Rumor: iTunes 7.7 launching in a few hours, 2.0 software imminent?

There’s a rumor going around right now that Apple is gearing up to launch its new version of iTunes, version 7.7 sometime today. An Apple employee supposedly mentioned the update would be available “in a few hours” during a Apple Sales Web webcast this morning, according to TUAW.

While you might be thinking that this news in and of itself isn’t that interesting, that it’s just an iteration of a piece of Apple software; remember that iTunes 7.7 is the update that is required for the iPhone 3G and will carry with it the means to upgrade existing iPhones to the 2.0 software which will have the App Store on it.

We already know that Apple’s .Mac replacement MobileMe is launching tonight as well.

It’s possible that Apple will roll out iTunes 7.7 a bit early and hold off on the 2.0 software update, but we keep hearing that it and the App Store will launch a little bit before the iPhone 3G launch on Friday. Let’s hope all of us early iPhone adopters get a small present in an early release.

If the software does come out today, you can find it here.

update: iTunes 7.7 is now here.