Will Apple’s A5 Processor Be Enough To Satisfy iPhone 5 Users?

Will the A5 chip be enough to propel the iPhone 5 to greatness?

Although many new features for the iPhone 5 have been speculated on, few seem to be set in stone — with the exception of the A5 processor. but if the A5 turns out to be the “crown jewel” of the iPhone 5 upgrade, will that be enough to excite iPhone users?
There’s no doubt that the most talked-about piece of news concerning the iPhone 5 has to be the release date. But a close second is the swirling debate about which features the iPhone 5 will boast. There has been a steady stream of reports about a wide range of different purported features, such as a larger screen, 8 megapixel camera, NFC technology, a non-existent home button, aluminum chassis, and more.
However, there seems to be no agreement on whether any of these features will actually materialize on the iPhone 5 — they seem to “here one week and gone the next.” Even the next iOS 5 operating system has been called into question as to whether or not it will appear on the iPhone 5, with analysts suggesting that it might not be ready until the Fall of 2011.
The only new development for the iPhone 5 that all of the reports and tech pundits seem to agree on is the A5 chip.
And this, of course, is the easiest feature to predict, since it has already seen mainstream application in this year’s new iPad 2. Thus far, the A5 processor has gotten rave reviews from analysts and users alike: tech-oriented folks appreciate the bold power of the A5 and foresee it as a trailblazer for even better things to come, while the average iPad 2 user just feels the improved speed and functionality.
That being said, there was more to the iPad 2′s successful launch than just the A5: the addition of a front- and rear-facing camera, cool gyro feature, industry-leading price, and a thinner and lighter chassis all contributed to the robust sales that the iPad 2 continues to enjoy. The A5 was the “under the hood” improvement from the original iPad, and one could argue that, while it is a key upgrade to the iPad, it isn’t the most “marketing friendly” feature for un-geeky tablet users.
With this mind, what if the A5 chip turns out to be the only significant upgrade for the iPhone 5? Will that be enough to energize iPhone users to the point where they’ll shell out big money to upgrade?
Probably not.
No matter how powerful the A5 processor may be, without some accompanying “bells and whistles” on the iPhone 5, few mainstream iPhone users will see the point in putting to rest their iPhone 4. This reality is precisely why Ferrari, Lambourghini, Porche, and other exotic car manufactuers put a beautiful body on their high-performance sports cars; if their cars looked like a Prius on the outside, no one would buy them at their price point, no matter how big their engines are. (And apologies to all you Prius drivers out there.)
Truth be told, iPhone users will be looking for one big feature to get excited about. Last year, it was the addition of the front-facing camera on the iPhone 4 that excited people. Apple was able to recycle that feature on the new iPad 2. But for the iPhone 5, the A5 processor alone won’t be enough to propel it past this year’s Droid offerings — and at this point, the A5 is the only feature we can bank on.
Let us know what you think about the A5 chip, and if it would be enough to get you excited about buying an iPone 5!

What You Need To Know About the A5 Processor
One way to get excited about the iPhone 5 — even if its only major upgrade from the iPhone 4 turns out to be its chip — is to fully understand and appreciate the power and performance of the A5 in its glory. First, some of the basic stuff: the A5 chip follows in the tradition of all Apple’s mobile processors in that it is a a package on package (PoP) system-on-a-chip (SoC). This means that the whole operating system fits on the chip itself, as compared to personal computers, where the OS is stored and runs off of the hard drive.
The A5 chip is manufactured by top-notch Samsung, and although Samsung has allowed Apple to keep their production costs down, all indications are that the A5 chip is pretty pricey to make. While Apple seemed willing to eat the extra cost of the A5 processor on the iPad 2, it remains to be seen if that will be the case for the iPhone 5 — it could see an uptick in its price point at the expense of a faster mobile computing experience.
The other cool thing about the A5 is that it is a dual-core processor. This means that the CPU has two independent cores that are integrated on one circuit. What does that mean for the layman? The dual-core set-up lets you multi-task at greater speed and fluidity — it’s like having “two computers in one.”
Speaking of speed, the A5 has lots of it. It has been rated at  1 GHz on the iPad 2. However, the chip can dynamically adjust itself to save battery life. The result is that the A5 processor is basically twice as fast as the old A4, and said to be nine times faster than the A4 on graphics. So if you love your graphics on the iPhone 4, wait until you see them running on an A5-powered iPhone 5!

