only *forward* in time would cause them to lose their entire customer base. Backward-only is more practical.
It will be, at least, an iPod that connects to the Music Store wirelessly (maybe WiFi, probably cellular), with the tantalizing possibility of other future Internet capabilities (email, chat, web browsing). It may also tie into the iPod phone concept.
Or maybe he’ll just demonstrate that he’s finally perfected the “Got your nose” trick.
They’re going to release the iMate, a walking, talking, (other stuff) companion robot, based on the recent designs in Japan. And of course, it will be white.