Some Post-WWDC Next-Generation iPhone Notes Rumors, And Predictions

Dave Caolo at The Unofficial Apple Weblog has uncovered an explanation for the ambiguity over what the next iPhone will be called, noting that USB device files in yet-unreleased iOS 5 firmware’s iOS system files that reference “iPad3,1″ and “iPad3,2,” “iPhone4,1,” and “iPhone4,2,” therefore deducing that the iPhone 5 will be a 4th generation unit because the iPhone 3G was technically 1st generation which skews the numbering order and could be the genesis of much of the confusion. Sounds like a plausible theory anyway.
Another interesting tidbit encountered over the past several days is in a Wall Street Journal blog by Dave Kansaswho says market research firm CLSA believes Apple will release an iPad3 with a better display and LTE support in time for the Christmas buying season, but doesn’t expect an LTE iPhone in 2011. I’m not sure why that would be, but presumably they are basing that prediction on something more than supposition.
MarketWatch’s Rex Crum Reports that most analysts expect the iPhone to be refreshed later this year, but cites Gleacher & Co.’s Apple specialist Brian Marshall predicting Apple will release a “4s” version of the iPhone in the second half of this year, and an iPhone 5 in late 2012, while Piper Jaffray’s veteran Apple watcher Gene Munster also expects Apple to release its next generation of the iPhone most likely in September, but isn’t quoted on numerical designation prognostications.
As for whether near field communications (NFC) technology will make it into the next iPhone, that’s still an imponderable. Electronista reports that according to NFC chipmaker NXP Technology, Apple’s plans for NFC remain “unknown,” citing a report from Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White who attended week’s Computex expo in Taiwan, who noted that 80 percent of the smartphone market has already committed to NFC, including Nokia and Research in Motion, but there’s no clue has yet to Apple’s plans. however, White also thinks that based on his investigations at Computex, the next-generation iPhone will still probably ship in September, according to the report.
In the meantime, iOS five is coming for sure in the fall, and there is conjecture as to whether some features will not work the iPhone 3GS. A report by 9To5Mac’s Christian Zibreg notes that in the WWDC keynote, Steve Jobs confirmed that iOS 5 will run on both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS, but suggests that if history is any indication, some of the new operating system’s features likely won’t work on older devices due to constrained resources, and that, unsurprisingly for Apple, the iOS 5 features page reveals nothing about possible limitations on legacy hardware.
However, he’s posted a video clip by a blogger who has checked it out and reports “In my opinion, iOS 5 beta works flawlessly on iPhone 3GS.”

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How 3Gs-Friendly Is iOS 5, and Will It Even Matter Once the iPhone 5 Is Released?

Current iPhone 3Gs users were relieved to hear that Apples new mobile iOS 5 operating system will indeed work with the 3Gs model iPhone. But there is reason to believe that the iPhone 3Gs may only be partially supported by the new operating system. And since iOS 5 won’t be released until Fall and with rumors of an iPhone 5 release in September, will anyone even care about the 3Gs by then?
The only thing worse than getting pushed by tech companies into investing in a software upgrade is when you get pushed into upgrading and then find out the upgrade won’t work with your device. Unfortunately, this scenario may be what awaits iPhone 3Gs users who are planning to invest in the new operating system.
Early reports suggest that, while iOS 5 will run flawlessly on the iPhone 4, iPad & iPad 2, and iPod Touch 4G, there will be limitations on the 3Gs performance of iOS 5. CNET is stating that, while “Some developers are reporting early success with some features, such as the new notification system, on an iPhone 3GS, Apple has already stated that not all devices will be fully compatible with iOS 5 . . and it’s likely the 3GS will be discontinued with the launch of the iPhone 5.”
That being said, with the iPhone 5 most likely on its way in September (or around the launch of iOS 5 in the Fall), and with the assumption that the 3Gs will be phased out at that time, how much of a priority is getting the iPhone 3Gs to run iOS 5 properly for Apple? After all, the vast majority of satisfied iPhone 3Gs users are going to buy into the iPhone 5: for them, it’s most definitely upgrade time, and for those who have not jumped ship to Android, they will be eagerly plunking down their hard-earned money for the iPhone 5.
Therefore, all you current iPhone 3Gs users: iOS 5 running on a 3Gs is probably not going to mean a whole lot to you come Autumn.
Granted, there may be a handful of users who upgrade to an iPhone 5 and pass along their old 3Gs to a family member. But in that case, how important will it be for legacy iPhone 3Gs users to even bother upgrading their outdated 3Gs to the new operating system?
My prediction: iOS 5 is going to turn out to be a total mis-match for 3Gs’ers — a total waste of time and money to get it to work properly. It’s easy at this point for Apple to get up at the WWDC podium and say, “great news, everyone: iOS 5 will jive with the 3Gs.” Given the fact that the 3Gs is still being sold, proclaiming that iOS 5 would not work with it would virtually quash all 3Gs sales from this point onward.
You can say that it might be a cynical marketing move on the part of Apple; a way of “throwing us a bone” in order to keep 3Gs sales flowing until the release of the iPhone 5. But my guess is that, by the time the iPhone 5 comes out, few people will remember what “3Gs” is.
 
