White iPhone 4?
In the tech world, it's become an annual rite of fall.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs and company have, for the past five years, used September as the time to announce new products and services among the company's music offerings.
Last year, Jobs -- making his first public appearance since returning to work after a liver transplant -- unveiled some changes to the iPod lineup, including new Nanos with video cameras, and announced slashed prices on the portable music players.
In 2005, the iPod Nano was unveiled and, in 2007, the iPod Touch.
This year, the invitation to Apple's annual September media event, at 1 p.m. ET in San Francisco, California, features the image of an acoustic guitar with the Apple logo carved into it. As usual, the tech media dissected the image for clues, even joking that Apple was preparing to unveil a new product, the iGuitar.
Apple will be livestreaming the event on its Apple.com website, but only to Apple users.
Viewing requires a Mac running the Safari web browser (on Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard), an iPhone or iPod Touch running the operating system iOS 3.0 or higher or the iPad.
Apple is notoriously tight-lipped about new product announcements. But that hasn't stopped the usual spate of speculation that precedes them (some of it actually based on leaks and other real information).
So here are our thoughts on which of the rumors swirling around the internet may actually make their way into Jobs' presentation and which will remain mere figments of Apple fanboy (and girl) imagination.
Quite possible ...
New iPod Nano and iPod Touch
Last year's iPod changes weren't exactly sweeping, so it makes sense that Apple's first mobile-device hit may be getting a more thorough freshen-up this time around.
The tiny Nano could be getting a touchscreen, replacing the classic Apple click-wheel, and the Touch may get upgrades -- such as a higher-resolution screen and a front-facing camera -- that give it many features of the iPhone 4 (without, obviously, the phone).
Wired on Tuesday was citing the website iLounge, which predicts the Touch will change shapes to more closely resemble the new iPhone.
Longer song samples on a reworked iTunes
Tech blog CNET was reporting Monday that the length of song samples that users can listen to in the iTunes Store will double from 30 seconds to a minute.
Quoting an unnamed source, the blog said the expansion will be part of an overhaul of how iTunes works.
The expanded samples aren't much of a blockbuster, but would make the Apple store more competitive with other sites like Amazon and Pandora, which offer longer samples of streamed music.
Maybe ...
Apple TV
Branching out into TV wouldn't seem to mesh with the event's apparently musical bent.
But Jobs has been known to make rapid-fire announcements at these things, swerving to discuss products that aren't necessarily the main focus. And he's fond of the "Oh, and one more thing ... " approach for surprises, so don't totally rule out a television announcement.
Eventually, Apple is expected to release a cheaper ($99, down from $229), iOS-based version of its set-top box, and this could be the week.
Also, a recent unconfirmed news report said that iTunes may begin renting TV programming this fall to viewers for 99 cents per episode. If this is true, Jobs may want to make the news official.
Finally, the elusive white iPhone 4
Why not?
When the iPhone 4 was released in June, the white version was running behind but was supposed to be ready in July.
Then came July, and Apple announced another delay, simply saying the phones "have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected."
The last announcement said the phones would be available "later this year."
Well, it's later. Wednesday may be a fine time for Jobs to finally announce a release date.
Highly unlikely ...
Death of the iPod?
There are voices online speculating that this will be the obituary for the iPod.
To be sure, the emergence of the iPhone and iPad have edged the music player, which was introduced in 2001, closer to obscurity.
After all, who wants a simple media player when they can have a phone or tablet-style computer that can do all that and more?
But Apple has shown no signs of giving up on the players.
While sales were down from the previous year, Apple still sold 21 million iPods during the first quarter of this fiscal year. Not too shabby.
And what the classic iPod lacks in buzz, it makes up for in storage capacity -- the device is still able to hold way more songs, videos and other media than the iPhone.
The Beatles on iTunes
The Beatles are one of the few blockbuster musical acts not to sell their songs through Apple's online store. But let's face it -- if this was going to change, it probably would have happened last year.
Apple's last music announcement came on 9/9/09 -- seemingly too much of a coincidence considering the band's plans to release the first records in its remastered catalog and its own version of the "Rock Band" video game on that date (a nod to their mind-bending "Revolution 9").
But ... nothing.
Fans have eagerly anticipated the Fab Four's arrival in iTunes, while EMI, the two surviving members and the estates of the two others have balked -- largely because of concerns about sound quality.
Earlier this month, Yoko Ono threw more cold water on the idea, telling Reuters that "[t]here's just an element that we're not very happy about, as people. We are holding out."
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