With the world going mad, mad, mad for the Motorola Droid and HTC Android from Verizon, AT&T is purportedly looking for a strategy to counter the hype. Then again, slashing the price of Apple’s flagship phone so early in the product cycle might be more than Steve Jobs is willing to give this holiday season.

Four years and much snarky criticism after Apple began using handheld point-of-sale (POS) terminals running Windows CE, the company has finally turned a corner and is now in the process of rolling out an iPod touch-based system. Same software, but the new hardware is much more capable and, surprisingly, one heckuva lot less expensive.

The Mac tablet breadcrumb trail now leads down under with media companies in Oz, off the record of course, reporting that the mothership’s been round to pitch their phantom device. This latest report adds weight to rumors that the Cupertino, California-based Mac, iPod and iPhone maker is preparing to remake the publishing business, bringing it into the 21st Century.

A new study shows that Ma Bell’s hefty Apple handset subsidies coupled with high customer acquisition costs and heavy, heavy data use once those subscribers are on board likely means America’s second largest wireless carrier must wait until the final months of a two-year contract to turn a profit.

When WebOS 1.2 arrived without an iTunes 9 sync fix or work around, pretty much everyone assumed Palm had given up their quixotic effort to restore syncing with Apple’s industry leading jukebox software. And, honestly, who could blame them. Well, what a difference a point update can make.

Here’s an idea whose time more than a little overdue — turn your home into a “five bars everywhere” mini cell site. However, pricing and available details are still a bit sketchy as Ma Bell plays catch up in yet another wireless category.

Whether or not the chip inside Apple’s just announced 32 and 64 gigabyte iPod touches is compatible is perhaps a moot point as there’s more to building technology into a product than just soldering the appropriate piece of silicon onto the circuit board.

A short, unsourced and rather cryptic write up says Ma Bell will keep its promise to deliver multimedia messaging services on the iPhone and the feature will arrive as part of Apple’s next iPhone OS point update. There’s also a user report claiming first hand knowledge, too. The timing’s right, but I’d like stronger confirmation before holding my breath.

Talk about your slow boat to China. Rumors of the Apple’s game-changing handset officially on sale in the Middle Kingdom have circulated for years and  still all we have to report are rumors and whispered hopes.

A sighting this week all but confirms the existence of the long-rumored, next-generation iPod touch, though it’s size, shape and internals all remain a mystery.