A tipster sent us this image of what appears to be a MacBook Pro with a glossy screen akin to the design of a newer Intel-based iMac.

If accurate, this closely resembles an image that was posted and quickly removed from a Deutsche Telekom site last month. Images of the laptops were posted along with specifications very similar to existing MacBook Pros -- and it's still unclear what will be different about the notebooks under the hood.

While unconfirmed, this could be the first image of the new MacBook Pro due to be released tomorrow at 10 a.m. Pacific time (1 p.m. Eastern).

TUAW will be meta-liveblogging the event live, starting a little before the event is due to begin.

Apple shares today reached their lowest price point since April 2007, closing at 97.07, down 3.03 points.

AAPL hit its 52-week low today, $94.65 per share, around 3:45 PM Eastern.

Early in the day, the stock was jarred with false rumors from CNN's iReport service about Steve Jobs suffering a heart attack. TUAW's own Michael Rose was among the first to contact Apple's PR VP, Katie Cotton, who said the rumors were untrue.

After the scare, prices rebounded, but never reached their highs for the day just before the rumor bubbled to the surface. Volume was at its heaviest before 10 a.m. Eastern, with about 16 million shares changing hands. In sum total, 82 million shares were traded over the course of the day.

Apple shares were slightly ahead in early after-hours trading.

We just got an e-mail from an anonymous Apple reseller, stating that they received an e-mail from Apple with instructions to remove all Apple TV displays and literature and to destroy them (which I assume means throw away the literature, send back the Apple TVs) by September 30, 2008 at 5 PM. Additionally, the e-mail says that there will be a webcast "kick off" on September 30.

Incidentally, September 30 IS a Tuesday (and the last day of the September quarter), making all of this information, very, very interesting.

So, what does this mean? Could this potentially be the introduction of the Mini/Apple TV hybrid we've all been begging for? Is this related to the rumors of "The Brick?"

I guess we'll have to wait until Tuesday to find out for sure. Hey, it's Saturday, so speculate away in the comments!

Addendum: In the comments and in some subsequent e-mails, we're receiving the impression that the licensing for the shows/images displayed in the literature has run out, and that the actual physical units may not be disappearing. Of course, that still leaves the issue of the webcast event on Tuesday...

In response to the negative publicity surrounding some recent, high-profile rejections from the App Store, Apple is now reminding developers that the rejection notices themselves are covered under their non-disclosure agreements.

In what is probably a recursive black hole of logic waiting to swallow the Earth whole, we now know that messages to developers now contain the line "the information contained in this message is under non-disclosure" in all caps.

Not knowing the specific terms of the NDA (because I haven't signed an NDA with Apple), I can't personally say if those terms were in the contract to begin with. Knowing Apple's penchant for secrecy, they probably were, and they're just being a bit more forceful with their reminders.

[Via MacRumors.]

The friendly folks over at Macenstein have a theory about The Brick -- a widely-rumored Apple product that may be debuting mid-October. So far, all we really know is the code name: "The Brick" (originally suggested by 9-to-5 Mac).

Many speculate that it refers to the form factor of the product -- whatever it may be -- but Macenstein has a different take: it's the Windows breaker. Get it? Like a real brick with a real window.

Apple may have a plan to pull significant market-share away from Microsoft using this product (or series of products). If true, it could be the missing piece of the puzzle that executives hinted about in Apple's Q3 conference call in July.

The question, of course, remains: what the heck is it already? A new, low-cost MacBook? An iTablet? Software? Let us know your predictions by leaving us a comment below.

Kevin Rose is at it again, with a brand new round of rumors about iTunes 8, supposedly premiered next week at the big Apple iPod event. Did I miss the meeting where we all declared him king of iPod rumors? King or not, he's got what he claims is inside information, including a writeup about something called the "Genius" sidebar, which creates recommended playlists for you, a new grid view (like Delicious Library?), and a new music visualizer.

Additionally, Rose's tipster mentions HD TV shows in the iTMS, and reiterates the previous rumors of new IPod nanos and Touches. None of these things are a huge surprise -- while the Genuis system will certainly be interesting to see (and make fun of) if real, HDTV and the new iPods are old news in Rumorville by now.

Is it OK if we hope for some faster and easier iPhone syncing with a new version of iTunes as well? Whatever is coming next week, we'll find out all about it then.

First the good news. Dan Lyons, the man behind Fake Steve Jobs, has suggested that his fictional alter-ego may be ready for a return. Earlier in the summer, Dan left his job at Forbes for Newsweek, and stopped writing as Fake Steve in the process.

However, this week he starts that Newsweek job, and told Mac Soda that Fake Steve is to be a part of that. Which is great, as Fake Steve is very insightful and funny.

Now the bad news. In the same interview, Dan says that Steve Jobs is ill. Speculation over Steve's health has been a topic of discussion this summer, while Apple has been quiet and respectful of Steve's privacy.

We expect to see Steve during next week's press event. We hope he's doing well.

By definition, nearly all tips we receive about Apple future product intros are wrong. After all, we're not Engadget. People aren't going to risk their jobs to deliver insider information.

That being said, a tip that shot into our mailbox this morning really tickled my fancy: not because I think it's accurate but because I really really want it to be true. Our anonymous tipster laid out a description for iTunes Unlimited that I thought was brilliant. Although this guy (by definition) does not work for Apple, he really ought to.

