The early consensus is that Apple's big announcement tomorrow could be some sort of iTunes streaming service.
Apple just put up a big tease on its homepage, advertising a secret surprise announcement, which will make tomorrow a day "that you'll never forget."
It's weird that Apple would announce something that's actually big without a Steve Jobs media event, but we'll let that pass for now.
So what's coming tomorrow?
Many of the smart guesses we're seeing on Twitter are that Apple will launch some sort of iTunes music streaming service.
It has been about a year since Apple bought Lala, another music streaming site, but so far, iTunes hasn't seen any music streaming updates.
But according to a source close to the music industry, rumor has it that there has been a big "breakthrough" in streaming rates. (We're still digging on that, let us know if you have more information.)
In theory, this could permit Apple to operate a cheap (or maybe even free?) music streaming service with much lower costs, which would allow it compete with the likes of Pandora, Spotify (in Europe), etc.
This might cannibalize iTunes song sales a bit. But that's okay -- iTunes mostly exists to help sell more iPods, iPhones, Macs, and iPads. Apple would happily sell fewer song downloads to sell more gadgets.
Another source thinks the Lala team has been focused almost entirely on video projects. So maybe tomorrow's announcement has more to do with video than music? Perhaps a Netflix- and Comcast-killer streaming bundle? This seems less likely, but anything's possible.
It's also possible this is just the iOS 4.2 update that's launching for the iPad and iPhone, with some partners to announce for AirPlay, which lets you beam your media around your house.
Update: And, just as we posted, here's a note blasted out by Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster:
"Apple announced that it will host an online iTunes-related event at 10am ET on 11/16. We believe Apple could announce a cloud-based iTunes service for content streaming to connected devices. Moreover, we do not expect Apple to announce a music subscription service."
Let us know if you've heard anything: dfrommer@businessinsider.com. Anonymity guaranteed.
Read: 15 HUGE, Important Questions About Apple's Mac App Store
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As the summer winds down and we near the fall, we know two things are for sure about to enter existence in the world of Apple: iOS 5 and iCloud. Given that both offer third-party developers various opportunities, both are in the process of being tested by that community. And that means things are starting to leak out. Tonight brought perhaps the biggest surprise revelation yet: iTunes in the Cloud will support streaming as well as downloading of music.
Now, before everyone works themselves into a tizzy yelling "FIRST!!!", yes, it's true that other music services have offered cloud-based streaming before — notably both Google Music Beta and Amazon Cloud Player this past summer. But neither of those is iTunes, the largest music retailer on the planet (online or "offline"). And there are plenty of other services that are streaming-only. It now seems certain that this fall, iTunes will offer both cloud downloading and cloud streaming.
You know 
