One final MacWorld rumor roundup

Okay, I know that I promised that I would never mention the rumored device that must not be mentioned ever again and I plan to stand by that promise. But mere minutes away from Steve Jobs' keynote at MacWorld, it's hard not to report on some of the juicer rumors floating about. For example, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has partnered with Cingular for the launch of the you know what, citing "people familiar with the matter." As some of you may recall, the Journal cited those same mysterious "people" this time last year, when they correctly predicted Apple's announcement that they would phase out the PowerPC platform in favor of Intel chips. Interesting, indeed.

But let's take a step back for a minute. What if Apple doesn't announce a wireless communication device today? It could happen: ZDnet's Jason D. O'Grady has gone on record as saying that he doesn't expect such a product from Cupertino anytime soon. "Apple could be using it as a decoy to keep us off the scent of whatever larger scheme they have cooked up for us tomorrow, be it iTV, iPod or iWhatever," he writes. It's entirely possible and it's not like it hasn't happened before--the very same product has been rumored to appear at MacWorlds for years. But the level of anticipation is much higher now than it's ever been and subsequently, the stakes are much higher. As the Wall Street Journal notes, Apple could severely disappoint investors if a certain highly-anticipated gadget fails to materialize, causing Apple shares to plummet.

On the entertainment side of things, Journal seems to think that another partnership, between Apple and Viacom-owned Paramount Studios, is imminent [Editor's note: we can now confirm this]. Announcing the addition of Paramount's catalog of back titles to the iTunes Store would make a lot of sense at MacWorld--especially if Steve plans to unveil the iTV. And, as anyone who has ever watched a "Stevenote" can tell you, Mr. Jobs loves to pat himself on the back for the success of iTunes and make a few announcements about new content additions before segueing into a new iTunes-related product. Like the iTV. Or, you know, something else.

Anyway, we're now mere minutes away from the keynote and no amount of speculation is going to change anything at this point. I'll expect to see you here tomorrow for a discussion of, well, you know.

For more baseless rumormongering:
- see this Wall Street Journal article on Apple's wireless play (sub. req.)
- or this one on the rumored deal with Paramount (sub. req.)
- or this ZDnet article on Apple's red herring