What's Up?

Most bets favor an improved and less expensive iPod touch, which is seen as overpriced at $299 while a comparable iPhone 3G is $199. With a nearly identical operating system , the touch can already take advantage of many third-party applications from Apple's App Store, but at the same cost as a full-fledged iPhone. So a price cut and a few new features may be in the cards.

Reports in MusicWeek also indicate that Apple will resurrect the long-dead liner notes and album art of the LP vinyl days by offering these as extras in its iTunes Store. The first band in this "experiment," according to the report, is Scotland's Snow Patrol with lyric sheets, videos and photos to accompany the release of its latest CD.

Indeed, there could be more announcements about the iTunes Store than new hardware , although Apple has made a habit of introducing its new holiday-season gadgets in the September-October time frame.

Some analysts and wishful bloggers have speculated that Apple might move to an "all you can eat" iTunes buffet, similar to Microsoft 's Zune store where one monthly fee allows an unlimited number of music downloads. The Zune Pass is currently $14.95 a month for unlimited downloads, but critics point out that Microsoft's music store does not stock as many titles as iTunes.

Other speculations are that Apple might further reduce iPod prices and offer more memory in newer models, especially the popular nano. Other wish-list items include an iPod touch with a decent camera, bigger and better iPod screens, and improved touch Wi-Fi syncing to desktop applications.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster predicted larger-capacity and newly designed nanos to help shore up and increase sales for Apple. Revenue for Apple from the iPod line was just more than $200 million last year, a 7 percent increase over last year, which was described as good, but not stellar.

MacBook Reboot as Well?

Although it doesn't fit the "Let's Rock" theme, some analysts predict announcements on new MacBook laptops. The line is due for a shake-up, and the company's latest financials show a marked uptick in MacBook sales.

Desktop units, though up as well, don't show nearly the promise as Apple's notebook surge, so refreshing that product line would be strategically important.

But regardless of new models or features, analysts predict price drops in the MacBook line. Even with new MacBook models, Apple won't be dominating the notebook market any time soon -- MacBook sales are a fraction of PC-based notebooks, and some analysts even point to MacBook sales as cannibalizing Apple desktop sales as buyers plunk down cash for a MacBook rather than a desktop.