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Will Google Beat Apple’s iPhone 5 To Market With Smartphone NFC Mobile Payments?

Will an Android phone like the Nexus S get NFC before the iPhone 5?

At the top of the list for the iPhone 5 is Near Field Communication (NFC) — the ability to “wave and pay” using your smartphone. But will Google’s Android phones beat the iPhone 5 to market in the NFC race?
Business Tech watcher RedHerring, citing a Bloomberg news report, noted this week that Google is close to the testing stage with its prospective near field communication (NFC) “wave-and-pay” mobile payments service for Android devices, which will first be tried experimentally in San Francisco and New York over the next four months. NFC technology will allow smartphone users to swipe their devices over a receiver/reader to effect quick credit card payments, provided their phones are equipped with NFC chips as Google’s recent Nexus S smartphone has been since last December.
Meanwhile, RedHerring unequivocally states that Apple “has abandoned plans to include NFC mobile payments in the upcoming iPhone 5,” suggesting that we most likely won’t see NFC support on the iPhone until 2012, by which time Jupiter Research projects a NFC Mobile Payments volume exceeding $30bn annually, and which will allow Google a substantial headstart in that market. Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s has disclosed that the next version of Android, 2.3, also known as Gingerbread, scheduled to be rolled out in April, will support NFC, although reportedly, the software development kit for Android 2.3 apparently does not yet support either card-emulation or peer-to-peer communication, and Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie has affirmed that RIM is also working on NFC for future BlackBerry models.
NFC or no NFC remains one of the hottest topics of debate as we wait for the iPhone 5 rollout. I’ve blogged about it a couple of times here previously, and those columns continue frequent forum comments. If it’s true that Apple will not include NFC support in the iPhone 5 — at least in its initial release — a lot of iPhone fans will be disappointed, especially if Android phone users get the capability first. However, The NFC Times’s Dan Balaban reports that according to unnamed sources, Apple has informed to one or more U.S. mobile operators in the Isis joint venture that it will not adopt NFC this year, and an executive at France Telecom-Orange had earlier also expressed doubts about an NFC-enabled iPhone at February’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, telling NFC Times she was less likely to believe Apple was ready to adopt the technology at the end of the event as she was at the beginning, after talking to sources.
A recent report from market consulting firm Frost & Sullivan notes that the NFC market has moved from the ‘innovator’ stage to an ‘early adopter’ phase and from trial development to the first commercial roll outs, and observes that the key driver for that market will be wide adoption of the NFC solution in mobile phones, cautioning that without a massive number of NFC-enabled mobile phones in use, the market will not be able to realize its immense potential.
The Frost & Sullivan study “NFC – When Will Be the Real Start?” predicts that by 2015, NFC will “clearly be the most-used solution for mobile payment,” and the analysts expect that the total payment value for NFC globally to reach €111.19 billion (equivalent to $155.26 billion at today’s exchange rate) that year, forecasting a five-year NFC compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 118 per cent between 2010 and 2015. In that context, Android early-adoption and iOS laggardliness will be huge. You’ve gotta’ wonder what the holdup or hangup is for Apple. Dan Balaban observes that based on the information he has, it’s not clear what NFC standards Apple believes are lacking, but speculated that if Apple does, in fact, pass on the technology again this year, it might be because in believes NFC is still not yet mature enough to embrace.
What do you think? If the iPhone 5 doesn’t offer NFC capability, will that be a deal-breaker for you? Will you defect to an Andriod phone, like the Nexus S? Let us know what you think!

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iPhone 5 Wish Lists From Around the World

A great map that shows the popularity of iPhone searches on Google worldwide.

