Is Apple Feeding the Rumors?

by Chris Howard Oct 07, 2005

This week we have had to two distinctly different opinions on what the forthcoming October 12 major event from Apple will be.

In the red corner we have AppleInsider claiming their sources say “iPod video” (although they are getting a bit toey now and hedging their bets now, reminding us they had previously predicted Power series upgrades for October)

In the invitations themselves, Apple provided no hints as to what announcements it plans to make. However, recent information suggests that Apple may be preparing to introduce a version of its iPod with video capabilities.

In the blue corner we have ThinkSecret claiming reliable sources who say it will simply be upgrades to the Power Macs and Powerbooksand boldly denouncing AppleInsider’s iPod video prediction (although being careful not to mention them and start a rumor sites war - so I will!)

The event, Think Secret has learned, will not usher in the much rumored video iPod but rather new PowerBook and Power Mac systems.

Well, I’d like to throw the Apple Matters’ hat in the rumor ring and say my reliable source* says it will be a Mac tablet.

I’m smelling a rat you see. Dueling rumor sites? Hmmm? Could Apple be feeding the rumor sites with two different rumors, both wrong though? “One more thing…” despite being a line of Steve’s, as a tagline for an event, sounds like a Pythonesque joke. Maybe the joke will be on the rumor sites.

Let’s consider a few things:

1) The October 12 event is using the “One more thing…” tag line. Firstly, presumably this was something due for release at Paris Expo but either wasn’t ready or they didn’t want anything stealing the nano’s media space. Secondly, when Steve says “One more thing…” it is usually something significant, iPod video and Mac tablet certainly would be.

2) Steve has been dead set against portable video.  We know that Steve’s word on things like this isn’t worth a pinch of poop (eg Flash based digital music players) - it just means Apple hasn’t found how or when to do it right yet.

3) There have been equally strong rumors this year of a tablet Mac in the works.

4) Are PowerMac upgrades - even dual core - a big enough reason to call this special event with this significant tag line? And they did only say one more thing. Is upgrades more than one? ThinkSecret are predicting quite a long list - hard only one more thing.

So where’s that leave us? A major announcement, too big for Mac upgrades but too unlikely for iPod video. Only leaves the Mac tablet.

But why wouldn’t it be Mac tablet? Five simple reasons - I - N - T - E - L. Would Apple release a first gen Mac tablet with a PowerPC processor? Unlikely. Have they already got one ready to fly with Intel inside? Also unlikely. So much for my rumor source.

Whatever Apple’s announcement is, it is planned to coincide with the holiday buying period. This favors a consumer device over a pro device and so the iPod video over the PowerMac upgrades. It also means immediate availability so won’t be a preview of a Mac tablet due next year. But given some of the excellent theories provided by Apple Matters readers to the article Can Apple Save the Tablet? about what the Mac tablet could entail, it could certainly be a consumer device.

What other rumors can we start? My rumor source is also suggesting Steve’s giving the factory to Charlie.

Or maybe Steve is going to announce that there will be five golden tickets hidden in iPod nanos and the five lucky finders of the tickets will get to tour the factory and at the end one of them (oh come we all know it will be Charlie) will get given the factory.

But despite all the postulating, really, we’re none the wiser.

*My reliable source is Chris Howard over at the QR Tech Blog... Oh! Hang on… That’s me! Ooops!  Never believe anything he says! smile

Comments

  • Pythonesque, “One more thing…” Apple’s equivalent of the 16 tons weight? Certainly a well entertainind idea. And noooo, never would Apple ever feed false rumors themselves. Steve has been short of real surprises lately (even the nano was known a day in advance), and he loves to do his bunny/hat trick. So feeding some wild rumors and then knock everyone off their seats with a real surprise could well be part of the plan, I can see him grin already. I say we’re going to see something video-related though, even if it is “just” higher res Powerbooks. It is the year of HD after all, we did *not* see much in that regard yet, and the year is nearly over.

    Bad Beaver had this to say on Oct 07, 2005 Posts: 371
  • i think it’ll be a movie download service from itunes. Given that they have started showing quicktime movie trailers on their site, this means they must be some communication going on between them and the various movie companies.

    bobwozhere had this to say on Oct 07, 2005 Posts: 1
  • Uhm, there’ve been movie trailers on quicktime.com for as long as I can remember… or did I miss something?

    Bad Beaver had this to say on Oct 07, 2005 Posts: 371
  • I believe bobwozhere is referring to QT trailers on the iTMS service.

    Personally, I’m hoping it’s upgrades to the pro machines. I want dual core PowerMacs with PCI Express for the video card (and SATA2 drives with NCQ support and 16MB buffers! WEEE!) and I don’t really care what they do to the PowerBook, but a friend of mine does because he wants to get one soon.

    I could honestly care less than that, even, about a video-playing iPod. You know what I’d use a portable music player for? Keeping stashed somewhere on my person while I use it to listen to music.

    What is wrong with people these days?

    Waa had this to say on Oct 07, 2005 Posts: 110
  • Ah, those trailers. Apple really has to improve their implementation. To me it is highly annoying if a website takes me to iTunes and then iTunes takes me to the iTMS to load a trailer, maybe even automatically in the no-quality-gain-but-ressource waste we’re presented under the name of “FULLSCREEN” trailers. Just open a darn new window and download the trailer please, or at least give me a HINT that the site will take me to the iTMS. I see the concept is really that you’re supposed to start out at the iTMS looking for trailers, but that is just not what I am doing.

    Bad Beaver had this to say on Oct 08, 2005 Posts: 371
  • Think about this:  When Apple introduced the Nano they used the graphic of a pants pocket.  Nobody really thought about the small pocket as the focus of attention.  Now for this event the graphic is something that looks like a stage curtain.  Or does it look like the curtain they used to put over movie screens?  My guess is for the latter.  Downloadable movies are coming…

    Jim Caruthers had this to say on Oct 09, 2005 Posts: 13
  • YAAWWWN. Remember when we got excited because Apple acctualy produced a cutting edge computer that trumped the PC world? i-pod video, i-tunes video..what a waste of time. Oh well maybe next year

    mix7 had this to say on Oct 10, 2005 Posts: 3
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