He suggested that the late September Apple event would introduce several great items that we'd love to see but haven't been holding our breath for. These are disk access for the iPhone and iPod Touch and iTunes Unlimited.

His take on iTunes Unlimited goes as such: For just $129.99 (or $179.99 bundled with MobileMe, or $99 for current MobileMe subscriptions), you would buy unlimited music access for one year. This would offer you 256 Kbps music, or as Steve would boom it, "The highest quality digital music subscription service ever." You could download and play directly on your computer or iPhone/iPod and the option to "buy and keep" would replace the subscription version of a song with a downloaded version.

I totally love this idea. It's not the first iTunes subscription rumor we've heard, either. I'm not betting that would happen. But it brought a huge smile to my morning. What do you think of iTunes Unlimited? If it were available, would you buy it?

Thanks, extremely creative anonymous tipster

The folks at The Boy Genius Report spent some time poking around server logs and found references to iPhone OS 2.0.1. It seems that build 5B101 is the 2.0.1 software for first-generation iPhones, while 5B103 is for 3G iPhones.

No word on what's included, of course, or when this might hit iTunes. According to AppleInsider, some people are having trouble with the camera and the accelerometer since the update. Have any of you 1st generation iPhone owners had software trouble since the update? Here's hoping this update will solve the problem.

On WWDC Eve, we at TUAW are hard at work keeping an eye out for the unknown and unexpected. We just received a tip showing what appears to be the Mac Nano computer that we've all wanted -- and it looks to be aimed towards the developer crowd.

The pictures appear to show a Mac geared towards developers on Windows and Linux systems. "Leave Windows behind. Build your Apps for OS X" states the title. While we are extremely cautious about rumors like these right before WWDC, we did have a rumor that a "new Mac" or at least an updated Mac might be released.

Thanks Jackie!

Over the weekend, the rumor mills went crazy with reports that Apple had bought a new domain name from their registrar (Mark Monitor). The domain name in question: me.com, which would agree with previous reports of Apple re-branding their .Mac service as "Mobile Me."

As we reported earlier it seems Apple is re-launching their .Mac service as an Exchange style service that might even be moving onto other mobile platforms as well as other OSes (including Windows).

As an additional reconfirmation of this rumor, the same tipster that told TUAW first about the .Mac refresh contacted us again to say that the rumors are in fact true. This is still solidly in the rumor category, but it is certainly shaping up to be an interesting WWDC.


[via MacRumors]

3G iPhone rumors are like summer evening mosquitoes: very annoying but also impossible to ignore. Fortune is the most recent buzzing in our ears with a report that the next major iPhone release will include Korea and Japan at the same time.

Specifically, tech news coming from Korea suggests that Apple is in talks with NTT DoCoMo of Japan and Korea's own Telecom Freetel. Both are big players in the 3G market in that part of the world. In fact, NTT DoCoMo is credited with having pioneered 3G mobile phone technology.

Both Korea and Japan are huge markets that Cupertino would certainly love to grab hold of. Of course, this will all be clear in just a few weeks. Most likely.

Now, where's the insect repellent?

[Via MacDailyNews]

Here's some good news for people in Switzerland, Spain, Poland who are awaiting iPhones. According to Fortune, all three countries may sell them soon.

Earlier this week, Le Matin Online reported (linked page is in French) that Swisscom will be the official iPhone carrier for Switzerland. Coincidentally, Apple is rumored to be opening an Apple Store in Zürich in July of this year (we first heard rumors of a Zürich store in 2006).

Likewise, France Telecom stated their intention to extend coverage to "...more than just two countries" via their CFO Gervais Pellissier. As the largest European countries that still lack a carrier, Poland and Spain are obviously attractive to France Telecom.

In related news, French iPhone customers can expect no immediate changes, as France Telecom intends to remain the country's exclusive carrier for the next two years.

To all the TUAW readers in Switzerland, Spain and Poland ... we've got our fingers crossed for you! Let us know if you hear anything from your local news outlets.

All indications point to a large, international distribution of the iPhone that's just waiting for to launch. Earlier in the week, Vodafone announced their intention to carry the iPhone in ten countries, and The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Vodafone, Telstra and Optus will carry the iPhone in Australia.

Today, Reuters is reporting that America Movil will carry the iPhone across Latin America. They're in 16 Latin American countries, plus the Caribbean and the United States. As of March 2008, America Movil held more than 159 million mobile subscribers.

Of course, they were tight-lipped about the details of the arrangement, like exclusivity or plan specifics. We'll see soon enough.

Thanks, Rodrigo!

Engadget continues to do their part in fueling the fire of rumors that we'll see a second edition of the iPhone this summer. First they supposedly touched it themselves, then they nabbed some shape and spec hints, and now they've got yet another set of "leaked" photos, from a Chinese phone forum.

As usual, we have no idea if this is the real thing, a prototype, or just a little Photoshop fakery. The most obvious difference between what Engadget saw first and what's posted here is the color on the back, but then again, why wouldn't Apple release iPhones in different colors? They've certainly done that with iPods.

None of this guarantees anything, but I will say that if I was shopping for an iPhone, the AT&T memo would be enough for me to hold off on a purchase until mid-June at least. There is an iPhone update storm coming, and the thunder and lightning seem to be getting closer together.