Forget falling leaves, waning daylight, and back-to-school sales. Nothing says Autumn like an Apple Music Event.
Okay, so while the day planned for the next such event, September 7, technically falls within the northern hemisphere’s summer season, a tuneful to-do at this time of year can mean only one thing: Only 109 Days Until Christmas!
And, for people like me who are obsessed with Apple’s musical moves it also means The Speculation Begins Now .
To play the speculation game you have to choose your approach. Currently there are three accepted methods for handicapping such events. They break out this way:
A + B = C
Those who play it safe look at trends and rumors from the past few months, weed out the more ridiculous elements, and try to follow what’s left to its natural conclusion.
For example, for this event, one could examine the fitful starts and stops of Motorola’s iTunes phone and posit that this event will finally mark its unveiling. Likewise, there’s been a great deal of talk from those who dive Asian dumpsters that deals have been done to supply Apple with higher-capacity Flash memory chips, hinting that the capacity of the shuffle will be bumped up and that a Flash-based version of the iPod mini could be announced as well.
Reading Apple’s Tea Leaves
More adventurous (and masochistic) souls use the sparse information provided by Apple to predict the Next Big Thing.
The September 7 Event announcement carries the picture of a pants pocket accompanied by this text:
“1000 songs in your pocket changed everything. Here we go again.”
Tea readers would suggest that Apple is being quite literal and will offer some new twist on a 4GB iPod. This falls in line with a higher-capacity iPod shuffle or a Flash-based mini. The most literal of this bunch would suggest that because the photo prominently features the pants’ inner “change” pocket, we’re talking a very tiny iPod.
Then again, it could just as easily be a hint that Apple is going into the clothing trade.
The A** Pullers
These prognosticators pull information randomly from the ether. In the eyes of such touts, an event like this demands a Rolling Stones Special Edition iPod, complete with an appearance by the Glimmer Twins.
I mean, look at the alignment of these superstars: The Stones are on tour and in the States. Apple recently added the complete Rolling Stones catalog to the iTunes Music Store. Mick Jagger has appeared in iChat-form to talk up the iTMS. The Boys aren’t averse to slapping their tongue on any number of items. Now that Virgin Electronics has gone the way of the dodo, there’s no conflict with a Stones-branded Virgin player. And that whole “Start Me Up” Windows thing can be chalked up to youthful indiscretion.
Or, better yet, let’s suggest that it’s finally time for the Video iPod because, well, isn’t it about damned time?
So where do you fall? Logical, literal, or lunatic? Make your views known via the Comment link below.