The U.S. and Europe often dominate the discussion when it comes to the iPhone 5. But don’t forget that there are iPhone users all around the world. Read about which features people in the developing world are hoping for with the iPhone 5.
There’s no doubt that the news, rumors, and opinions about the iPhone 5 centers culturally and geographically around North America. And for a good reason: a large segment of iPhone sales come from the U.S. and Canada, with Europe as a close second. As a result, it can be argued that the iPhone is designed with the westerner in mind; the features, performance, and platform is conceived of by Americans and/or engineers who live in the U.S. and understand American culture.
That being said, there are millions of iPhone users around the world who are far-removed from western culture. For many of them, they use their iPhone and other mobile devices in developing countries that simply do not have the infrastructure that the west enjoys.
I went on a mission to uncover how the iPhone empowers globally-minded people in the developing world. I was amazed to discover how a device like the iPhone — which oftentimes is just one mobile gadget in an arsenal of electronics for the average American — becomes the sole technological link to the global community, a way to better their life, and a tool to overcome some powerful political, economic, and cultural barriers that might otherwise keep them isolated.
Interestingly enough, many of the features these remarkable individuals are pining for in the iPhone 5 are similar to us westerners. The difference is that these desired new features for the iPhone could make a world of difference for them. I spoke with several iPhone 5 News Blog iPhone users from Thailand and Saudi Arabia to get their perspectives on the iPhone 5. Read about their stories, and their wish lists for the iPhone 5, below:

When Your iPhone Is Your Most Reliable Computer: A5 Chip, Slide-Out Keyboard, and Larger Screen
Many people have been prognosticating about the prospect of the iPhone 5 being much faster, thanks to the same A5 chip in the current iPad 2, as well as rumors of a slide-out keyboard and larger screen. While all of these purported features for the iPhone 5 stoke plenty of debate and hurt feelings in the comment threads of blog articles, the stakes are much higher for some people in the developing world, where often times their iPhone is the most reliable computing device.

The iPhone doubles as a PC for many Thai users.

Take Thailand, for example. Like many Asia Pac countries, it is a mixture of opposites, with capital city Bangkok gleaming with skyscrapers, technology, and infrastructure, while much of the country remains largely agrarian and below the poverty line. Thailand has a burgeoning economy, but the technological infrastructure is lagging behind in certain areas.
When it comes to telecommunication, Thailand now has a much more developed mobile network infrastructure than it does a “landline” network. As of the last survey, there are only 9.1 million landlines in Thailand, but over 98 million mobile cellular users. In a country of 67 million people, one can quickly see that mobile is key to communication, with a third more mobile phones than there are people.
It is for this reason that a mobile device like the iPhone becomes more than just a smartphone — in many cases, it functions as a computer as well.
And believe me — the tech market in Thailand knows this. iPhones in Thailand run from $600 and up. It isn’t impossible to pay upwards of $1,000 for an iPhone 4.
For this reason, a faster iPhone 5 with the option of a slide-out keyboard excites many of the Thai iPhone and smartphone users who frequent the iPhone 5 News Blog’s comment threads and Facebook page. Generally, they want the iPhone 5 to have as much processing power and speed as possible so that they can be more productive. And the prospect of a QWERTY slide-out keyboard not only adds to the “computerization” of the iPhone 5, but also might give Thai iPhone users a backup to the touchscreen should it break or fail, and service is not readily available.
Finally, the addition of a larger touchscreen on the iPhone 5 — one that approaches the 4-inch mark — is also a welcome addition to Thai users, but not simply for the reason of having more touch surface to work with. Instead, a larger screen on the iPhone 5 would give Thai users who rely heavily on their iPhone a larger screen to enhance their computing experience at home. iPhone keyboards like the iHome iConnect Media Keyboard and other affordable bluetooth models are already quite popular. A larger screen on the iPhone 5 would give users a more comfortable screen for their eyes, facilitating word processing and work with net-based business solutions for people who work in the commerce and technology sectors.

In Saudi Arabia, Excitement Over An iPhone 5 With An 8 Megapixel Camera.
Somewhat lost in the iPhone 5 rumor mill is the report that the iPhone 5 could feature a beefed-up camera array. Several reports, such as this one from Jeff at the iPhone Download Blog, are talking about a new camera sensor that could increase to 8 megapixels. In a country like Saudi Arabia where picture-taking and profile photos can be a bit of a sensitive issue for women, having the ability to use their iPhones to video chat using FaceTime or simply to take photos of themselves to send to friends privately around the world is a crucial feature to being able to circumvent cultural norms.
Take ίƨнεεммωααн, for example. She is a 22 year-old, hip, educated Saudi woman studying law at the university and connecting with people throughout the world via Twitter, Facebook, and her blog. Get to know her a little more, and you learn how this remarkable young lady, who otherwise must remain modest and covered in public, dreams of becoming a model someday. She absolutely loves western fashion, and her knowledge of it — thanks to being able to connect to fashion websites throughout the world via her iPhone — surpasses even the average American.
ίƨнεεммωααн also uses her iPhone to clandestinely purchase western clothes, which she can only don in the privacy of her own home. But the digital age allows her to tastefully photograph herself — albeit with her face partially concealed — to launch her modeling career. In this way, having access to an 8 megapixel camera on her next iPhone will only empower her to do what she loves the most — connecting with people worldwide and sharing her perspectives on life, fashion, and culture.

