This Week's Apple Rumors, Ranked From Dumbest to Most Plausible - Wired

The fourth-generation iPad. Photo: John Bradley/WIRED

Each week, there are dozens of Apple rumors, reports, and patent filings that hint at what’s coming out of Cupertino next. Some are legit, but most are totally bogus. We parse the week’s rumors for you, ranking them in order from “utterly ridiculous” to “duh, of course.” First up…

DON’T COUNT ON IT: Apple Working on a 12-Inch iPad

Apple could be super-sizing the iPad. China’s United Daily News (via Apple Insider) says that Apple is working with its Korean manufacturing partner Quanta, which currently produces the MacBook Air, on a 12-inch iPad model. While I’m sure Apple is exploring tablets (and smartphones) of different sizes, I don’t see it introducing a large 12-13 inch tablet any time soon. If Quanta is just getting into producing touchscreen tablets, it will take a while for the manufacturing process to get streamlined enough for Apple to rely on. I also think it will take a year or more for Apple to be able to create a 12-plus inch iPad that doesn’t weigh an obscene amount.

DON’T COUNT ON IT: Apple Patent Lets Authors Sign Fans’ E-Books

Apple’s trove of intellectual property filings are always interesting to explore. This week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published an Apple patent for embedding an autograph in an e-book. This technology would let users get e-books autographed or personalized by the author, much like they would on a physical book. This could also be done for other digital media like movies and music albums. While it’s a cool idea, and the technology could be implemented in other types of signing applications as well, part of the reason a signed book or movie poster has emotional value is because the author actually touched it with their pen. I don’t think a digital autograph would hold quite the same value for many of us.

SIGNS POINT TO YES: Purported Photos of New iPad Shown in Space Gray, Silver

The next iPad is going to look a whole lot like the iPhone 5/5s, according to purported photos of the next-generation tablet. The photos show the iPad coming in two of the same colors as the iPhone 5s: Space Gray and Silver. Keeping the colors consistent throughout its mobile product lines certainly makes sense. The iPad mini is also rumored to sport the same color scheme as the 5s. The big question here though is: Will the iPad also come in gold?

SIGNS POINT TO YES: Photos of iPad Mini in Gold Emerge

Ask and you shall receive. Today photos emerged claiming to show the iPad mini in gold — and also sporting Touch ID in its home button. While the photos themselves may or may not be real, as we said above, it would make sense for Apple to keep the color scheme consistent among its iPhone and iPad line, as it has in the past.

via apple - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEIqst4cvLFVlmYIsU-pYdrrDNwHQ&url=http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/09/apple-rumors-september-week/