I no longer think the Apple phone should be a iPod phone as much as a PDA phone (both together being welcome).
Right now I have a standard camera phone, an iPod Nano, and an HP iPaq PDA on which I can watch movies/write Word docss/internet/anything else a PDA can do. I'd love to have an Apple device that does all of these things VERY WELL and works with my Mac computer better than my current PDA works with Windows. If that comes out this year, I'll sell my 3 items to get 1 great one.
Honestly, though, if the Apple device doesn't have good video playback and a decent screen, i won't buy it.
To answer the previous post about "why a phone at all, why not just an Apple PDA?"
The answer is that the markets all over the world have already been heading towards a phone-based portable electronics society. The theory is that since you HAVE to have your cell phone with you, anything else you need can be tied in with that. In the US, we've had PDA phones for years, and they have appealed only to thsoe who watnted one. But camera phones and this past year MP3 phones have become popular, so manufacturers are relooking at other functionality: PDA, GPS, good portable video playback, Game systems (Sony sould come out with a PSP that is also a phone...), in Japan they are even experimenting with "smart pass" type credit cards that sticky right onto your phone!
The problem is that the cell phone companies--not the phone manufacturers--rule the roost. The best "rumor" about an Apple phone is that they will not be carrier-branded at all. This would be great for the industry, I think, although I'd still love a $150 rebate from a phone company to get one
