Want To Know A Secret? Video iPod Coming Oct 12.

The rumor mills are grinding in overtime as Apple announces an event called ‘One more thing.’

My crystal ball is on the limb with me. Evolutionary or revolutionary. Flip the quarter to see.

No technology company gets the media folks to dance the way Apple gets them to dance.

Instead of just treating us to a tricked out cell phone that runs iTunes and plays music, Apple CEO Steve Jobs pulls ‘one more thing’ out of his pocket—the iPod nano. It’s a hit.

The trademark ‘one more thing’ is often used at keynote and special media events to signify something special from Apple, something predicted, often not predicted by anyone.

Remember the sunflower iPod? Who knew? The Mac mini? Not many knew. Intel Inside? Most of us scoffed.

It was just a few weeks ago that Steve Jobs introduced the Motorola ROKR and iTunes in a cell phone. Then he made that huge announcement seem paltry and insignificant when he pulled the iPod nano out of his jeans’ pocket.

Since then the nano has become a black and white runaway success.

Now Apple goes and schedules an ‘invitation only’ media event for October 12. That’s next week, for the calendar challenged. What is it? We’re being strung along for another week.

Apple is playing us like a violin. The upcoming event is called ‘One more thing…’

Who’s predicting what? We all know that predicting anything Apple is a dangerous game. If you’re right, you might get sued. If you’re wrong, you’re in good company.

The rumor gods at AppleInsider are hedging their bets by saying it’s a product or a service. Click Here and Here. They’re even suggesting that it’s a video iPod; an iPod that plays music videos.

Others say the announcement will be a video iPod, and music videos available from the iTunes Music Store. Those are safe bets because they’re evolutions of the current iPod, iTunes, iTunes Music Store ecosystem.

Think about it. Apple just stunned everyone by building a better moustrap and getting rid of their best-selling, industry-leading, heart-stopping, iPod mini and replacing it with—gasp—something even cooler.

But even the iPod nano is an evolutionary change from the mini. Cooler? Yes. Revolutionary? No.

So it makes sense that Apple would revamp the high end iPod lineup with a new video iPod. Slightly thinner, higher capacity, smaller click-wheel, much bigger high-resolution color screen, capable of playing videos (and with a video-out connector).

That, in and of itself, is OK, but not great. It needs, well, video. That’s where iTunes and the iTunes Music Store comes in.

Look for an update to iTunes and iTMS so you can search through thousands of music videos and buy for $2.99 each. That’s evolutionary, not revolutionary.

That’s what you’ll see from Apple on October 12.

There’s only one reason a lady climbs out on a limb and peers into a crystal ball. It’s to be embarrassed. So here it comes. You can say ‘I told you so’ but you have to wait until October 13.

‘One more thing…’ has to mean something else besides the obvious. The obvious is an iPod that plays music videos. The obvious is an upgrade to iTunes Music Store so you can buy music videos.

What will you do with those music videos? Watch them on a little screen? Yes, and no. Music videos are made for the bigger screen. Not your Mac’s screen, your TV screen. So there needs to be a way to get those music videos from your Mac (or your video iPod) to the TV screen.

In addition to the above, I’m convinced we’ll see one of two (possibly both) ‘One more thing…’ on October 12.

Airport Video Express. Think Airport Express with a video out connector. Plug in the Airport Video Express next to your TV, connect the audio and video to the TV, and your wired Mac will ‘broadcast’ the music video playlist direct to your TV from iTunes.

It already does that with audio. A video broadcast is the next step. Count on it.

‘One more thing…’ may also be a huge surprise and a product that some of us get wet over. Take an iBook. Cut it in half. Make it thinner. Make it wireless. Give it a touch screen, USB, hard drive, a built-in video camera, let it run Mac OS X Tiger, and call it a ‘vPad’.

The Apple ‘vPad’. At about half the size of an iBook, the ‘vPad screen is big enough to actually enjoy watching music videos. And movies (one more evolution away). With the built-in camera and iChat AV, you’ve got a personal communicator device that also doubles as a computer. Make it sync to the Home directory on your Mac, and broadcast audio and video to your TV.

Oh, price it at $799. I’ll buy one. See? That’s ‘One more thing…’ I can be proud of.

Or, Apple could always buy The Beatle’s Apple Corp. Or Disney. Or…