Special Event 12 September 2006; Let’s Not Get Hyped Up

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages. Apple Computer has once again announced a special event due to take place on September 12th to September 16th 2006 at the Apple Expo in Paris, France. Time to get excited? Hold your horses.

Over the past year Apple lovers have been let down considerably at the Apple special events that have taken place, the most recent being the WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference). Of course, despite Apple releasing and showing off some pretty classy stuff, it’s still been a let down for many because none of the stuff we ‘expect’ Apple to release appears. So who is at fault? Apple? Perhaps. Steve Jobs? Maybe. Apple orientated run rumour sites? Definitely.

It seems to me that certain websites, and I shan’t name drop, are guilty as charged for building up far too much hype over these special events that occur throughout the year. Sure, Apple Matters has covered these rumours in the past, but we sure didn’t start them. So here’s a proposal, for once we all just ignore these stupid rumours, or at least take them with a pinch of salt, and enjoy the Apple special events for what they are and give Apple the chance to show off its products without moans and groans.

One of the major products a lot of folk are waiting for Apple to release is the iPhone, something that Apple hasn’t even mentioned. Who knows what this apparent iPhone is supposed to look like. Bored Internet geeks across the world have been coming up with their own ideas of what the device will look like, and doing their best to fool people into thinking they’re the real thing. Do we even need an iPhone is the real question? Will Apple be concentrating on it as a phone or as a media device? Who’s to say?

Another rumour we’ve all been waiting to see come to light is the iTunes Movie Service, something which I will admit to me being a little more possible than most of the other rumours out there. iTunes already offers T.V shows (in the U.S) and short videos as well as music videos world wide, so I suppose the possibility of movies being on offer isn’t too harsh of a dream.

But what crazy ideas have people come up with this time round for the Apple Expo in Paris next week?

1. The iTunes Movie Service – According to rumour sites, Jobs as been in talks with a few major motion picture studios. The idea is to offer films at $9.99 a go.
2. A new iMac with Core 2 Duo processor and a slightly larger screen.
3. An updated Nano with double storage and better surface coating to protect against scratches
4. The iPhone – I’m personally bored of this one now.
5. A streaming device designed to send content from your Mac to your TV.

Now, I’m sure as the week goes on Apple will be releasing iBalls, iCookers, iRobots and a version of me with a large Apple logo printed on my forehead called an iAaron, according to some of these rumour sites, but I beg of you not to get yourself all excited just yet. Obviously I’d like to be proved wrong on all of the above but with the way things have gone over the past year with the rumours to truth ratio, I very much doubt it.

For once let’s not presume things and get carried away with ideas. Let us just have a little healthy speculation and wait and see what Apple will offer at the event. This way, when they do release something we can all actually enjoy the event and the products for what they are without getting into a hissy fit at the end that our precious rumours didn’t become truth.

For more information about the Apple Expo, check out the website at http://www.apple-expo.com/.

Update: At the time of writing this article, the screen increase on a new iMac was merely a rumor. Apple have today quietly updated their store to include a new 24-inch iMac which now costs $1999. The new iMacs also include the Intel Core 2 Duo processors, further ruling out a rumor within my article.