Never a MacWorld event has been so much surrounded by rumours and speculations. MacScoop has contributed to gathering all these MacWorld rumours during the last three months and it's now time to take a look on all of these reports and give you our take on each of them.

Apple Phone

An Apple branded mobile phone has been rumoured since Apple and Motorola announced [1] the first iTunes phone in September 2005. It's now getting massively confirmed that Apple's mobile phone is finally coming on Tuesday.

The New York Times recently reported [2] that Apple's phone would actually be much more than a phone as the report mentions a full featured smart-phone kind-of with a touch-screen display and a ceramic enclosure.

And if it's not enough for you, the Wall Street Journal [3] just added its own report, confirming older information that Cingular will handle Apple's mobile phone which is to be released... on Tuesday.

The only information MacScoop has published [4] regarding Apple's mobile phone is that its name may not include the "i" character.

iPod

Will Apple refresh any of the iPod line-ups? It's not impossible that we see larger capacities on the iPod nano and/or the Shuffle while some rumours predicted a "true" video iPod with widescreen display.

MacScoop didn't receive any report claiming new or refreshed iPods are coming soon. However, sources have revealed us information related to the operating system future iPods may use (developed at the end of this article).

iTV

As with Apple's mobile phone branding, MacScoop's sources don't believe [5] Apple will use a trademark starting with the "i" character, like it is usual for the company's consumer products.

What we already know on the so temporarily called "iTV", since Steve Jobs previewed [6] the device on September the 12 2006, is that it will include wireless capabilities, USB, digital audio and HDMI connectivity. It is also known that it will have a Front-Row-like user interface and that it will cost $299.

A little time after the initial introduction of the "iTV", Disney's CEO, Rob Iger, hinted us at the existence of storage on the device and since then, no more information has filtered on Apple's forthcoming living-room appliance. Only some speculation regarding its wireless capabilities, as it is suspected to support the still draft 802.11n standard.

Software

On the software side, we're sure to see some further details revealed on Leopard. When Jobs unveiled Apple's next major operating system release during the 2006 edition of the World Wide Developers Conference, he told the audience that some features were well kept secret.

Since then, recent builds of Tiger have revealed some minor but interesting ones. Let's just hope that we will not be disappointed when Jobs will tell us more.

Every single rumour-roundup you may found on the web shows certainty that Apple will also release both iWork and iLife tomorrow. Well, we're less sure about the last one, as a source told [7] MacScoop that iLife's availability could be post-poned until the release of Leopard.

Immediately available or not, iWork should finally include the long rumoured Spreadsheet application. A recent report [8] brings enough evidence to it with a couple of screenshots.

Those who expect Mac OS X Leopard to be released tomorrow should stop thinking about it. There is currently not a clue showing that Apple is ready to ship it's new OS tomorrow. What we can expect is only another preview focusing on other features as well as a release date.

MacScoop recently published [9]a list of the features present on more recent builds of Leopard seeded to developers. Let's hope Jobs has more to show us.

Mac Pro and Displays

The timing is good for Apple to release a new line-up of Mac Pros, as Intel's quad-core chips are now available. As recently reported [10] on MacScoop, the latest Intel's Xeon quad-core chip would be a good candidate for an 8-core version of the Mac Pro, while the 4-core configuration could be kept in store for a lower price.

As for the displays, we're going to tell you almost the same we told [11] you during last summers' WWDC roundup. There is a possibility [12] that Apple releases a new displays line-up with iSights, HDMI connectivity, HDCP support. The 23 inch model could be replaced by another form factor while a new, bigger than 30 inch model could be added to the line-up.

However, our reports indicated that the 8-Core Mac Pros are "coming in January". So it might not be during MacWorld but later in the month.

Other

In the reports that we could classify in more than one or none of the above categories, MacScoop sources claim that Apple has developed and will include a stripped-down version of Mac OS X on its consumer devices.

We also see further confirmation [13] that Apple will officially announce support for the 802.11n wireless technology.

Finally, an unconfirmed report from sources close to the Apple Store claim that there won't be any immediate availability for Apple's MacWorld product announcements.

Stay tuned on MacScoop tomorrow at 9 a.m. (PST) as we'll be covering [14] the event on a dedicated high traffic demand infrastructure. The coverage will be available from keynote.macscoop.com [15].