Rumors of what may be an "eMac" prototype sighting are floating out of Hong Kong. As faithful viewers are aware, after killing the Newton, Apple announced that it would re-enter the handheld market in 1999 with new machines based on the eMate form factor, but running a version of the Mac OS. Since then, the strategy has been elaborated a little further, as Steve Jobs outlined Apple's plan to ship a consumer-level portable Mac as a low-cost counterpoint to the high-end PowerBook G3. Unfortunately, there have been zero details about the system itself, and as recently as MacWorld Expo a couple of weeks ago, Apple would say nothing about the project, except that it was still due sometime next year.

But that doesn't mean we can't latch onto the faintest glimmer of third-party information from another country and focus obsessively over every word, right? And that's why the anonymous tip over at the Hong Kong Newton Users' Group holds our interest. According to the "anonymous source" who is allegedly close to Apple, while on a tour of the Technology Group office, he caught sight of a handheld described as being larger than a Palm Pilot, though not as large as a full-fledged MessagePad 2100. If it were simply a Newton device that never made it out of the labs, it wouldn't be terribly interesting, but reportedly this machine had a Mac OS look-and-feel without the hard disk icon or the trash can. Also, it allegedly included a detachable keyboard that folds over the screen and serves as a cover when the unit is closed. When the anonymous source started asking questions about the unit, the Apple representative grabbed the MessageMac, stashed it out of sight, and misdirected attention towards some new iMac designs-- which is a different sphere of speculation entirely.

Now, it seems pretty unlikely that anything with this form factor could really be Apple's upcoming consumer portable, so it's most likely just one of those hundreds of Apple designs that never actually turns into a product... assuming the rumor is even true in the first place. But there have been other reports of something like the Mac OS running on Newton-style handhelds, so we can't discount it completely. Does Apple have unannounced long-term plans to compete full-on with Palm Pilots and Windows CE pocket-sized devices? It's an exciting prospect; the AtAT office would buy a couple of $600 MessageMacs before you could say "Aliens Abducted My Newton."