Hey, are you using the new +1 sharing icon from Google? If you have a gmail account and are signed in, be sure to click on the “+1″ icon above. It really helps the blog!

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iPhone 5 Sunday Coffee: On the Eve of the WWDC, Make Your Official Prediction

A "floating" iPhone 5 concept: pointless, but cool.
It always feels good to be right.
Here at the iPhone 5 News Blog, we don’t make many predictions, and the few ones that we have made (like the fact that the white iPhone 4 would be nothing more than “white”) have been good calls. But one of the boldest claims we’ve made is that the 2011 iPhone — namely, the iPhone 5 — would see a later-than-usual release, with the WWDC coming and going without a new iPhone announcement. We predicted a late-summer release of the iPhone 5 in an article posted on January 8th, 2011.
But this week is a big week for the iPhone 5 news cycle, and for as much as the evidence points to a later-than-usual iPhone 5 release, there are last-minute spikes of excitement that Steve Jobs could indeed make a surprise announcement. Astute commenters on this blog, like Clippy and kresimir, have contributed some very interesting anecdotes suggesting that the iPhone 3Gs is being phased out and iPhone 4 discounted in some eastern European countries, suggesting that the iPhone 5 could be on its way sooner rather than later. Add to this the confirmation that Steve Jobs will be key-noting at the WWDC, and a “surprise” announcement seems plausible. (Huge thanks to both Clippy and kresimir, by the way!)
Since we’re just a day away fro the big launch of the WWDC, now is your time to log your prediction for what is going to happen at the WWDC this week. Will it be the iPhone 5? The iPhone 4s? Will Steve Jobs do his patented “one more thing” thing? Or is the next iPhone still slated for late summer/early fall?
Call it right and we’ll make you famous: we here at the iPhone 5 News Blog love to quote and praise our readers, since the folks who read this blog have such a well-informed perspective on the iPhone and technology. Many of you have been making your predictions over and over again in post comments, but this post will be the place to frame your argument in a very neat, concise statement.
Now is your chance to get it on record!
And don’t worry about being wrong; we won’t ridicule anyone for making the wrong predictions. Journalists get it wrong half of the time anyway, and never have to answer for it, so why should you?
We look forward to your official iPhone 5 predictions — all are welcome!

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Stuck On 4: If the iPhone 4s Rumors Are True, Why is the iPhone Afraid To Turn 5?

