Rumor Roundup for September 1st Apple Music Event

Submitted by lalit on August 31, 2010 - 5:44pm.

Apple sent out invitations for September 1st press event last week. The invitation had a picture of guitar with Apple logo on it, indicating that Apple will follow the September tradition and introduce new music related products including new iPods at the event.  We are very sure that Apple will update the iPod lineup and iTunes software, and there are rumors that we might see new products like iTV, iTunes streaming and even a smaller 7-inch iPad. We have made a list of rumored products that Apple will announce at the event, starting with most likely and ending with least likely:

  1. iPod touch: The new touch will get a design refresh as well as hardware upgrade. Like the iPhone 4, iPod touch will get Retina display, front facing camera for FaceTime, 3-megpaixel camera on the back, mic and Apple’s A4 processor. Design-wise it will be slightly thicker to accommodate the two cameras and the steel back will be replaced with more scratch resistant material. The updated iPod touch should come in 32GB and 64GB models priced $299 and $399 respectively. Apple might also introduce a 16GB model without camera for $199.
  2. iPod nano: The new nano will see a drastic redesign. Apple will remove the revolutionary click wheel and use just a 1.7-inch touchscreen bring down the size of the iPod nano. It will look like second-generation iPod shuffle with 60-70 percent decrease in size from current generation iPod nano. According to Appleinsider, new nano will maintain existing pricing tier and storage capacity. It will be announced on Wednesday, but will not be immediately available for sale. Our sources that informed us about the $499 price tag for iPad before its launch say that Apple will lower the price of iPod nano by at least $20.
  3. iPod classic and shuffle: Not much will change for classic and shuffle. The iPod classic might get a bigger hard drive with 240GB capacity and the shuffle might see a $10 price drop to bring it below $50 mark. One of our not so reliable source says that iPod classic might also get nano’s treatment with a 2.5-inch touchscreen replacing the click wheel. Though we don’t believe the information, but it will be nice to see an update to iPod classic.
  4. iTunes: Apple will upgrade the desktop iTunes software by adding more sharing and social networking features. Rumors are Apple is working on streaming iTunes service, but it’s very doubtful that we will see it on Wednesday. iTunes will get 60-second previews and 99-cent TV show rental for some TV networks.
  5. Apple TV: Rumors are that Apple will not only update Apple TV but also rename it ‘iTV’. The new iTV will be smaller and it will be based on iOS with support for Apps. The biggest news related to iTV is that it will be priced only $99 compared to $229 price tag of current Apple TV. Also Bloomberg reported today that iTV would offer Netflix streaming for movies and TV Shows in high definition.
  6. iLife ’11: It has been rumored for past six months that Apple will update the iLife suit and add a new application to it. MacRumors reported that the new application would “actually be a way for end users to create simple apps and deploy them directly (not through the App Store) to their iOS devices.”
  7. Smaller iPod touch: It was reported few days back that Apple might add a iPod touch with 2.8-inch screen to the iPod lineup to bring a more affordable iPod touch to the market. The smaller screen will have same resolution as current iPod touch models, but will come with just 8GB storage. We don’t think Apple will introduce such a device because it will harder to use iOS features on a screen smaller than 3-inch.
  8. iPad with 7-inch screen: Our sources say that Apple is planning to release a smaller iPad by end of this year. The smaller iPad will have same hardware as the 9.7-inch model, but for slightly lower price tag. We don’t think Apple will use the September 1st music event to introduce new iPad model.

There are other rumors also like Apple will update MacBook Air and introduce iPhone for Verizon, but we believe that Apple will use the music event for just multimedia related products, as they have done historically during previous September events. Apple will be providing live video streaming of the event and we will be doing live analysis/coverage of the Apple Music Event tomorrow at 10 AM PST and 1 PM EST on live.techztalk.com. Join us for complete details about the new products that Apple will announce. Check out the video below showing the new iPod nano and touch displays.