Rumors are hotting up regarding the possible new Apple IPod. Over on Engadget today:

A reader is reporting to us that a coworker’s tech-unsavvy friend, who is regularly hired by Apple to do marketing photo shoots, was recently brought on to take some shots of “the sleekest, sexiest damn phone he’s ever seen.” The launch date? “Some time in August.”

Apple itself has been fueling the fire. At the latest Earnings call Peter Oppenheimer, CFO of Apple Computers stated:

“As regards cell phones, we don’t think that the phones that are available today make the best music players. We think the iPod is. But over time, that is likely to change. And we’re not sitting around doing nothing.”

Rumors have also been stoked from potential manufacturers in Taiwan (although I would hasten to add that is the fastest way for Steve Jobs to drop you).

Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Precision to tipped build the device, says Johnny Chan, a J.P. Morgan analyst based in Hong Kong. “Apple still hasn’t decided whether to give the contract for what’s being referred to as an ‘iPhone’ to Hon Hai or to another manufacturer, says Ellen Tseng, a Morgan Stanley analyst in Taipei. One analyst in Taipei who declined to be identified said Taiwan Green Point Enterprises, which makes plastic cases for the iPod, is in talks with Apple for a role in the phone.”

This however is not the Apple IPhone, an image that has been floating around the net. This was a design done for a Business 2.0 article called “What is next for Apple” in the April 2005 edition.

Likelihood: 50 percent Apple fans–and a fair number of nonfans–lust for some sort of Apple phone. The infuriating design and general clunkiness of most mobile phones today cry out for the Apple touch. Jobs has teamed up with Motorola to make a phone that will let users play a handful of songs downloaded from iTunes. But this could be just a prelude to Apple’s entrance into the phone market. With Motorola, Apple has already helped build a prototype of a combination phone/iPod that resembles the iPod in look and feel, according to someone familiar with it.

They put the odds at 50% that Apple will release this product some time this year.

There are plenty of good reasons not to do this. First off is the assumption that they can leverage off the MP3 player market into the Cell Phone market, which is much tougher competitively. Although an equal argument can be made that a niche MP3/Cell Phone player doesn’t have to be a volume success in order for Apple to make a lot of money off it.

What we do know is that any phone from Apple will be a welcome addition. Their skill at developing leading edge industry designs are a positive contribution to consumer electronics and have served them well.

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