NFC technology on the iPhone 5 -- is it important to you? Click to read more about it.

Is NFC Important Outside of the Western World? Not So Much.
One of the most anticipated features for the iPhone 5 is NFC technology, which could potentially allow users to use their iPhone 5 to pay for goods, unlock and start their car, and even board planes electronically. There’s no doubt that NFC technology is an exciting advancement for Americans — we are, after all, hyperconsumers, and anything that enables us to spend money faster and easier, we love it. Mind you, this is not American self-loathing on my part — it’s just the truth.
But as buzz-worthy as NFC might be for folks in the U.S. and beyond, NFC technology isn’t nearly as sought after in developing countries.
The fact is, there is more to making NFC a mainstream technology than simply throwing it onto the iPhone 5. In order for it to work, commerce needs to buy into it on a wholesale level. The U.S. and Europe are already out in front on NFC technology in that infrastructure is either in place or soon-to-be-in-place. In developing countries, building an NFC infrastructure is a multi-billion dollar undertaking. And given the fact that world find itself in tenuous financial shape, NFC isn’t at the top of peoples’ lists.
The iPhone 5 — Coming To a World Near You
It remains to be seen how intensely Apple thinks about their iPhone designs beyond North America and Europe. To be sure, meeting the needs of western users is most likely the major focus when it comes to designing and redesigning. And interestingly enough, it isn’t as though people elsewhere in the world are looking for features on the iPhone 5 that are remarkably different from what we discuss here. The differences are less about the features themselves, and more about how those features can impact their lives in ways that are different from those of us in the western world.
If Apple remains true to form, their innovations for the iPhone 5 will continue to transcend culture, politics, and economics, paving the way for next-generation mobile computing and communication.

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Which New iPhone 5 Rumors Pass The Smell Test?

One of the newer iPhone 5 "sightings."

iPhone 5 rumors continue to drip out of the tech blogosphere. Read Charles Moore’s quick, easy round-up of what looks likely for the iPhone — and what is still up in the air.
China News Business Times Reporters Zheng Shufang and Liu Jiaxi report that industry scuttlebutt has it that the iPhone 5 has entered its trial production stage with Apple’s subcontractor Hon Hai Electronics, will have a, A5 dual-core processor, a metal chassis to improve antenna sensitivity, a scratch-resistant 4-inch capacitive touchscreen, and a 50 millon pixel camera, and will be equipped with “wave and pay” Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, and slated for release in 3Q ’11, although main Apple contract manufacturers don’t comment on rumors if they want to remain in Apple’s good graces.
The China Times columnists also report that Hon Hai plans to build a new plant at Sao Paulo, Brazil, specifically to manufacture Apple OEM products, but that’s not projected to begin production until 2013.
Meanwhile, it would seem that whatever feature set the iPhone 5 emerges with has been set, so here’s a rundown of what we may or may not see come the unveiling based on rumors out there:

