New iPods (plus surprise products) get 5th Sept "major" launch date

"According to our sources, this is a 'wow' level event"

25 August 2007 14:15 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

If you've been anywhere near Pocket-lint.co.uk in the last week you'll know that we've been wittering on excitedly about the rumoured new iPods.

While initial reports put the announcement for these new devices in late September, new rumours, from two different sites, but both apparently in the know from sources deep inside Apple HQ, suggest a large launch event on the 5th September.

Although Apple-watchers will be instantly skeptical about the 5th (as it's not a Tuesday - Apple's traditional launch day) it appears that this Wednesday event is explained by the long holiday weekend in the States.

The reports say that "at least one of the things that will come out of September 5th will be a new iPod". (We are expecting video-capable squared-off iPod nanos and a phoneless-iPhone iPod Touch for anyone who isn't on the loop on this.)

But - as well as new, and it could be argued overdue - music offerings the blogger with the scoop states: "Before the date was officially decided, was described to me as very major product launch, something completely unexpected".

Although this news is being met with scratched heads in the blogosphere, those who watch Apple closely will know that this makes perfect sense, and is in fact in some ways, expected.

If you remember back to when Apple announced their financial results in July, they were seen to be overly cautious about the next quarter's profits.

When quizzed on why their estimates were so low, Apple's chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer said that in this time period there will be a "product transition I can't get into".

This official statement from Apple seemed to fit with news from another blog site, AppleInsider, who reported that there's a lot more to come from Apple this year after the launch of the new nano:

"The move is believed to be part of a broader, all-out blitz on the consumer electronics sector this holiday shopping season, in which a staggering array of gadgets from the Cupertino-based firm is expected to leave would-be rivals confused and unable to react."

Add this into the mix with Steve Jobs promising "news" for Apple TV "soon" at the recent iMac launch, those 3G iPhone slash iPhone nano rumours, wireless iTunes and the long standing ultra-ultra-portable MacBook reports and we're in for a very interesting time indeed.

Full tags

Audio, iPod, Apple, Rumours