Despite initial doubts, ITunes 8 appears to be a sure deal for Apple’s “Let’s Rock” event September 9, and may come coupled with an iPhone 2.1 firmware update.
Ars Technica repudiates initial skepticism of the details surrounding iTunes 8 given by Digg’s Kevin Rose, whose explanation detailed a Pandora-style Genius feature, Genius Sidebar, Grid view as well as other features. Rose made claims that iTunes 8 would make an appearance at next week’s Apple event.
It appears that a source close to Ars has confirmed the release of iTunes 8 for September 9, and validated many of the features that Rose explained.
An additional source has notified Ars that an iPhone 2.1 firmware update is widely expected to be released on September 9 as well. The software is known support background push notification for third party applications as well as directional GPS.
Ars notes that the update may include additional features that haven’t yet been revealed. Sources say that Apple may have purposely left out features from the iPhone 2.1 betas seeded to developers to avoid early leaks and to make for a more high-profile release.