Faster Processor and More RAM
it’s virtually certain that iPhone 5 will be powered by the same A5 dual core processor that Apple introduced in the iPad 2. Much less likely I think are suggestions that Apple might double the iPhone 5′s RAM capacity from the 512 MB in the current iPhone to two gigabytes of RAM. Apple has only taken the iPad to up to 512 MB, and there seems little reason to believe that they’ll go with more in the iPhone 5.
Bigger Display
There is a strong likelihood that the iPhone 5 will have a larger display, most likely somewhere measuring four inches diagonal. I’ll be surprised if this doesn’t materialize; the larger screen will be touted heavily my Apple’s marketing and promotion arms.
Higher-resolution Display
It is far less less likely that the iPhone 5 will have greater resolution than the current, excellent Retina display in the iPhone 4.
Case Design
Most prognosticators expect the iPhone 5 to look a lot like the iPhone 4 although as noted, many expect a larger display and possibly a brushed aluminum back panel replacing the current glass back. A virtually sure thing is that a white iPhone will finally be offered with version 5. However, rumors that the iPhone 5 could have a physical keyboard can be safely considered someone’s wishful thinking.
Carbon Fiber Case
Carbon fiber composites are the structural engineering material of the future, and thanks to recent advances in production efficiency, they’re going to be more and more common in mainstream as well as high-end products like the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s fuselage and wings, and the new McLaren MP4-12C, exoticar, which features a one-piece molded carbon fiber composite chassis tub. They will be especially well-suited to making computer and igadget enclosures, being extremely lightweight, amazingly strong, non-conductive, and not blocking RF signals. I don’t think we’ll see a carbon fiber iPhone 5, however.
Antenna Moved Inside
After the press feeding fender frenzy over the antenna in the iPhone for losing gain if touched by the hand holding the iPhone, it’s quite probable that Apple will move the antenna back inside in a more conventional configuration, most likely similar to the way the antenna is configured in the iPad.
64 GB Storage / The Cloud
There’s a possibility that Apple could offer 64 GB capacity as an option with the iPhone 5. At the other end of the spectrum, some have suggested that Apple may also offer a bare-bones version of the iPhone 5 at a lower price, possibly with cloud data storage and only enough internal RAM to run the machine and perhaps serve as a temporary buffer. Something is brewing with Apple building a major data center in Tennessee, that could mean a substantially greater emphasis on the cloud for Apple devices.
Ready for the iPhone 5? I’m on the fence here.
Improved Battery Life
An improvement in battery life is possible, although don’t expect anything dramatic.
Better Camera
iPhone 4 has a 5MPx camera. Rumor has it that iPhone 5 will get an 8 MPx camera, but the China Times report says they’re sticking with 5 5MPx, and given that the cameras in the iPad 2 are described by most reviewers as mediocre at best. Apple hasn’t chosen to disclose the iPad camera’s megapixel rating, but it seems highly improbable that it’s any more than 5MPx. I’m not anticipating any change in the camera spec from the iPhone 4.
Home Button to Be Replaced/Moved
A fairly persistent rumor has been that the Home button will disappear, and the iPhone 5 getting either touch sensitive controls or the button moved to one of the phone’s edges. If there’s to be a bigger screen, things will have to be reorganized. However, my guess is that the iPhone 5 wil still have a Home button somewhere.
A CDMA Model iPhone 5
Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA), is a digital cellular technology that uses spread-spectrum techniques and competes with the GSM celular technology that the iPhone currently supports.
Another rumor that’s been making the rounds, actually for for several years, now is that Apple will launch a dual-mode iPhone that works on both GSM and CDMA networks, serving AT&T and Verizon customers simultaneously.
Near Field Communication (NFC) technology
There have been rumors going both ways on this one, and I’ve already blogged here on the topic a couple of times. I think it’s inevitable in the long run that Apple will include “wave and pay” NFC on the iPhone, but whether it will be ready for the iPhone 5 is another matter. I’m completely on the fence on this one having heard compelling arguments from both camps. The China Times report says it’s a go.
HDMI Output
The iPad to has enhanced HDMI output capability, and it seems more probable than not that the iPhone 5 could have HDMI output added using the same optional connector as the iPad 2.
Enhanced Voice Recognition
Another rumor is that with IOS 5, expected to make its debut along with the iPhone 5, the iPhone will get enhanced voice recognition capabilities and more voice commands. I don’t have a strong conviction either way on this feature’s likelihood this time around.
Release Not Coming Until November
The reasoning on this one is that due to February’s Verizon iPhone 4 release, Apple will push the iPhone five’s debut back to late summer or even November. I think November is highly doubtful, and am still anticipating a late spring or early summer release.
There are probably a few more, but that should cover most of the iPhone 5 rumored feature bases. Remember, the opinions expressed are speculation, logical deduction, semi-educated guesswork, plus rumors and leaks from the far East, which have a mixed record for accuracy. Unless someone leaves a prototype iPhone 5 in a bar, as happened last year with the iPhone 4, we’ll all have to wait for the announcement date to know for sure.

