We believe, that some of those answers may come early this morning. There’s some buzz going around the Internet that AT&T may finally announce its monthly voice and data plans for the iPhone and even Apple might still have some aces up its sleeves.

What’s more, some eagle eyed MacRumors forum members have started to spot some changes in the Apple Store’s in New York and Hollywood.

Apparently, Apple employees are working late into the night to get some huge iPhone displays up before the stores will re-open in the morning.

We smell announcements.

Stay tuned…

Today, the Financial Times reports that Apple is currently discussing iTunes rental agreements with all major motion picture studios which would allow customers to rent movies from iTunes instead of purchasing them.

A film would cost $2.99 for a 30-day rental. Its digital rights-management software would allow films to be moved from a computer to at least one other device such as the video iPod or iPhone. The software would prevent movies being copied.

$2.99 for a 30 day rental? This sounds like an extremely intriguing deal for iTunes customers. According to the Financial Times the Studios are excited as well:

Other studios have shied from tie-ups with Apple because of concerns that digital downloading may hit DVD sales. But studios will be more enthusiastic about joining its video-on-demand service. Films downloaded to rent are unlikely to affect DVD sales.

I’ve been saying for a long time that Apple needs to offer movie rentals on iTunes. It’s a win for Apple, the consumer, and the studios. Offer them in HD and we might as well forgo the entire Blue-Ray/HD-DVD disaster.

Sign me up!

Apple and Universal Music are negotiating a deal to bring music from the label to the service, which offers higher-quality tracks that can be played on any computer or device. Citing “well-placed sources”, the report claims the label is now “actively discussing” such a deal.

Of course we can’t confirm who these allegedly “well-placed sources” are, however, if iTunes Plus is a success it’ll be only a matter of time until the other record companies follow EMI’s lead.

Update 6/8/2007: Universal Music Group Senior Vice President Peter LoFrumento contacted Macworld this evening to deny Digital Music News’ claims, saying: “The rumour is completely untrue.”

What a surprise…

This morning, Engadget reports that a batch of three separate iPhone commercials have been submitted for airtime, and that at least one of them mentions the release date of Friday, June 29th. Engadget’s source allegedly works in Television and also mentions that the commercials are supposed to start airing next week, before WWDC begins. The commercial mentioning the official release date, however, is set to air after Job’s keynote on June 11th.

Yesterday, AppleInsider also reported the 29th as a potential release date.

A contact who has filed accurate reports in the past notes that Friday, June 29th is the date being passed around at some Apple retail stores this week.

Take all of this with an iPod-Nano sized grain of salt, however, the 29th of June does seem to make sense. Job’s mentioned a release in late June, and Apple has recently released other high profile products on a friday. [iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano (PRODUCT RED)].

Continue to Read for the Updates…
Update 4:27pm: Seems like June 29th is getting more serious now. MacRumors just posted what looks like one of the mentioned AT&T commercials above.

It shows a guy holding iphone, flipping between functions, etc, shows web, ipod, phone, mail. after showing those short videos, shows black screen with white letters “iPhone” then shows “Coming June 29″. Only at AT&T with little ATT logo.

Take a look for yourself and decide if fake or not.

Update 4:35pm: Confirmed! According to several sightings, the above commercial just aired during today’s episode of 60 Minutes.

26 Days and counting down!

Even though no launch window has been determined, Engadget believes that AT&T’s close relationship as of late is indication enough for this service to appear rather sooner than later. No further details are provided.

Customers who previously complained about the lack of a PVR in the Apple TV will obviously welcome this news. However, it remains to be seen if Apple is truly willing to share its iTunes delivery service with another company.

Are AT&T and Apple the next Google and Apple? What’s next? AT&T CEO Randall L. Stephenson will join Apple’s Board of Directors? We’ll see…

Unlike other computer events such as the CES, the speakers at ‘All Things D.’ are invite only, per Walt Mosberg and Kara Swisher. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs will be drilled by the two hosts about the technology of tomorrow and its impact on society. Therefore, you can bet all your Zune’s that the iPhone will be part of that discussion.

