Apple's September 9 Event Rumour Roundup

As tiny dancer mentioned last week, Apple is holding an event entitled "Let's Rock" tomorrow at 10AM PST/1PM EST in San Francisco's Yerba Buena Centre for the Performing Arts. As usual with Apple events, I'll be live-blogging it tomorrow, so make sure to watch out for the live-blog entry for all the new announcement goodness.

Until then, here's the latest rumour round up, organised by order of likeliness:

A Given:

• New iPod nanos with a taller form factor that will allow for a wide-screen aspect ratio. This has all been corroborated by the myriad of case leaks confirming the new dimensions.
• New iPod Touch. Also a given, to reflect the design of the new iPhone 3G. Possible storage upgrades also in line.

Highly Likely:

• iTunes 8: a brand new version of iTunes, incorporating Pandora-like "genius" technology to organise your library by similar music, provide suggestions, etc. According to Kevin Rose of Digg, there will be a new iPhoto Events-like Album grid view that will let you play music by hovering over your album covers. Also rumoured to feature a new visualiser based on the popular Magnetosphere.
• iPhone/iPod Touch firmware v2.1. This would fit the September time-line Apple mentioned for the 2.1 firmware. Rumoured fixes in this patch include final resolution of 3G reception issues, as well as some unannounced "secret features" that are missing from developer beta versions of firmware 2.1. No one really has a clue on what these new features may be, so we'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out.

Unlikely:

• MacBook & MacBook Pro updates. While both lines of portable Macs are due for updates (specially the MacBook Pro line), the advertisement for the event seems to point to a heavy iPod/iPhone focus, so MacBook news is unlikely to occur at this event. Most likely, Apple will announce updates separately later this month.
• Music Subscription Service: Apple simply has not completed the types of licensing deals required for such a service with the music labels; therefore, it's highly unlikely we'll see a subscription option tomorrow.

The whole iPod line is also expected to see a price reduction to match and compete with the new subsidised iPhone 3G prices (can't have the iPods looking too expensive compared to the $199 iPhone 3G price tag.)

A source of excitement regarding the event is the fact that it's being held at a much bigger venue than usual for Apple press events, allowing for a bigger audience. Apple also seems to have been telling some reporters that the event will be a "big deal" to encourage them to come - actions which are atypical for Apple. Could this mean the "product transition" that Apple mentioned in its last investor conference call?

Tomorrow awaits!