Tuesday, 12 September is the big coming out day for Core 2 Duo-based iMacs, new generations of iPod and iPod Nano, and Apple's iTunes Movie store, it has been claimed after Apple began mailing out invites to the media to come along to Cupertino or attend a London-hosted simulcast of the proceedings.

A satellite transmission to Europe isn't a common Apple press conference strategy, suggesting Tuesday's events will indeed be something special. Sources cited by website Think Secret claim, however, that the unveiling will not include the much-anticipated widescreen, video-oriented iPod that's been cropping up on online rumour sites since March this year.

The report reckons we will see new, higher capacity Nanos all in multiple, metallic colours. The 5G iPod is simply getting a boosted storage capacity for the same price, it adds.

iMacs based on Intel's recently released Core 2 Duo processor are also said to be on the list of products to be announced on Tuesday. Again, such an upgrade has been the source of much speculation of late. It's expected Apple will capitalise upon Intel's naming scheme to ship the notebook-oriented Core 2 Duo - aka 'Merom' - into its desktop machines instead of the desktop Core 2 Duo, 'Conroe'. At this stage it's unclear what, if any, performance penalty there is for such a move.

The event's main announcement is expected to be the iTunes movie download store, which was effectively pre-announced by Lions Gate Studios recently. Press reports suggest new films will cost $15 to download, while older movies will cost $10. ®