There will be multi-touch gestures OS-wide. (Would make sense for that as the rumored OS for the iTablet is close if not the same as the iPhone)

“A few new ways” to run applications in the background — multitasking.

Many graphical and UI changes to make navigating through the OS easier and more efficient. We haven’t had this broken down, but we can only hope for improved notifications, a refreshed homescreen, etc.

The update will supposedly be available for only the iPhone 3G and 3GS, but will “put them ahead in the smartphone market because it will make them more like full-fledged computers” more than any other phone to date. Everyone is “really excited.”

The last piece of information is the most vague, but apparently there will be some brand new syncing ability for the contacts and calendar applications.

The event is scheduled for January 27th, next Wednesday, so we’ll find out more then.

I’m pretty confident that the name of the 3rd iPhone will be called “iPhone Video”. There’s strong evidence in the iPhone 3.0 Beta firmwares to support this:

This screenshot seems pretty real to me. It would make total sense to have one app run both the still image camera and the video camera. Just toggling the switch into video mode would change the button to a red dot kinda like the red light on the front of most video cameras.

There’s a lot more that goes along with video, one of the best is a new camera/lens. A big rumor is an upgrade to the camera to 3.2MP and the addition of auto focus. This would be really nice for me because right now I carry a DSLR and a Flip Video along with my iPhone. I would like the iPhone to replace the Flip. I doubt it will ever replace the big digital camera. I NEED ZOOM!

Other screenshots show MobileMe video features and even one with buttons that allow for minor editing of the video right on the iPhone. A big wish of mine is the front facing camera to make video phone calls. This seems to good to be true. Maybe someday with the 4G/LTE network. I really do think there will be video recording with the new iPhone.

There are rumors of physical changes to the device too. One is replacement of the chrome bezel to black. I’m not sure why Apple would do this. Both first iPhones have the chrome. Not really a big deal to me but I guess it’s false. Another thing I don’t think is going to happen is the rubberized back. I used to have a incase rubber case for my iPhone, and while it did help me hold onto he iPhone, it made it hard to get in and out of my pocket. I think Apple will continue to resort to cases to allow the user to customize them.

There are all kinds of rumors flying around about the price of the next set of iPhones. The biggest one is a $99 4GB model. This would be a big seller for the device, but the monthly plan is the bigger concern too. There are, of course, rumors about the data plans becoming cheaper too. I think the $99 iPhone is very likely (with a 2 year contract of course). Data plans changing would be nice, but anything less than unlimited SMS/MMS and Data are not going to happen with me.

Standard feature upgrades like more battery life, speed, memory, storage, OS update all seem expected.

Some final features for our list may be good ideas, but I just don’t see happening. They include a glowing Apple logo on the back, dedicated shutter button, background running apps, Adobe flash, 802.11n, FM Transmitter and a compass. How about the return of Steve Jobs? (also a rumor)

I’m sure there are more and more but we’ll get to that tomorrow. We’ll be live blogging all the info we can get, tomorrow, noon central time. Goodnight, sweet dreams.

You can read the full article here: barrons.com

- iPhone Pro: an iPhone with 60GB of storage, true 16:9 aspect ratio, slide-out keyboard, one megapixel front camera for iChat, and a high quality camera, with good lenses, optical zoom, and video capability.
- iPhone Nano: Smaller and lower priced.
- iPod Touch 7″ or 10″: Possibly only announced at Macworld but released in fall of 2009.

- Revamp of entire iPod line.
- Small cosmetic changes to Touch, Nano to see significant redesign (see pic below).
- iPods to see fairly large price drops to distance itself from the $199 iPhone.
- iPod touch 2.1 software, iPhone to get update very soon after.
- iTunes 8.0 (”it’s a big update w/new features”).
- All of this coming in the next 2-3 weeks.

I was hoping for some GPS, microphone, speakers, camera… something! There is a sweet pic of the iPod Nano so we’ll give you that. If you know of any other rumors about the iPod Touch, let us know!