Apple has sent invitations to media for a Sept. 1 event in San
Francisco. According to a new online report, the
company could use its September event to debut the new "iTV," along
with other refreshed products.
That
report comes from Bloomberg, which also suggested that Apple is negotiating
with content providers, including CBS and News Corp., to offer television shows
for rental via iTunes. Rented episodes would cost 99 cents and last for 48
hours, according to unnamed sources close to those negotiations. Such a service
would allow Apple to better compete against Hulu and Netflix, which offer
growing libraries of television episodes.
Apple has a tradition of hosting September events, which it uses to unveil
media- and music-centric products. This year's rumor mill has churned busily
over the prospect of a revamped Apple TV, possibly dubbed "iTV," that
according to tech blog Engadget will cost $99 and feature the ability to run
apps.
Although Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook famously referred to Apple
TV as the company's "hobby" during a Goldman Sachs technology
conference in February, the tech industry's rising focus on the television as a
digital hub—as highlighted by the recently announced Google TV—has possibly
goaded Apple into a second look at the product. As it stands, the
current Apple TV offers 160GB of storage and costs $229.
Other rumors have suggested an iPod refresh in imminent. "An iPhone parts
supplier sent us these photos of what are claimed to be the front LCD and bezel
of the upcoming [fourth]-generation iPod Touch," read
an Aug. 5 posting on the MacRumors blog. "The new part clearly shows a
front-sided hole that would leave room for a front-facing FaceTime camera."
Still more scuttlebutt hints at an even more substantial mobile-device
revamp.
"Take this report with the requisite grains of salt, but here's what we've
heard about the upcoming late 2010/early 2011 iPod, iPhone and iPad lineups
from a highly reliable source," Jeremy
Horwitz, editor in chief of iLounge, wrote Aug. 4. "Our sources'
accuracy level is very high but not perfect, which is about as good as can be
expected given the nature of Apple-related leaks."
According to that unnamed source, Apple will launch an iPod Shuffle with a
touch -screen, a revamped iPod Nano and iPod Touch, a 7-inch iPad for either
late 2010 or early 2011 release, and a fifth-generation iPhone possibly due in
early 2011.
"As with so many seemingly farfetched early reports, it's not
impossible," Horwitz wrote.
However, thanks to Apple's traditional veil of secrecy around its projects,
the rumors will likely remain unconfirmed until an actual event—barring
a leak on the scale of iPhone 4.
Enterprise Mobility News & Reviews 
