FEVERISH speculation over Apple's plans for 2005 is growing ahead of the company's Expo this week - with a new, low-cost iMac among the rumoured announcements.

A cheaper, flash memory based iPod aimed at the lower end of the market is also among the announcements rumoured to be lined up by Apple boss Steve Jobs.

Jobs is due to to give his annual speech at the MacWorld expo in San Fransisco on Tuesday, amid much discussion by Mac users over what big surprises he will unveil.

Most of the speculation surrounds a rumoured low cost iMac aimed at the home user market which would come without a monitor.

Such a unit - which would come in at under $500 in the US - would be aimed at attracting non-Mac owning iPod users who were getting a taste of how Apple's systems operate through the digital music player.

People had questioned the validity of such a mass-market move, but Apple's recent legal action against fan site Think Secret over its publication of alleged specs for the machine has given the rumour increased validity in many sectors.

Also rumoured to be announced are a flash-based iPod, with 1GB of storage spaced, aimed at the lower cost end of the market, and updated specifications for the Powerbook G4 laptops to fill the gap until G5 portables are announced.

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