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a bit tired of seeing that “4″ in front all of the iPhone products and rumors coming our way.
Granted, 4 is a beautiful number: it represents a nice, clean, divisible number, the time signature designation for most western pop music, the number of seasons — I have nothing against 4 per se.
Except for the fact that Apple seems to be stuck on the number 4.
If the rumors come true, the 2011 iPhone will in fact be yet another chapter in the iPhone 4 saga: the iPhone 4s would be — not ironically — the fourth iPhone iteration to be part of the iPhone 4 franchise, after the original iPhone 4, the Verizon iPhone 4, and the white iPhone 4. And as iPhone 5′er and iPhone 5 News Blog commenter extraordinaire Andres deftly points out, regardless of what Apple brands the next iPhone as, it will be the fifth iPhone design — thus, the true iPhone 5.
But there’s more to the iPhone 5 than the name and series number: iPhone users have an expectation for what the iPhone 5 will be. While there is no agreement on what features or functions the iPhone 5 will need to have in order to deserve the “iPhone 5″ moniker, the general consensus is that the iPhone 5 will need to be a game-changer in the smartphone market — a true product leader that puts Apple well ahead of Android in the smartphone race.
It would seem that Apple understands what’s at stake with the iPhone 5 as much as we do — after all, it is us, the consumers, who have set the stakes for the iPhone 5, not Apple. Because of this, the plan may be to cash in on the success of the iPhone 4 franchise once again, especially since Apple is unable or unwilling to chock the next iPhone full ‘o new gadgets and gizmos that will dwarf even the resounding success of the iPhone 4.
But the success of the iPhone 4 may in fact be what compels Apple to stay stuck on “4″ for their 2011 iPhone.
There is no question that the iPhone 4 is by far the most successful iPhone product ever released by Apple. Whether its meandering release schedule was something that Apple anticipated from the beginning or something that they half-improvised along the way, Apple learned how to extend the lifecycle of its sole smartphone well beyond the arc of any of its predecessors. In this way, the iPhone 4 has managed to stay mainstream and relevant throughout 2010 and 2011, in spite of the fact that it gets more and more outmoded with every passing day and every new Android release.
What insulates the iPhone 4 franchise against a multiplicitous Android competitor is the iPhone’s eternal coolness factor; a marketing intangible that Apple alone has managed to forge with all of its products. The mainstream consumer would be shocked to learn that the iPhone is not the top-selling mobile phone in the world.
All of this being said, Apple stands to lose its cool with its faithful customers in the wake of an ignominious iPhone 4s release. Apple may think that it’s a no-brainer — a lay-up, even — to simply affix an “s” to its spiffy “4″ and sell another 40+ million units before getting an iPhone 5 in the Summer of 2012. But the thing is, iPhone users patently do not want the iPhone 4s!
Do they want all of the purported features of the iPhone 4s — namely, iOS 5, A5 chip, 8 megapixel camera, iCloud, etc? Yes. But they want all those things, plus next-generation technologies, like real 4G, NFC, and mind-blowing new features akin to the front-facing camera of the iPhone 4.
And they want it to be called “iPhone 5.”

If the rumors turn out to be true and the 2011 iPhone is the iPhone 4, why do you think that the iPhone is afraid to turn 5? Let us know!

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Rumor Out Of The Far East: New iPhone Coming As Early As September, But It Won’t Be iPhone 5

Japanese Apple-watcher site Macotakara Kanteidan says that according to an anonymous source, the next iPhone release will be an upgraded model retaining the iPhone 4 on same form factor with an ARM Cortex-A9 chip as CPU, but it hasn’t been confirmed whether it will be single or dual-core.
Other changes with this iPhone 4S are reportedly an 8 megapixel rear camera, and that it will be SIM-less in order to integrate AT&T with Verizon Wireless, and improved internal antennas
As for the iPhone 5, Macotakara thinks the best guess is for a spring 2012 release.
The blog refers to a May 18 report by Yenting Chen, and Adam Hwang of the Taiwan-based IT trade journal Digitimes, whose sources told them that production of iPhone 4S is slated to begin in August with the earliest launch window being in September, and will have 3G and CDMA chips supplied by Qualcomm and the new 8-megapixel camera lens kits to be sourced from OmniVision Technologies, while Taiwan-based Largan Precision will supply image sensors.
Obviously, none of these predictions have been confirmed by Apple, which will say nothing publicly until it schedules a formal announcement, although there many be some clues prior to that if Apple releases iOS 5 before the next phone hardware, which still seems realistically possible for the June World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC).
Appleinsider notes that Macotakara has a decent track record for accurate predictions, having correctly reported that the iPad 2 would have a smaller bezel, a flat back panel, and a larger speaker and the March date of its announcement.
In other recent speculation, U.K. based thenextweb.com’s Matt Brian on the weekend posted an outline discussion of what he thinks the most likely new features of the iPhone 5 will be, including a dual-core A5 processor, Near Field Communications (NFC) payments, improved notifications, Voice Control, an Aluminium unibody form factor, and iCloud support.

