So what's the latest scoop on Apple's next iPod offerings? If you put aside for a moment the fact that no one really knows because Apple is notoriously tight-lipped about the future, we've got plenty of dish for you. (Note that these rumors are not in chronological order.)

Rumor #1: The Touch-Screen iPod
Everyone's been asking me if any of those Photoshopped images of a video iPod with a touch screen and virtual click wheel are for real. All I can say for sure is that Apple has indeed filed a patent for something like that (shown above), which is what the doctored images are based on. Hopefully Apple is listening to the clamor for just such a device, and it would certainly jive with some of the other rumors out there, like…

Rumor #2: Pre-Formatted Movies
Apple wants to get iPod-formatted versions of movies included in upcoming Blu-ray discs, which have plenty of room for extra content thanks to their high capacity. This would certainly tie in quite well with a larger-screen video iPod, since I still don't think the world is ready for full-length movies on the current iPod's 2.5-inch screen. As to how the iPod-formatted content might be transferred from the discs to iPods, I would hope it would be as simple as putting the disc into your PC and dragging the content right into iTunes, and from there you'd load it on the iPod (without having to go through a long video conversion process). Of course, that would require either a Blu-ray drive in your PC or a hybrid disc that is also readable on standard DVD drives. If Blu-ray rentals are truly available this summer as promised by Blockbuster, this could really move portable video into the limelight—with Apple front and center, of course.

Rumor #3: New Component Supplier
Okay, this isn't a rumor, it's actually official. PortalPlayer announced that it has been dropped by Apple as the chip manufacturer for flash-based iPods—and we bet Apple's pretty miffed about the disclosure. It turns out that Samsung is the new supplier, which means the company will be supplying both the processor and the memory for Apple's future flash players.

Rumor #4: nano Makeover
A new version of the iPod nano will be coming out in the fall, possibly September. As usual nothing is even close to official, but there will certainly be a redesign of the nano's innards, especially given that there'll be a shiny new Samsung processor in it. I wouldn't be surprised if Samsung gives Apple an even better deal on flash memory, too, which would no doubt result in higher capacities. (And Apple recently fell behind in the flash capacity wars to SanDisk, whose 6GB Sansa e200 is the current leader.) That would be just in time for the holidays. Hopefully this year there won't be a component supply problem as happened last year, when Apple couldn't quite keep up with demand.

Please keep in mind that most of this is wild speculation. But we'll do our best to keep you abreast of what's real and what's not.