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Big iPhone 5 Launch Date News: New iPhone Won’t Be Announced In June at WWDC

Steve Jobs at last year's WWDC. Will he be unveiling the iPhone 5 at WWDC 2011?

Apple’s famed developers conference has traditionally served as the platform for announcing new iPhones. But a breaking news story from Wired suggests that the iPhone 5 will not be announced at the WWDC. What does this mean for the launch date of the iPhone 5? Read about it below:
To everything there is a season — except when it comes to Steve Jobs and Apple. Since the very beginning of the iPhone 5 rumor cycle, safe money has been on the prediction that the new iPhone would be announced sometime in June of 2011. After all, it was a reasonable assumption, since historically this is when the new iteration of iPhone is released. Few tech analysts have been willing to even imagine that this sacred iPhone cycle could ever be broken.
However, new reliable sources are suggesting that no new Apple hardware — including the much-anticipated iPhone 5 — will be making a debut at the WWDC in June of this year. This makes it even more likely that the iPhone 5 will have a late summer or early Fall 2011 release, just as the iPhone 5 News Blog has predicted all along.
This news comes from Wired, a reputable tech new source, citing “well-sourced Apple blogger Jim Dalrymple [who] claims there will be no iPad, iPhone or Mac hardware introduced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, which kicks off June 6 in San Francisco.”
Corroborating this rumor is a press statement from Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing Philip Schiller, who recently said, “At this year’s conference we are going to unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS. If you are an iOS or Mac OS X software developer, this is the event that you do not want to miss.”
Normally, the overt lack of any hardware mention would be suspect. But when you pair this statement with the rumor, it becomes more and more clear that the WWMD will not be about the iPhone 5.
So, is there anything to look forward to in June concerning the iPhone 5? Yes!
Mr. Schiller’s comment clearly paves the way for the launch of the new iOS 5 platform. Now, there is still a great deal of conjecture about whether or not iOS 5 will debut in the iPhone 5 or not. Many analysts out there have said iOS 5 will skip the iPhone 5 and instead land on the iPad 3 and iPhone 6. However, these are the same conservative analysts who have also contended that the iPhone 5 will be released in June, which is looking less likely. If the iPhone 5 isn’t released until late Summer or early Fall, there is a much higher liklihood that it will be equipped with iOS 5 as well.
And this would be a very good thing for the iPhone 5.
If the next iPhone is indeed called the iPhone 5, and it features the A5 chip, and it has iOS 5 installed, we might just start referring to it as the 555. (Which Thai iPhone users would find hilarious, since “555″ is their version of “LOL.”)
Whether you find it funny or not, it seems that the iPhone 5 is still on a trajectory for a later-than-usual release schedule. All of us will just have to grin and bear the wait. After all, patience is a virtue.

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Will The iPhone 5 Have a Smooth Release Like The iPad 2?

Early reports indicate that fewer defects and glitches are being reported on the iPad 2 than were reported with last year’s iPad release. But does a smooth iPad 2 release necessarily indicate a similarly smooth release for the iPhone 5?
So far, it has been smooth sailing for Apple in 2011.
After some initial glitches with the first iPad’s launch in 2010 and a few flubs surrounding the iPhone 4, our favorite gadget company seems to have regained their mojo: the iPad 2 has been a relatively smooth release. To be sure, there have been some flaws and defects reported with the screen, as well as some weak Wi-Fi issues with the base model iPad 2, but these complaints are sporadic at best. The sum total of iPad 2 press has been quite positive.
The initial success of the iPad 2 begs an interesting question: can we expect the iPhone 5 will have a similarly smooth ride when it is finally released sometime in 2011?
Making that prediction is a lot more complicated.
The good news for the iPhone 5 is that the dual core A5 chip seems to be performing nicely in the iPad 2. This tells us that processing should not be an issue with the iPhone 5. However, it’s looking more and more like there will be a number of new bells and whistles on the iPhone 5 that could lead to complications, glitches, and flaws.
After all, the iPad 2 is at its core a refresh of the original iPad. Apple didn’t go out a limb and redesign much that could have been faulty. The iPhone 5, however, may end up being much more breakthrough, for no other reason than the fact that Apple finds itself locked in mortal combat with Droid. and with news that iOS 5 will be announced at the WWDC this year, we can expect the iPhone 5 to be the first Apple device to feature iOS 5.