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Who Does iPhone 5 News The Best?

If you’re reading this iPhone 5 News Blog Sunday Coffee article, then chances are you’re what I call an iPhone 5′er. Just as adding ‘er to the end of conspiracy theories has become the fad in American vernacular — truthers, birthers, etc. — so too does the iPhone 5 conspiracy theory movement deserve such a moniker.
I’m proud to be an iPhone 5′er.
So, if in fact you’re an iPhone 5′er, how did you come upon the iPhone 5 News Blog? Or, to be more Echumenical, how did you come upon any of the iPhone 5 niche news blogs that you frequent daily (you’re breaking my heart, by the way, if you’re cheating on us)? Don’t answer, because I already know how: most of you probably simply typed “iPhone 5” into the little Google search box on your browser, and our blog was one of the first news sources you saw in the results.
The reason why I know this is the case for many of you faithful readers is that this blog has — up until recently — dominated the iPhone 5 keyword. That’s because we were the first blog on the scene to start covering the news, rumors, and opinions about the iPhone 5 (we started “way back” in early August of 2010), and like any other market sector, being first to market usually yields good results.
Ten months ago, less than 10,000 people were searching “iPhone 5″ monthly worldwide. Today, more than 4 million searches are performed monthly for “iPhone 5.”
Because of this, the first page of Google results for “iPhone 5″ has become incredibly competitive, with new iPhone 5 niche news blogs — much younger than this site — using all kinds of shady online marketing and SEO practices to springboard ahead of the iPhone 5 News Blog. (We don’t believe in using subversive techniques to bolster our search result rankings — just good old fashioned writing). You see, for the average Google’r (another “er” delimitation), searching and clicking is just a means to an end. But for others, that little keyword is a big business, and people will do whatever they have to — legal and illegal alike — to get to the top of the rankings.
That being said, you, the avid iPhone 5′er, now have a myriad of iPhone 5 news sources to choose from. Given this wide array of iPhone 5-related media, who do you trust the most?
iPhone 5 News Breakers and News Fakers
Someday, when the iPhone 5 is actually released, there will be real news about it: there will be a press conference — that’ll be real news — and a release date, and then the release, and then all of the reported problems and issues, and then sales expectations, sales numbers, and a glut of iPhone 5 case reviews. Until then, however, all of the iPhone 5 “news” out there is comprised of rumors only.
In this way, iPhone 5 niche blogs like the iPhone 5 News Blog don’t typically break news at this point – we collect it, process it, opine on it, scrutinize it, and engage informed readers like you in discussion about it. By definition, all of the tech news sites that break iPhone 5 news aren’t really in a position to scrutinize it, since, by releasing it, they are complicitly affirming that they think the news to be both reliable and accurate. How often, for example, have you ever heard a breaking iPhone 5 news story read like, “Our own reliable sources say that the iPhone 5 will have x, y, and z, but we just don’t believe it.”
Thus, iPhone 5 niche blogs serve a purpose in the iPhone 5 media chain.
So, my question to you on this Sunday morning is, who do you look to most for processing iPhone 5 news? Do you read the breaking news stories on their original sites the most, or do you come to the iPhone 5 News Blog in order to get both the news, the opinion, and the forum for commenting on it?
Let us know!

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