Apple are planning a press conference for September 7

[symphonix]

See:

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25787

http://news.com.com/Apple+hints+at+b...3-5844112.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...ck=1&cset=true

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/te...y/30apple.html

Of course, much of what I've read is pure speculation, and its still quite possible that all of these "informed sources" turn out to be bunk. But Apple is promising something really new and ground-breaking. The circumstances surrounding the press conference are very reminiscent of the launch of the iPod on Oct 23rd 2001.

The press conference invite refers to: "1000 songs, here we go again" and, according to The Inquirer:

It just says the usual PR/marketing nonsense about how the iPod changed life on earth as we know it and this annoucement will be something like that.

Of course, it may be something as minor as a colour screen or flash-based iPod mini.

So you know what that means ... let the rampant and crazy speculation run wild!!!

[adambyte]

I think it's going to be a video iPod that stores videos in MP4 format on it's Terabyte solid-state chip and has a battery that you can charge with your imagination.

lol. Realistically, a solid-state iPod mini. MAYBE a video iPod. Whatever. Not a big deal.

[Mikuro]

I think a video iPod WOULD be a big deal. But I also don't think it's in the cards, at least not this year. "A dozen DVDs in your pocket" just doesn't sound too impressive, now does it? (I realize that if they were distributed as mp4s it'd probably be more like 50-100 movies, but still...)

A solid-state mini would be interesting, I guess, although the only practical advantage would be battery life. Nothing to get worked up over as far as I'm concerned. How much do 6GB flash sticks go for, though? Come to think of it...do they even make them that big? If not, I doubt they'll change the mini. I don't think it would make sense for Apple to reduce the capacity of the Mini line.

I hope the Big Announcement is a unified worldwide iTMS. THAT would be nice, and it'd also be pretty big news. But I really, reeeaaaaally doubt it's gonna happen (really!). It seems hard enough to get the labels to agree to sell their stuff in a single country, let alone the whole world....*sigh*

[CreativeEye]

when apple marketing writes "1000 songs in your pocket changed everything. Here we go again," - it had better be a BIG deal!

if steve jobs is hosting the show - and he has to live up to "1000 songs in your pocket changed everything. Here we go again," - it had better be a BIG deal - i doubt he is the type of person to say - "1000 songs, here we go again...ipod minis now have flash drives..." - he'd be a laughing stock...

whatever it is - and i have no idea - and i'm kinda tired of endless conjecture...it will be a big(ish) deal...if its the ipodo-moto-fono... then ay least they've finally got around to releasing the freaking thing! though even that certainly does not live up to "1000 songs in your pocket changed everything. Here we go again,"...

[gollum84]

Check out these links. Do you think they are real?

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellp...eak-118674.php

http://appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1242

http://www.motorazr.com/home/p2_articleid/21

[symphonix]

^ Seems likely enough to me. It would be a big enough announcement to justify this press conference and the spiel that goes with it. ^

Edit: I found an image of the actual invite.

http://www.appleinsider.com/image.ph...-phone&id=1151

[fryke]

Apple knows that "a 1000 songs in your pocket" _really_ changed the world. Would they hint to that event (the iPod's introduction) if this was only about Motorola releasing one or two mobile phones that run a mobile version of iTunes? Even if it was a sophisticated version, even if it was _perfect_ - which would mean nothing more than it'd synch 'alright' with iTunes on your Mac or PC - this would be rather a _small_ step for mankind in my opinion. People already have mobile phones that can have some songs on them. Gosh: I've got two. I've got a couple of MP3s and AACs on my 512MB MMC that I can use both in my Nokia 6600 and my Nokia Communicator 9500. They work fine, but I still use my iPod - and having some music on my mobile phones certainly doesn't change the world...

Now: The real next step, in my opinion, _would_ be video on the iPod. I know, we've discussed this before. But yes it _would_ be 50 to 100 movies (1.5 to 2 hour movies, mind you!), because it's quite clear they'd use either MP4 or (more likely) H.264.

The real problem isn't creating the hardware. A movie playing iPod with a 60 GB drive? Almost done already. The real problem is content licensing. With the original iPod, Apple just didn't talk about illegal content - or not much, anyway. They said you shouldn't steal. They were talking about ripping CDs into iTunes and synching the iPod to iTunes. And later, they talked about buying tracks from iTMS. But ripping DVDs to your Mac isn't exactly allowed in some countries. So that'd be different.

In my opinion, Apple would have to let people who have access to iTMS buy/download music videos, trailers, TV shows (licensed of course), shorts and maybe even some complete movies.

I _suspect_ however, that Apple is using the line to create some buzz. I mean: _THEY'RE_ probably excited about the Moto phones. And Steve Jobs is known to create a reality distortion field when he's speaking. So maybe we'll suddenly say that iTunes enabled phones _might_ change the world the same way iPod did?

[jhawk28]

Just to add a little bit, I do think Apple is positioning themselves to be able to play video. If you haven't noticed, the iTunes player for Mac/PC can play videos.

Joshua