No surprise that the Zune HD announcement has resulted in a flurry of iPod rumors, and theres a couple good ones going around today. Obviously the big news is a set of photos purporting to show a next-gen touch with a camera -- the sourcing and the backdrop in some of the pics make it feel like its a publicity stunt, but the shots of the motherboard next to a current-gen touchs board seem convincing -- especially because of Apples recent propensity to leak this sort of thing. The other piece of news? CNET says that whatever Apple does next month, the new Cocktail "next-generation album cover" will be a part of it, at least according to "multiple music industry sources." That might link into the major labels CMX initiative, it might have something to do with iTunes 9, it might be a fun little Tom Cruise movie, or it might be nothing at all -- but it sure seems like were in for a hell of a September.Update:
Update 2: After seeing some high res versions of these pics, we think we can safely rule out the JPG artifacting as the tell-tale sign that these are fake. You know what we cant rule out? The really bad looking Photoshop work around the lens. Much clearer pic after the break.
The Covino and Rich Show blog post with iPod touch photos
iPod touch photos on Flickr in higher-res
CNET on Cocktail
