Apple confirms "Special Event" on September 5th

[AppleInsider]

Apple Inc. will use a special media event on September 5th to introduce a new array of digital media offerings, according to digital invitations issued to analysts and members of the media Tuesday afternoon.

The invites, which arrived by e-mail, depict an enlarged CoverFlow interface with the caption, "The beat goes on." The wording appears to have been borrowed from the trailing line of The Beatles' final press release, which was issued by Apple Records on April 10, 1970, following the band's split.

"Spring is here and Leeds play Chelsea tomorrow and Ringo and John and George and Paul are alive and well and full of hope. The world is still spinning and so are we and so are you," read the 1970 Beatles release. "When the spinning stops -- that'll be the time to worry, not before. Until then, the Beatles are alive and well and the beat goes on, the beat goes on."

Apple's event is scheduled to take place at the Moscone West in San Francisco on September 5 at 10:00 a.m.

Apple is widely expected to use the gathering to usher in a new breed of Mac OS X-based iPods. Additional announcements relating to the company's iTunes software and digital media download service are also expected.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Bacillus]

Wow, I wonder what this could be. Fingers crossed they also introduce a SR based MacBook.

[kim kap sol]

Nah...I'm 100% sure it's new OS X-based iPods.

[vinney57]

Widescreen iPhone-style iPods baby. Yeah.

[Scharf_10]

I've never actually wanted this to happen before, but I'd rather this was delayed for a bit because im off to New York on October 1st, where I would save money on the new ipod (assuming it is released) and have it before anyone else here no doubt. But I know that i'll be too tempted to buy it here the day its available online. I can afford it quite easily, just prefer to buy it in New York. Never mind.

[Wally]

nah.... Steve is going to announce the new MacPro Mini. A headless iMac with SLI, (2) 512mb vid cards and 5 PCI xpress card slots for $999!

It's either that or a G5 Powerbook

[Marvin]

Yay new ipods :yawn:. So when's the next Mac event, October? Sigh, so far away.

Only touch screen ipods running OS X (and not only the 2nd will suffice) can appease me. If they bring out stupid wide ipod nanos and old-style but flash-based video ipods, I'll chalk it up as yet another lame event - not sure if I'll fit another one on the board, it's getting so full.

[polvadis]

When is Leopard scheduled to be released? Could it be next week or will there be a different Special Event for that?

[Skylor]

The Beat Goes On is a new Madonna song that just recently leaked onto the internet, rumored to be the new single off her upcoming him-hop infused album.

[nace33]

1. Widescreen touch interface ipod

2. AppleTV with HDTuner and DVR software

3. iTunes Movie Rental Service, TV subscription Service

4. I buy everything they sell!!!

[knappster]

Name the artists from the album covers on the invite!

[city]

private

[knappster]

Keane, ?, Beastie Boys, Mika, Jack Johnson, ?

[mark2005]

This will be a very interesting iPod release from a corporate strategy point of view. (Obvious prediction: No new Macs. No Leopard news. That's for another special event in October.)

But will Apple be bold or conservative? Bold like with the mini, nano, and shuffle intros. Or conservative like last year's small iPod upgrades. Will they be bold and release a widescreen OS X-based touchscreen iPod with WiFi, on the hopes that they can upsell such a user to a future 3G iPhone (since WiFi isn't everywhere), instead of worrying that they are cannibalizing today's iPhone sale? Will they be bold and move to the head of class on flash memory capacities for the iPod nano and shuffle, using their bulk in the flash market to keep competitors starved? If they do so, this would account again for the "product transition" mentioned by Apple previously as impacting this quarter's margins.

Will there be an AppleTV upgrade? To go along with a bold iTunes movie/TV subscription service? (At the iMac intro, Jobs implied he would talk about AppleTV at another event soon.)

[backtomac]

^^^

Excellent questions. We'll know soon enough. I vote for bold. No fat iPod Nano like the rumors at Gizmondo.

[FatWalletdotcom]

You are missing the (not so) hidden message in the invitation...

:the beat goes on:

Apple records released the following statement on behalf of the Beatles on April 10, 1970.

