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wowman (82)iPhone 5 Release Rumors Coalesceing Around 2012 WWDC
Posted by Michael Nace on Thursday Feb 2, 2012 Under Apple Rumors, iPhone 5 Opinion, iPhone 5 RumorMore iPhone 5 release reports are swinging towards a June WWDC announcement. Is this a reasonable possibility, or a buzz builder by the media?
Immediately following the release of the iPhone 4S, the tech media went with the safe bet in speculating on the release of the iPhone 5 in 2012, assuming that it would come about a year after the iPhone 4S. While we reported very early that the iPhone 5 was more likely to get announced in June of 2012, the prevailing theory has continued to be that Fall would see the release of the iPhone 5. But a new round of articles today suggest that the tech media is beginning to rethink their logic.
Let’s start with MacRumors, who references a new analyst report “from Daiwa Securities that the iPhone 5 is expected to launch at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) to be held in June 2012.” In addition, Apple themselves already have June 11th to the 15th blocked out at the Moscone Cernter for a “corporate meeting,” which will ostensibly be the WWDC.
Going around the tech horn, IBT had this to say: “Historically, Apple chose Thursdays or Fridays to release iPhones and June 15 falls on Friday this year, which fuels the speculations about the expected release of the iPhone 5.” While Steve Jobs will not be announcing the iPhone 5 this year (unless he managed to record a message about the iPhone 5 last year that will be used posthumously in 2012), IBT’s reasoning here imagines one of Apple’s trademark “One More Thing” moments at the end of the WWDC.
Finally, Cult Of Mac stakes an interesting claim on the fact that the late iPhone 4S release is little more than an aberration in an otherwise reliable pattern of June-released iPhones: “The report isn’t a huge surprise to most, who didn’t expect the Cupertino company to make its October iPhone event a permanent fixture. Many reports circulating before the launch of the iPhone 4S last year claimed that 2010”s iPhone event was simply delayed so that the company could perfect its iPhone 5, which was postponed at the last minute and substituted for the iPhone 4S.”
As you can see, the tech media is building up some kind of consensus regarding a WWDC iPhone 5 release, albeit in a guarded manner. I have been writing about the iPhone 5 release date issue lately, making the point that the refreshed iPhone 4S would be justification enough for Apple to unveil the iPhone 5 sooner than 12 months after its release, but also note that, in order for the iPhone 5 release to be a reality in June, we will need to begin to see some actionable intelligence that mass production has begun in Asia. To be sure, the fact that Apple has blocked out the Moscone Center in mid June sounds promising, but just because we know that the WWDC is unofficially on the schedule for June still isn’t a “smoking gun” that the iPhone 5 is in the works.
Let’s keep an eye on the reports coming from DigiTimes and other Asian-based rumor sites over the next couple of months. Hopefully we’ll catch a few reliable reports of millions of iPhone 5 units being produced in the run-up to a big June release.
By Michael Nace
February 2nd, 2012 at 12:43 pm
This is a little off topic but I wanted to throw this out there. I hear people saying they’re going to boycott Apple because of the New York Time’s recent articles about poor working conditions. Well, what the nyt doesn’t report are Foxconn’s other clients. So if you boycott Apple for someone else, say maybe Samsung or Microsoft? Guess what? They use Foxconn too! So you’re a hypocrite. Here’s a list of Foxconn clients:
Acer Inc. (Taiwan)
Amazon.com (United States)
Apple Inc. (United States)
ASRock (Taiwan)
Asus (Taiwan)
Barnes & Noble (United States)
Cisco (United States)
Dell (United States)
EVGA Corporation (United States)
Hewlett-Packard (United States)
Intel (United States)
IBM (United States)
Lenovo (China)
Microsoft (United States)
MSI (Taiwan)
Motorola (United States)
Netgear (United States)
Nintendo (Japan)
Nokia (Finland)
Panasonic (Japan)
Samsung (South Korea)
Sharp (Japan)
Sony (Japan)
Sony Ericsson (Japan/Sweden)
Vizio (United States)
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February 2nd, 2012 at 12:50 pm
Great post, SpasticPat. I have yet to write about the whole “ethical iPhone 5″ issue, though I am aware of the issues surrounding it. not only does Apple utilize near-slave labor in China, but also there is a quartz used in the iPhone [and all other mobile devices[ that is mined in Africa under extremely bad human rights conditions, akin to the whole “blood diamond” issue.”
To me, the issue of Chinese labor is — like you are indicating — bigger than just Apple, ad it’s unfair to heap the whole issue on them alone. The fact is, a wide range of issues led to the situation the world finds itself in: the U.S. gave China the “most favored nation” status back in the 90s, then China started manipulating its currency to make it a no-brainer for western companies to do all of their manufacturing over there. Now, people are uncomfortable with the working conditions and human rights atrocities that are attached to many of the products that they want and/or need (myself included). And you’ve got all of the U.S. politicans pledging to do this and that to get manufacturing back into the U.S. and away from China.
But it’s ain’t going to happen, because all of these businesses’ revenue models are based on using dirt cheap labor. To use a different example: if you want to buy a U.S.-made acoustic guitar, you buy a Gibson, Martin, or Taylor. They are expertly crafted, but they all run well over $1000, with many as much as $4000. Chinese-made guitars, however, start at $99. Sure, the quality isn’t as good, but I can that way more people own Chinese-made guitars than U.S.-made guitars.
Simply put, I don’t foresee Apple or any other major company being able to change this paradigm anytime soon.
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February 2nd, 2012 at 1:11 pm
I know the build quality of the iPhone is better but if Apple are using a company that has cheap labour surely they can shave some off the price we, the punter have to pay.
For example IP4s 64GB here in the UK is £699.00 ($1,104.78) – Now that’s a rip off surely?
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February 2nd, 2012 at 3:07 pm
Another thing too. The iPhone/iPad/iDevices are only put together in China at Foxconn. They don’t actually manufacture all the parts, the parts are manufactured all over the place and then shipped to Foxconn.
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February 2nd, 2012 at 7:49 pm
You should open up this rumor blog to more than just Apple iphone… how about the rest of Apple’s product… the iphone stuff is getting old. Just a thought
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February 2nd, 2012 at 8:07 pm
@I would love to see that! But i dont see the iPhone part getting old any time soon.
About the whole labor issue, I just find it annoying how people do little to no research when against an issue. There was a petition going around for Apple, I bet 75% of the people who signed don’t even know what Foxconn is and that Apple is not the one who is making them work under those conditions. The petition shouldnt go to Apple, it should have gone to Foxconn.
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February 2nd, 2012 at 8:54 pm
@Ios i would love to see that*
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February 3rd, 2012 at 7:14 am
Just imagine the horror from all the environmentalists if the next iPhone was powered by this.
Anyway, back to topic. iPhone announcment, 11th june. Can’t see the point of announcing it on the last day of WWDC when they could announce it at the start and advertise it throughout the conference.
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