Hasta La Gadget!

Meet the iTouch 4G–or, rather, meet the first iTouch 4G case. This Hard Candy Street Skin case itself is so brand new that the device that it was designed to protect has yet to actually be announced–that will most likely occur later today during Apple’s long-awaited music at (which, incidentally, Gearlog will be live blogging, beginning at 10 AM PT).

Symbolically, the most interesting thing here is the name. Apple, apparently, has dropped the beloved iPod from the title altogether (ala Apple TV/iTV, another rumor)–no doubt to position the music player closer to its real flagship product, the iPhone 4. The “4G,” meanwhile, almost certainly refers to the device being the fourth generation, rather than any wireless carrier connections.

While we don’t actually get a great picture of the device itself (the shot is only of the case –i.e. the obscured rear of the device), there’s information in them thar holes. Take that big one in the upper left hand corner, for example. It’s a cut out for a camera and mic (in fact, you can see both pretty clearly in the picture–and an aluminum back, for that matter).

The other holes seem like pretty standard fare–volume on the side, power on the top, dock and headphones on the bottom, and a big cut out for the screen on the front (so, you know, no return of the click wheel, or anything).

The device is set to ship September 15th for $30–the iPod touch/iTouch, meanwhile, will likely go as sale as soon as it’s announced.

In spite of Apple’s infamous secrecy, we have seen devices outed prior to their release–including past ipod–by third-party devices. Keeping your own staff in check is one thing–partners are something entirely different. What’s most interesting, however, is the fact that, as of this writing, the device still appears on Hard Candy’s site.