Spring is here and Leeds play Chelsea tomorrow and Ringo and John and George and Paul are alive and well and full of hope.
The world is still spinning and so are we and so are you.
When the spinning stops — that'll be the time to worry, not before.
Until then, the Beatles are alive and well and the beat goes on, the beat goes on.
— Final Beatles press release, April 10, 1970

[gloss]

Originally Posted by knappster

Keane, ?, Beastie Boys, Mika, Jack Johnson, ?

The Flaming Lips, and I don't know the last one.

[mrpiddly]

from the event invitation i would have to guess they are going to release new xServer Raid!!!

[othello]

Originally Posted by FatWalletdotcom

You are missing the (not so) hidden message in the invitation...

:the beat goes on:

Apple records released the following statement on behalf of the Beatles on April 10, 1970.

Spring is here and Leeds play Chelsea tomorrow and Ringo and John and George and Paul are alive and well and full of hope.
The world is still spinning and so are we and so are you.
When the spinning stops — that'll be the time to worry, not before.
Until then, the Beatles are alive and well and the beat goes on, the beat goes on.
— Final Beatles press release, April 10, 1970

love it!

[Walter Slocombe]

Originally Posted by FatWalletdotcom

You are missing the (not so) hidden message in the invitation...

:the beat goes on:

Apple records released the following statement on behalf of the Beatles on April 10, 1970.

Spring is here and Leeds play Chelsea tomorrow and Ringo and John and George and Paul are alive and well and full of hope.
The world is still spinning and so are we and so are you.
When the spinning stops — that'll be the time to worry, not before.
Until then, the Beatles are alive and well and the beat goes on, the beat goes on.
— Final Beatles press release, April 10, 1970

Woah, DUDE!! is it like April already? man I musta mist christmas WOAH! check it out theres like a fly in the room.

[Tunbers]

totally agree, use of "beat" makes me think of The Beatles. Maybe a 'true' Video iPod with The Beatles catalogue and "Yellow Submarine"?

Originally Posted by FatWalletdotcom

You are missing the (not so) hidden message in the invitation...

:the beat goes on:

Apple records released the following statement on behalf of the Beatles on April 10, 1970.

Spring is here and Leeds play Chelsea tomorrow and Ringo and John and George and Paul are alive and well and full of hope.
The world is still spinning and so are we and so are you.
When the spinning stops — that'll be the time to worry, not before.
Until then, the Beatles are alive and well and the beat goes on, the beat goes on.
— Final Beatles press release, April 10, 1970

[shanmugam]

steve will come to stage and tell us

"The best iPhoneless iPod ever made!"

[freeny]

"The beat goes on" was a Sonny & Cher song and the ipod on the invitation is NOT widescreen...

[OS X Guy]

iPhone Nano as well or too soon?

[Denton]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Apple Inc. will use a special media event on September 5th to introduce a new array of digital media offerings, according to digital invitations issued to analysts and members of the media Tuesday afternoon.

Is it just me, or is the 5th a Wednesday? I guess Labour Day pushes the event back a day. Yay! New iPod Day!

[ALPICH]

If Apple has really used this as a slogan for its up and coming event and it is linked to the use by the Beatles then maybe this means the end of the iPod. Apple is pulling out. Just like a band does at the peak of their career Apple is now opening up Fairplay to other players so that "The Beat Goes On"

[drjjones]

This is the end of something. We will know wednesday. I think it is the end of small screen nano and click wheel. The click wheel will be in the touch screen to make even the nano os-x and touch screen with 16 gig memory and video. New other varieties as well. Maybe it's the end of the zune ... lol

[quinney]

Originally Posted by freeny

"The beat goes on" was a Sonny & Cher song and the ipod on the invitation is NOT widescreen...

If the event is to announce a special deal on the entire Sonny & Cher catalog,
that would be supremely, exquisitely lame.

[Thataboy]

I think we will see:

1. iPod nano fatty
2. iPod 6G -- similar enclosure to 5G, but OS X based with cover flow
3. Beatles on iTMS
4. (maybe) updated iPod shuffle (perhaps a high-end black one with 2 GB, or some new colors, but otherwise the same).

I really don't see the iPod touch (phoneless iPhone) coming out anytime soon. I expect this is the thing people are looking for, and people will whine when they don't get it.

