Apple rumors roundup: New Nano, better iTunes, or another Apple TV
Apple rumors have run rampant today in advance of Wednesday's annual music event. We look at predictions from around the Web.
Apple rumors are flying fast and furious today. But what does Apple really have in store for its conference on Wednesday?
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On Wednesday, Apple will hold its annual music event – usually an occasion to show off a new piece of hardware, like the rejiggered iPod Nano unveiled last year. So what does Apple CEO Steve Jobs have in store for 2010? Depends on whom you ask. Over the past 24 hours, the Apple rumor mill has lurched into high gear, with bloggers predicting everything from lengthier song previews on iTunes to a new iPod Touch with a camera.
Over at Forbes.com, Brian Caulfield says Apple could be preparing yet another iteration of the iPod Nano, the smallest "full-featured" MP3 player in the Apple arsenal. If Apple does go with a new Nano, Caulfield says, "the clickwheel will likely be replaced by a touch screen." Which begs another question, Caulfield continues, paraphrasing Elmer DeWitt of Apple 2.0: "If the iPod Nano has a touch screen, won’t it run iOS? And if it runs iOS, does it support Apps?"
Greg Sandoval of CNET, meanwhile, says that Apple is definitely going to increase the length of time a user is allowed to preview songs on iTunes. (Being great samplers ourselves, this is our favorite of the Apple rumors.) Sandoval quotes inside sources, who confirm that "iTunes users will be allowed at least twice the amount of time to sample a song." He adds that "the sample period could be extended to as much as 90 seconds."
But possibly the most groundbreaking Apple rumor comes from the Bloomberg News service, which says Apple is going to unveil "a new set-top box that delivers TV to consumers," including material from Netflix. "The streaming service would be available on the revamped version of Apple TV... Users would pay a subscription fee to Netflix for the service," the Bloomberg article notes, sourcing the article to several anonymous sources.
Over to you. What you make of all these Apple rumors? Heard anything we haven't? Drop us a line in the comments section – and as always, be polite.