BonoPod, anyone?

The rumours are true - the black U2-branded iPod is coming. That's from a source inside the U2 camp who actually saw one a couple of weeks ago. The insider describes the music player as having a picture of Bono and Co as a decal on the rear.

Everyone loves the iPod (it has an 90%-plus share of the HD MP3 player market, you know) - and none more so than U2: the whispers have been growing louder for weeks about the BonoPod as nobody calls it (yet). It's believed to come complete with the new album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, pre-installed, along with several other of their long-players on-board too.

U2 used to claim they would never get mired in the corporate rock thing. You know, the mucky world of sponsorship and product plugging, etc. But they certainly seem to love Apple. Bono helped launch the Windows version of iTunes and the Music Store last October where he said: "I'm here to kiss the corporate ass, and I don't kiss every corporate ass."

Then Vertigo, the first single from the new album, which is due next month, was an exclusive on iTunes for a short while. The band even shot a video in silhouetted iPod-ad style for the song (you can see the two-minute version free at Apple).

The announcement of the BonoPod is expected on October 26.

This event is also probably going to announce the extension of the iTunes Music Store to other countries in Europe besides Britain, France and Germany. But, after a chat to an Apple Deep Throat, my suspicions are that Ireland won't be included, at least not in this tranche.