Is a new iPod coming soon?

Could a next generation iPod arrive on the scene soon? The Chinese company that manufactures the iPods recently said that the next iPod is about to unveiled by Apple. The cool 'rumored feature' for the new iPod will be the 'none-touch' concept.

Macrumors.com has a link to an Apple patent that could describe an audio interface for the iPod that could be the 'none-touch' feature that the manufacturers are mentioning. I can't imagine an audio interface to be all that useful. I see people walking around yelling spouse's names at their cellphones repeatedly trying to get them to voice-dial, and in loud situations these technologies tend to break down.

But the last major update to the iPod line was in February with the iPod nano. I imagine as the months creep forward we can expect more guesses as to what Apple is up to until the chatter hits fever pitch right before product announcement time. That's half the fun of following Apple.

The big question is, which upcoming Apple event will see the announcement? July in San Diego, WWDC in August, or the Apple Expo in Paris in September?

[Disclosure: I own Apple stock at the date of this post]

[photo credit: ugaldew]