Fueling the fire of speculation

The current speculation around Apple’s big “One more thing…” announcement coming next Wednesday revolves around Powermacs / Powerbooks, iPods, or software. But, what if we are way off base? It occurred to me that the new announcement may, in fact, be media related, but in a slightly different way… in the form of a set top box.

Do you remember the iHome Media Centre? It was a hoax that circulated back in January, just before the Mac mini was announced. Even though it ended up being a fake, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for Apple to be developing such a device. These days, I think it’s the goal of most computer companies to extend themselves beyond your office, into your living room. There are new Windows-based boxes popping up every day that are meant to go in your entertainment center, instead of on your desk.

So, I think it’s entirely possible that Apple may have a bigger surprise for us than we think. Maybe it’s a Tivo-Computer-Stereo hybrid kind of device. Maybe it’s an Airport Express… video edition. Or, maybe it’s just an 80GB iPod, and we all got really excited for nothing. We’ll see next Wednesday.