As an aside... as an iPhone user, an iPod just seems like a walkman to me now... quaint old technology for people behind the curve

[Bageljoey]

Originally Posted by freeny

... the ipod on the invitation is NOT widescreen...

Yeah, because Apple is going to abandon secrecy and start emailing photos of new products a week before they are announced...

[freeny]

Originally Posted by Bageljoey

Yeah, because Apple is going to abandon secrecy and start emailing photos of new products a week before they are announced...

When the original "video ipod" was released the leaked ads and promos reflected the new larger screen.

[benjamin_r]

Originally Posted by Bageljoey

Yeah, because Apple is going to abandon secrecy and start emailing photos of new products a week before they are announced...

*teeheehee*

Well put sir!

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by polvadis

When is Leopard scheduled to be released? Could it be next week or will there be a different Special Event for that?

I don't think they will mention that until they are ready. If it's an iPod/iTunes event, then I doubt there will be a peep out of them about Leopard. They didn't even mention it during last month's "Mac event".

Originally Posted by FatWalletdotcom

You are missing the (not so) hidden message in the invitation...

:the beat goes on:

Apple records released the following statement on behalf of the Beatles on April 10, 1970.
....snip....

That's interesting. So it could be a iTunes/iPod event. Or just an iTunes event, though I think those usually go well with some hardware update of some type. I doubt it would only be an iTunes event, that would be lame, even if it's touched off by the most popular and enduring boy band ever to grace the earth.

[Commodus]

Merlin Mann's Yellow Submarine iPod is real!

Or, we could just have the larger-screened nano-alike, a new full-size iPod, and a tweaked shuffle.

And more videos in other iTunes areas (starting with the UK, apparently).

[kenaustus]

The supply chain for current iPods is drying up and the holiday buying season is getting near so I'm guessing a significant enhancement to iPods.

The big question is will there be one with a full screen? Just like the iPhone? You know that the demand would be huge, but is there sufficient component supplies to meet that demand? Personally I would like to see two models, one with and one without WiFi.

I also believe that there will be an upgrade on the nano design, simply to drive demand up again.

On the iTunes side I would love to see the Beatles added, but believe that there is one more signature to get on the agreement. That leaves movie rentals as the next big thing - something that would catch my attention and credit card.

[camroidv27]

My guess, just an iPod release and possibly a new iTunes.

New iPod Video based on OS X, but not like the iPhone with touch screen. 32gb flash, 80gb hdd. WiFi enabled. 120gb "Beatles Edition" iPod.
New iPod Nano, 8gb and 12gb with video playback support, but not OSX based.
New iPod designs to follow suit of iPhone/iMac.
Shuffle increased to 2gb, but no new design.
Possibly a new AppleTV, though my guess is that they may just expand the HDs in them to go from 40gb to 80gb. NO DVR capability (Apple would loose sales on TV shows through iTunes)

iTunes 8, with multiple/shared library support and auto-detecting music (for using the new Airport base station and attached HD for storage/AppleTV for storage.) though it could be a premium download which you need to pay 49.95 to get iTunes Server.

No new computers.
No new softwares aside from iTunes 8.

Just my ideas.

[swaltuo]

All I know is that I'm excited!! The last two Apple products to be introduced or given a new look (the iPhone and the iMac) have both lived up with expectations. Now it is time for Apple to take a huge leap forward and update the item that jump started a revolution and put their company back on the map. Like I said all i know is I'm excited and the beat goes on!!

[MacTel]

Originally Posted by Marvin

Yay new ipods :yawn:. So when's the next Mac event, October? Sigh, so far away.

Only touch screen ipods running OS X (and not only the 2nd will suffice) can appease me. If they bring out stupid wide ipod nanos and old-style but flash-based video ipods, I'll chalk it up as yet another lame event - not sure if I'll fit another one on the board, it's getting so full.

Well like the iPhone when Steve called it the best iPod ever, Steve will call the iPod with OSX the best mobile Mac ever. Maybe the 6G iPod will plug into a mini-docking station with a DVI port, firewire, digital audio in/out, and usb ports. I true miniature Mac.

[Johnny Mozzarella]

The beat goes on...Apple is the new Apple Records

or

The beat goes on...Steve is leaving Apple

I really hope its the first one

[SpamSandwich]

The beat goes on... and AAPL keeps plummeting... oh, ****!