Another possibility is that NFC technology could become a complete disaster. Droid has already stepped into the NFC mud — it has been deemed a partial failure at best, even by the most avid Droid fans — and Apple could suffer an even worse disaster with the iPhone 5, if for no other reason than the fact that iPhone users are early anticipating NFC technology on the next iPhone.
Finally, the introduction of an 8 megapixel camera — a potentially new piece of hardware for the iPhone 5 — is also a new foray into uncharted waters.
All of these alleged, new “moving parts” on the iPhone 5 are subject to being problematic in ways that the more conservative iPad 2 has not had to deal with.
Of course, quality control remains at the forefront of all Apple products, and new features on the iPhone 5 in no way guarantee that problems are imminent. It’s just a good idea to recognize that, if the iPhone 5 is more than a simple refresh, more things could go wrong.
Be sure to read iPad 2 Online’s recent article, “Smooth Sailing for the iPad 2.”

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AT&T’s T-Mobile Acquisition Gives Apple a Potential New Partner For Beyond the iPhone 5

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The official word from T-Mobile is that AT&T’s acquisition will take about a year — far too long to warrant selling the iPhone 5. But next year at this time, T-Mobile could be joining AT&T and Verizon as vendors for the 2012 iPhone.
A big mobile network just got bigger.
By now, you’ve read the reports of the blockbuster acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T. This deal, worth a cool $39 billion, unites AT&T, the largest mobile network in the U.S. with the fourth largest, adding some cushion between themselves and Verizon. Everyone knows that AT&T was the sole proprietor of the iPhone’s network up until early this year, when Verizon was brought on as a vendor as well. Now, with this acquisition, smartphone users over at T-Mobile are excited about the prospect of having the iPhone 5 on their menu for this summer.
Not so fast, says the T-Mobile execs.
According to Mashable and other reliable tech news sources, T-Mobile was quick to get out in front of the iphone 4 and iPhone 5 issue, stating in no uncertain terms, “T-Mobile USA remains an independent company. The acquisition is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. We do not offer the iPhone. We offer cutting edge devices like the Samsung Galaxy S 4G and coming soon our new Sidekick 4G,”
Truth be told, there is a strangeness to the use of the present tense “do not” instead of a future tense “will not” in that quote above — enough to fuel the iPhone 5 rumor mill for weeks, I’m sure. But my guess, however, is that this clumsy use of verb tense is probably nothing more than T-Mobile’s press team asleep at the wheel.
However, there is hope that, even if the iPhone 5 doesn’t land in T-Mobile’s coffers, a 2012 iPhone offering on T-Mobile is not out of the question.
For now, it seems that this acquisition for AT&T is about building their 4G network. Reports indicate that Verizon is ahead of the game in building 4G coverage nationwide, which means that — if this is in fact true — AT&T might simply be purchasing a leg up in the 4G race, since T-Mobile too has invested copious resources into beefing up their own 4G network. To be sure, there is nothing apparent in the acquisition that makes anyone in the media believe that the iPhone is a centerpiece of the deal.
Mashable’s Stan Schroeder goes on to explain that adding the iPhone 4 or even the iPhone 5 onto T-Mobile’s network will not be a slam dunk:
“Of course, it’s not just a matter of getting regulatory approval and completing the acquisition: AT&T and T-Mobile operate on different 3G bands, and AT&T must cut a new deal with Apple if it wants to transfer the rights to sell the iPhone to another company, even if it owns it.”
The fact that T-Mobile will remain an independent company on its own 3G band makes it more difficult for Apple to work with them by extension. This means that Apple will not have the benefit of seeing all 33 million of T-Mobile’s subscribers pour into the AT&T subscriber pool; Apple will have to work it out technologically and contractually with T-Mobile make the iPhone happen with them.
But even still — it is very doable, and exactly what Apple is looking to do in the future.
we’ve already reported that Sprint could be a dark horse candidate for the iPhone 5. Now that T-Mobile is affiliated with the key mobile network for the iPhone, there’s no doubt that we’ll be seeing more and more iPhone availability across other networks over the next few years.

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