What Is Apple's 'It's Been Way Too Long' Promo Hinting At?

Apple Inc. AAPL is gearing up for its next media event on October 16. It could be the firm's event of the year, but will it live up to Apple's September 9 extravaganza?

The official invite indicates that Apple will introduce a product that either has not been refreshed or is something consumers have been waiting a long time to see.

That invite is very intriguing, but what does it really mean?

Patrick Moorhead, president and principal nalyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, hopes that Apple is referring to its long-awaited Apple TV refresh.

"What I would like it to be [is] an upgraded Apple TV with gaming capabilities," Moorhead told Benzinga. "That's what I would like to see. I think [an actual] TV is out of the realm of possibility at this point, though I do think it's something people would like to see."

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New iPad Features

Sean Udall, CIO of Quantum Trading Strategies and author of The TechStrat Report, thinks Apple might be hinting at new features for the next-gen iPad.

"I do think what's pretty clear is that they're obviously going to have an iPad refresh," Udall told Benzinga. "Has it been too long for the iPad not to have Touch ID? That's not going to be a big surprise, but I do think the iPad is going to have Touch ID."

Speculating further, Udall pondered the future of the iMac and MacBook line of computers.

"I don't believe laptops and PCs need touch screen technology like what we see in Windows 8," he said. "But is Apple going to make a foray into touch screen technology? That would be my best guess."

Udall also said that Apple is probably going to refresh the Mac Mini, but noted that it is "not a big seller."

"It's barely part of my financial model on Apple," Udall added.

The iPad Itself

The rumor mill claims this will be an iPad-centric event.

Dan Miller, senior analyst and founder of Opus Research, wonders if that is the real source of Apple's tagline.

"I'm in the camp that thinks a new iPad would be very timely," Miller told Benzinga.

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.