New apple rumors

Wednesday's much-hyped Apple event has come and gone. We got a revamped iPod lineup, a smaller and cheaper Apple TV with Netflix streaming and 99-cent TV show rentals, and Ping, a social network within iTunes 10. Before Steve Jobs took the stage, however, all we had were rumors and predictions. Which ones came true and which ones were pipe dreams? Let's take a look.

RUMORS
Report: Revamped Apple TV Will Include Netflix Streaming
Reality: Correct. Late Tuesday night, Bloomberg cited "three people with knowledge of the plans" and reported that Jobs would announce a revamped Apple TV capable of streaming content from Netflix's Watch Instantly library. A week after Netflix added streaming support to the iPhone and iPod touch, Jobs announced that that capability will also extend to the new Apple TV when it launches later this month.

Report: Apple Working on 99-Cent TV Show Rental Service
Reality: Correct. A week before the press event, Bloomberg also reported that Apple would introduce a 99-cent TV show rental service. Jobs announced Wednesday that users will indeed be allowed to rent TV shows on the new, streaming-only Apple TV for 99 cents. Bloomberg said Apple was in talks with News Corp.'s Fox, CBS, and Walt Disney to add the companies' content. On Wednesday, Jobs said Apple was only able to secure deals with Fox and ABC, but hoped to add more networks soon.

Report: Apple iTV, Running iOS, Coming in September for $99
Reality: Partially Correct. In late August, Digg founder Kevin Rose said in a blog post that he'd heard rumors about a revamped Apple TV, renamed iTV, which would be sold for $99 in September and run iOS. While Apple did indeed introduce a new Apple TV that will be available later this month, it was not renamed iTV. As for iOS, Apple did not specify which OS Apple TV will run. Engadget first reported the revamped Apple TV rumors (sans the iTV moniker) in May, and was correct when it said the new Apple TV would emphasize streaming over local storage.

Report: Revamped Apple 'iTV' Won't Have True HD
Reality: Correct. That Engadget piece also reported that the new Apple TV would be capable of full 1080p HD. In August, however, the blog reported that Apple TV would actually stick with the 720p format. According to the Apple TV tech specs, that is correct. Apple TV includes "H.264 video up to 720p," they said.

Report: Apple Will Extend iTunes Song Preview Length
Reality: Incorrect. On Tuesday, CNet reported that Jobs might announce an extended music preview length in iTunes. Instead of hearing a 30-second snippet, Apple would provide a 90-second preview of a given song. Jobs, however, made no mention of such a feature in his presentation.
Report: Apple Presentation Will Not Include Cloud-Based iTunes
Reality: Correct. In the same story, CNet reported that Apple would probably not introduce a cloud-based music service because it has not yet obtained the licenses required for such an undertaking. While Apple TV switched from a download model to a streaming-only model, Jobs did not take iTunes to the cloud in his Wednesday presentation. Apple purchased and subsequently killed cloud-based music service Lala last year, prompting some to speculate about Apple's plans for the cloud, but no such service has been announced.

Report: Apple Will Unveil a 7-Inch 'Mini' iPad
Reality: Not a chance. In August, DigiTimes's in-house analyst team predicted that Apple will release an iPad with a 7-inch screen, down from the current 9.7-inch display. This prompted speculation that the announcement would happen during Apple's fall event, but Apple September events have traditionally been music-centric, so it's not a huge surprise that Wednesday's event did not include any hardware upgrades for the iPad.