Apple (Today) & Microsoft (Thursday) Ready Big Announcements As Acer Jumps Into The Portable Device Market

We’d love to tell you that Hypebot will have the best insider coverage of today’s announcement of a few "fun new products" by Apple, but we’re not even invited.  So we’re betting that the folks at Engadget – who claim to have a SWAT team descending on Jobs HQ as we write this – will have the best coverage.

But even as Apple makes buzz-worthy additions to it’s hardware line, others continue work feverishly to create an iPod killer – or any real competition to Apple’s 80+% of the portable music market.  Microsoft is planning some kind of announcement Thursday which has been precluded by a rather feeble attempt at viral marketing dubbed the OrigamiProject. But those in the  know seem to agree that Gate’s announcement will be more software than hardware and perhaps just a work in progress. In the meantime, however, Acer is reportedly ready to jump into the device fray with a cool looking audio/video device (see below).

photo via Engadget.