Apple rumors round-up

Let's take a look at some Apple-related rumors doing the rounds and see which sound plausible and which are little more than wishful thinking.

iLoungehas a good rundown of the current lineup of rumors.

New iPods - New iPod nano, new iPod touch, and a new iPod shuffle with a small screen. Thoughts: New iPads are a certainty, and given the popularity of the flash-based iPods over the classic hard-drive based ones, it's likely that the refresh will center around the flash-based devices. A shuffle with a screen would be interesting, and given how awkward the current shuffle is to operate, I wouldn't be surprised to see this happen. Overall likelihood: 95% (65% for an iPod shuffle with a small screen)

New iPad - Featuring a 7" screen (as opposed to the 9.7" screen on the current iPad). Thoughts: The only reason I can see Apple releasing a petite iPad is to save money on the screen and touch electronics. However, this is unlikely to shave much off the price. Which leaves the question as to how Apple could set the smaller iPad apart from the big one. Also, let's not forget that LG is already having difficulty keeping up with production for iPad screens. Overall likelihood: I give this a 50%

New iPhone - A push of the release date of the iPhone 5 to as early as January 2011. Thoughts: Nah, not gonna happen. maybe a small, subtle tweak to the antenna design, but the idea that the iPhone 5 is gonna be out early next year is crazy. Overall likelihood: 5%

Less expensive iPhone 4 bumper - So they can be given away free. Thoughts: Apple is likely to be looking for ways to make the bumper cheaper to manufacture, but this will hardly be a huge announcement sort of thing. Overall likelihood: 75%

Feel free to share your thoughts, feelings and own personal wild speculations!