There's been much talk about Apple's big media event on September 12. And yes, there have been rumors, lots of rumors, about what they're going to reveal next week. What will it be, really? A new product in the whole iThis, iThat, iFranchise? American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu has an idea.

Their research has shown that an Apple smartphone has moved from concept stage, to prototype, to testing, and to what could now be nearing completion as a production unit. An Apple smartphone? Yes, it seems as if its already been under development for twelve months now, with Apple trying to produce the right blend of cell phone and media player. And Wu has provided us with a rather detailed account of what we could expect:

"The design will be an iPod nano-like candy bar form factor and come in three colors (we are not certain of the exact colors but we suspect black, white, and platinum, similar to Apple's current color scheme of iPods and iMacs)."

Errr... "Candy bar form?" Well, it definitely sounds intriguing, and all we can do is sit and wait patiently for Steve Jobs to finally spill the beans by next week. Still, an iPod-phone will definitely revolutionize the mobile-media-device arena, and we're definitely keeping our fingers crossed for this.