We've had a couple rumors dropping in for the past couple of months about upcoming plans for Apple's future line of hardware and software products. Recent rumors suggest that all these changes are growing imminent: the next-gen iPod Nano and iPod Touch, the latest iTunes update, and Mac OS X 10.5.6 introducing Blu-ray might be just around the corner!

In an attempt to broaden the customer base of the Apple iPhone, Telefónica O2's division in the UK have dropped the price of a brand new Apple iPhone across the 8GB board. It seems a whole lot similar to the same price-drop promotion that Germany's T-Mobile has jump-started, and though O2 is following suit, they say it's to add momentum to their "fastest-selling device." The price drop and more at the full story.

While it's good news that Intel and Micron introduced the fastest NAND flash memory chip to date, there's more good news on the horizon. A substantial decline in the price of NAND flash memory has gadget companies in a race to bring forward tech with larger storage capacities and lower pricetags. Details in the full article.

Looking at reports and data coming in, the folks down at Engadget believe that a new iPod is due to come out, and soon. They believe it should be out sometime on September or October (pending Steve Job's decision not to mess up their theory).

The conclusion of a new iPod coming out comes from some timing in the marketplace and info from retailers.

For one thing, it's been a while since the iPhone came out and there's sufficient passage of time between the recent release of the new iMac and the coming holidays for the market to be ready for another pretty Apple product.

Info from retailers also suggest a new iPod. Not only are iPods seeing a price drop but shipments are also declining. With the holidays coming up, this strongly suggests that they're preparing the market for something new under the same product line. It's also been brought up that a new iPod might cut down iPhone sales so a new version might not be questionable, but Jobs once commented that if there's any cannibalizing to be done in sales, it might as well be from Apple itself.

So don't go buying yourself an iPod just yet. Who knows? Maybe the next version will actually be the iPhone without the Phone.