“Coincidentally” Gizmodo reports today, that Microsoft is set to unveil a Top Secret Product to launch at midnight. (12:01am EST)

According to an email Gizmodo received by mistake through official channels, the new device will be something very special; “something totally new coming out of the Entertainment and Devices division, and it’s going to change the way people interact with technology.”

Seems like the Big Bill really didn’t care to be questioned about his answer to the iPhone without having something very special on his own. Bring it on Bill!

UPDATE:
Engadet reports that Microsoft might be official unveiling of the company’s PlayTable / Project Milan multi-touch, gesture-based input technology.

PlayTable, which combines elements we’ve seen in the iPhone, from NYU’s Jeff Han, in various prototype devices, and from Microsoft’s own, recently-demo’ed DigiDesk, is envisioned as a multi-purpose interface that can be employed in anything from a DAP (Zune) to a cellphone (WinMo handsets) to a gaming console (Xbox).

I don’t want to sound negative, but that’s no iPhone, Bill…

UPDATE #2:

Turns out Microsoft did launch Multitouch Surface Computing. There’s even a video at Popularmechanics. Go, check it out. And even though this is pretty damn amazingly, unbelievable cool, I am still going for the iPhone given the $5,000 – $10,00 price tag of this beauty…

UPDATE #3:

The official Microsoft ‘Surface’ website has been launched. Check for more details.

2nd generation iPhone

Quanta allegedly secured a contract with Apple to built the successor to the yet to be released iPhone. Both the chinese-languaged Commercial Times and the Economic Daily report that Quanta will deliver an initial run of 5 million handsets starting in september.

“The second-generation device will offer a different outer design to fit different markets.”

Before you get too excited; we believe this rumor to be false, or at best misunderstood. It would be highly unlikely for Apple to release a 2nd generation iPhone just months after its initial introduction to the market, and therefore, alienate some of its most loyal customer base. At best, the order might be regarding the much rumored iPod-touch-screen.

Apple Notebook Sales Continue to Soar

Quoting UBS Investment Research analyst Ben Reitzes, AppleInsider reports that Apple continues its lucky streak of notebook sales. Mac Portables were up 94% in April while total Mac unit retail sales were up 62% in comparison to last year.

What a great time to be a Mac user.

We can tell you the early results show a significant number of stores still telling us that they do have waiting lists for the phones. Not all, but many. We will post on the full suvey when it is completed.

How valid are these claims? I’ve got better things to do than call 100 AT&T stores, like cleaning my toilet. That’s time well spent!

• Store: Thank you for calling Cingulaaa… the new AT&T, this is Jeff! Have you heard about our new Ultimate Music Package featuring a FREE one year Napster to Go subscription?
• CNBC: Actually we were just interested in some information about the iPhone
• Store: Great, Great! Yeah, the iPhone huh? That’s a wild phone. Crazy.
• CNBC: Do you know when it will be available?
• Store: June 20th! Tell the world! I am a reliable source!

Great work CNBC, love your reporting. Remember to tell me about the rash of iPhone thefts and how to protect myself from becoming a victim as soon as that happens, too.

This time AppleTech News reports, that the iPhone will come equipped with GPS by 2008.

The next iPhone probably due out at Macworld or early spring of ‘08 will incorporate a GPS receiver chip closely matching the SiRFstarIII from SiRF Technology.

The article, which doesn’t cite any obvious sources [Red Flag #1], then goes into some more detail about the SiRFstarIII’s power consumption.

Even though the StarIII’s power consumption is a bit higher than Apple would like it is considered the best chip for a mobile device of this kind, having the capability to receive signals from 20 different satellites simultaneously and a super fast First Fix Time.

This rumor sounds suspicious to say the least, however, many potential iPhone customers would surely welcome this addition. Should they hold their horses and wait to buy an iPhone until MacWorld 2008?

Probably not.