Speculation regarding Apple's photo applications hit an all-time high this past week when Sr. Product Line Manager for Photo Applications Joe Schorr posted in Apple's Discussion forums the following:
As I'm sure many of you know, it's not Apple's policy to provide a public "ETA" on future releases, so I can't post anything like a timetable for when support for the newest RAW camera formats will become available.
But I can tell you this. We at Apple are ACUTELY aware of the pressing need to get support for the newest round of camera into your hands as soon as possible. This is a top priority. We have members of our own team using these cameras, so you can imagine how interested we are in seeing this support integrated into the Mac OS and our photo applications!
We fully intent to give our customers what they need in this regard.
While we hesitate to draw too many conclusions solely from that post alone, independent reports from some tipsters are indicating that Aperture 2 may indeed be drawing near. Indeed, one uncorroborated tip has gone so far as to indicate that the update may come next week. However, our confidence currently is thin on the matter, and we post the above "intel" to page 2 for interest only.