The iPhone 5 News Blog

 If the iPhone 5 rumor mill in 2012 is proving anything, it’s that what comes around goes around. But this time, some of the tactics employed by the tech world to slurp up iPhone 5 buzz is now being used for the iPad 3.

In a publicity stunt much like the big Case-Mate leaked iPhone 5 case story of 2011, consumer electronics case designer Otterbox has begun to leverage iPad 3 buzz by blogging ferociously about the iPad 3 release rumors and even staking a claim on an Otterbox Defender case for the iPad 3. In an e-mail blast to subscribers of their website, Otterbox had this to say: “

Excitement is building and the rumor mills are spinning toward another highly anticipated Apple announcement. We don’t know when, but we do know that the next iOS device will receive iProtection from OtterBox. We’re expecting a new iPad and whether it’s an iPad 2S, iPad 3 or something else, we can confirm we will have a Defender Series case available…[it] will be OtterBox’s flagship option for the new device.”

To be fair, Otterbox’s approach to promoting via iPad 3 rumors is more earnest than the original Case-Mate leaked iPhone 5 case publicity stunt, which we identified immediately as bogus. Case-Mate was audacious enough to cite their own “inside sources,” which turned out to be wrong in large part. This is what their original promotional content read: ““The debate continues on whether the new iPhone will be an iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S. From our inside resources, it appears that Apple will be indeed launching both an iPhone 5 and an iPhone 4S in early October. The speculation indicates that the iPhone 4S will feature the same form factor as the iPhone 4 but will be upgraded with the latest technology, including the A5 dual-core processor and 8 mega-pixel camera.”

Well, they were right about the iPhone 4S, but totally wrong about the dual release with the iPhone 5. And all 0f those leaked photos of iPhone 5 cases were bogus, too.

It would appear that Otterbox wants to avoid any negative blowback for misreporting anything about the iPad, while still capturing some of the buzz and excitement without going too far out on a limb. In fact, Otterbox is making a safe bet that the rumors of a nearly identical form factor to the iPad 2 are true, and that they will only have to make very slight changes to the Defender iPad case series in order to be first-to-market with it.

I can tell you from my own inside sources from within the consumer electronics accessories market that all of the major case designers are planning the same approach as Otterbox — they just have yet to publicize it. As a result, I would expect the first new case designs for the iPad 3 to be relatively pedestrian, and mere refreshes of what is already out there for the iPad 2.

By Michael Nace