Everybody and their mother are speculating that the use of “red curtains” in Apple’s “One more thing…” invitation to a special event on October 12 means that it somehow has to do with movies (or video, but what do red curtains have to do with video?) The event, which was announced by an email sent to media, is scheduled to be held in the California Theater in San Jose, California.
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“We’d guess it’s certainly about movies and/or video, as suggested by the invitation’s positively theatrical red velvet curtain background,” writes Tony Smith for The Register here.
“The idea of visual entertainment seems to go along with the theme of the invitation, which is decorated with a picture of a red velvet curtain. Apple’s email announcements sometimes hold clues that aren’t usually apparent until after the release of the news,” Red Herring reports here.
“The cryptic invitation… featured a photo of a closed theater curtain… fueling speculation the company will unveil a video iPod player,” Jessie Seyfer writes for The Mercury News here.
CNET’s Ina Fried has some other ideas, “Some have speculated that the Mac mini might make a nice set-top box. But an even more portable option would be if the iPod itself acted as set-top box. Driving high-quality video, though, would likely require some higher performance innards than are found in today’s music players.”
“Another sleeper product that could be in the mix is Apple’s AirPort Express. In addition to serving as a portable wireless router, the device can stream music around the home. From its inception, though, the product has been notable for the possibilities it opens up. Video could also be carried over the same wireless airwaves,” Fried writes. “And, oh yeah, let’s not forget that the ‘One more thing’ Apple is announcing could be a Mac. You remember the Mac, right? That’s the computer that used to be 100 percent of Apple’s business just a few years ago.”
Full article here.
One important thing to note is that the California Theater’s curtains are the same red curtains featured in Apple’s invitation. Maybe the curtains are meant to signify “a magnificent unveiling” by Apple and carry no additional meaning. Granted, Apple’s last invitation showed a close up of the change pocket of a pair of blue jeans and one of the things announced by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, the iPod nano, was unveiled from the change pocket of his jeans. Of course, the Motorola ROKR iTunes phone and iTunes 5 has nothing to do with that same invitation’s imagery.
So, do you think the “red curtains” mean anything? Do they signify the event’s main attraction with other unrelated announcements also to come? Did Apple set us up with last month’s blue jeans and those red curtains just meant to be a ruse? What do you think?