What to expect from Apple this September

This Wednesday – September 1st – Apple will hold its annual media event to announce what kind of goodies it has in store for the next year. Announcements will include new products, new models of existing products, as well as prices and release dates. Although invitations went out last Wednesday, nothing has been (and most likely will be) announced officially before the event. Here are a few things that we expect (or hope) Apple reveals later this week.

iTV

For months, blogs and news sources have speculated on the release of Apple’s set top box, formerly called AppleTV, now dubbed iTV. Several rumors about its release have sprung up this summer, but hopefully these will all be confirmed during Apple’s event on Wednesday. Although Digg found Kevin Rose confirmed via his blog (his source unknown) a September release of iTV, it’d still be nice to hear more about the device straight from the source. We’re hoping to see iTV run iOS, stream TV and movies, launch at a low starting price, and have plenty of shiny new TV-based apps on release.

Cloud-based iTunes

Another long-time rumor that has been tossed around is iTunes in the cloud. Apple acquired the music streaming service Lala earlier this year, which sparked an endless amount of speculation; would iTunes get a streaming feature? Would streaming work via iDevices as well? Would Apple add (or switch completely to) a web-based version of iTunes? So far, not much has come of the rumors, besides the limited iDisk + MobileMe streaming to iOS-devices, although we’d like to hear some news official news about iTunes in the cloud later this week.

iPhone on Verizon?

A few signs are pointing to Apple dropping AT&T as the sole provider of the iPhone, including Verizon towers popping up on Apple campus, as well as AT&T assuring its customers that it has plenty of other exclusive smartphones from which to choose. However, other sources are saying that Apple’s deal to stay exclusive to AT&T won’t end until 2012. If history has told us anything, it’s that rumors and speculation about Verizon and the iPhone can’t be trusted. However, we’re hoping that this time they are. Fingers crossed!

White iPhone 4

Speaking of the iPhone, it’s been over a month since Apple pushed back the white model of the iPhone 4 indefinitely (well, to “later this year,” which could mean anything between Wednesday and the holiday season) citing challenges in the manufacturing process. We’d love to hear some information about this. Will Wednesday be the right time to announce the white iPhone 4′s fashionably late entrance? Or, with the end of the year coming up so fast, and, thus, the iPhone 5 on the way, will Apple choose to skip the white model completely? We hope to see this addressed at the event.

New iPods

And what would be an Apple event without the announcement of a few new iPods? It can be tough to remember, with all the excitement about the newer devices, namely the iPhone and iPad, that Apple is still an mp3 player manufacturer – the best in the business, in fact – and probably has a few updates in mind. It’s safe to say, with the new iPhone released this summer, that Apple will unveil a new iPod Touch (rumored to have front-facing camera, and, thus, the Facetime app), as well as new, shinier, brighter, and bigger models of iPods Nano, Shuffle, and Classic.

Those are just our predictions – okay, wishes – for Apple’s Wednesday announcements. Along with anything mentioned here, Steve Jobs is bound to have a few surprises up his sleeve. Whatever Apple chooses to announce this week, both hardcore fans and non-enthusiasts alike are sure to be happy with the results.

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Tagged as: Apple, AT&T, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch, iTunes, iTV, Verizon