World awaits Apple's 'one more thing'

The Apple oracle is expected to speak again on Wednesday morning in California

Speculation is mounting over the product or products that Apple is planning to launch at its one more thing event on Wednesday.

While Apple has kept mum on details, the firm has invited selected media and industry watchers to an event in San José, California at 10am on 12 October.

The email invitation carried the subject line 'One more thing' and provided logistical details only for the event.

This tag line is a reference to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs's habit of spending the bulk of his time in keynote addresses pounding the company's chest and unveiling mundane partnerships or product refreshes.

As his presentation progresses and the tension builds, the words "one more thing" typically signal the day's most important product release.

Most rumours have settled on Apple unveiling a version of its iPod digital media player capable of showing video content.

Most notably, the Wall Street Journal predicted that the company will unveil a video iPod on Wednesday, according to "people familiar with the matter".

The newspaper described the new device as having a high-quality colour screen larger than the current iPods', yet small enough to fit into the palm of the user's hand or pocket.

Apple and the Wall Street Journal have had an intimate relationship at times. The newspaper broke the news of Apple's switch to Intel processors earlier this year, and at the Macworld conference in San Francisco Jobs praised the Wall Street Journal's technology columnist Walt Mossberg, who was in the audience at the time.

Mossberg praised the latest iMac design, although the computer was flamed by designers as a failed iPod look-a-like. The columnist was less impressed with Apple's redesigned computer mouse unveiled last July.

A video iPod is not without its challenges, according to Stephen Baker, director of industry analysis at NPD Techworld. "A video iPod needs more infrastructure before the market is ready," he told vnunet.com.

Video content currently available in digital formats is limited to movie trailers, music videos and material that consumers create themselves with digital video cameras, the analyst warned.

"Full-blown downloads of Seinfeld or Lord of the Rings are not going to happen this week," he said.