WWDC Begins Monday, iOS 6 On Tap, iPhone 5 In The Shadows
Posted by Michael Nace on Sunday Jun 10, 2012 Under iOS 5 News, iPhone 5 Opinion
While iOS 6 beta and new MacBooks are a foregone conclusion for this year’s WWDC, the tech intelligentsia say nay to an iPhone 5 announcement. But enthusiasts are holding out hope. How will the WWDC go down? Will we have a “One More Thing” moment this year? Do you foresee another surprise hardware announcement for the WWDC other than the iPhone 5? Post your complete WWDC predictions here.
So, this is it — again. For the second year in a row, the WWDC has rolled around, and for the second time, there is some anticipation that the iPhone 5 could make a surprise announcement. Granted, you’re not likely to find many voices in the press raising that specter of possibility — remember: all those guys were burned last year, when there was decidedly more optimism and enthusiasm in the rumor mill that the iPhone 5 would be announced at WWDC 2011.
I guess that the second time around, nobody wants to get let down again. What a sorry, broken-hearted lot they are.
As we have laid out on this blog previously, there are plenty of pros and cons to the possibility of the iPhone 5 announcement at this year’s WWDC. Admittedly, the pros are a lot more capricious and driven by hope-filled and rumor-fueled flights of fancy, while the cons are based on stoic, sober, and conservative analyses. But what cannot be denied is this: these past few weeks leading up to the WWDC have been remarkably similar to the three weeks ahead of the iPad 3 announcement: with the iPad 3, we saw leaked parts that for the most part foreshadowed its release, and the rumored features all but came true.
We’ve seen a similar set of rumors and photos for the iPhone 5 recently. The only difference is that the sources who are releasing the photos and rumors are telling us “September” or “October.” If the photos of the new iPhone 5 parts are real, then it’s hard to reconcile such a long wait at this point — 3 or 4 months?
Because there are so many rumors and theories out there, I thought it would be fun to post an article here on the iPhone 5 News Blog today to serve as a forum for all of the readers and commenters of this blog to predict what we’re going to see at the WWDC come tomorrow. What will iOS 6 look like? Will we see the iPhone 5 after all? What do you expect from the new MacBooks? And if not an iPhone 5, could one of the other exciting, rumored Apple products get a surprise announcement? All of these questions are still floating around some 24 hours before the start of the conference.
For my part, this is my gut feeling: I think that iOS 6 is going to live up to its slogan of being the most advanced operating system in the world by featuring a radically improved Siri that is integrated throughout the mobile computing experience, together with Facebook, which I think is going to become Apple’s proxy social networking channel (in order to challenge Google’s integration of Google+ into Android).
I think that the new ivy bridge MacBooks will make good on the rumors that they will be faster and feature the new retina displays.
Finally, I do believe that we are going to see a surprise announcement of something at the WWDC this year. My logic? It’s this: it’s June — half of 2012 is set to be behind us (can you believe that?) — and Apple ostensibly still is set to release an iPhone 5, new iPod, iPad Mini, and iTV, all in this year. And the WWDC is Apple’s biggest event. I don’t see Cupertino blasting us with four brand-new devices between September and December of 2012 — they’ve always spaced their product launches apart.
Of that list above, I think the iPad Mini is least likely, since the last Apple product release was the iPad 3. Releasing the iPad Mini right on its heels would squash iPad 3 sales. And based on what we’ve heard about the iTV, it isn’t even in production yet. I see the iTV arriving near Christmas.
What’s left is the new iPod and iPhone 5. But seeing that all things iPod have traditionally been announced and released near the start of the new school year in September, I think Apple will stick to that release schedule. Also, if Apple announces the new iPod Touch at the WWDC and it shares the same form factor as the iPhone 5, then they will have given away what the iPhone 5 will look like.
This is how I get to the conclusion that — if you believe that something more will be announced at WWDC other than iOS 6 beta and the MacBooks — that the iPhone 5 makes sense: we’ve got photos, and it is iPhone season.
And if the iPhone 5 doesn’t show up at the WWDC, will I be disappointed? Not really. But if we see nothing ultra-exciting at the conference, other than a refreshed iOS 6 and some MacBooks, I will definitely be surprised. This year’s conference should be a slam-dunk for Tim Cook — let’s hope he delivers in the same way that Apple did when Steve Jobs was at the helm.
By Michael Nace
Starting tomorrow, be sure to keep the iOS 6 News Blog open in a browser tab, as all of our iOS 6-related coverage will appear there!
Michael Nace is the Publisher of the iPhone 5 News Blog and iPhone 6 News Blog. He has published articles about the iPhone since 2010.
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June 10th, 2012 at 10:16 am
Oh man you’re going to get everyone’s hopes up with this! Reasoning does make sense though…
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June 10th, 2012 at 11:03 am
i can guarantee that there will be a surprise announcement , i beleive that apple will announce both the iphone 5 and (or) the new ipod touch at wwdc. Developers need to ready their apps for the iphone 5′s almost guaranteed 4 inch screen , and what better place would it be than wwdc after all isnt that what its made for? Besides its stupid of apple to give devs an ios 6 beta and then after the beta stages are done and the apps are ready apple goes out and says ” oh we forgot to mention, the new iphone has a 4 inch screen so you have to adjust your apps all over again to work with its 16:9 aspect ratio (evil laugh)”. One more thing , isnt the iphone 4 a similar upgrade to the one we’ll see in the iphone 5 ? So it makes sense to give the developers a head start at wwdc since its not just a x2 overlay like the retina display , its a new aspect ratio. Those 25 hours just got a bit more interesting ladies and gentlemen.
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June 10th, 2012 at 11:31 am
“Admittedly, the pros are a lot more capricious and driven by hope-filled and rumor-fueled flights of fancy” – Count me in. If one doesn’t dream, is one human, after all? Did not the Wright brothers dream? Did not the founders of the United States dream? Did not the astronauts of Apollo 11 dream? To dream is what makes us human, and to ridicule us or disparage the dreamer is to keep us as animals, only living from day to day.
OK, off the philosophical soap box, and my predictions:
Apple TV: (won’t be called iTV, talk to the folks at http://www.elgato.com about naming) Due to release in September. TV sales aren’t as fast paced as Phones, and the delay is acceptable.
New Macs/Macbooks with Retina: Putting my 2008 iMac to shame, but the Mac (that is my first one, and boy, am I impressed) it may be time to get a new one in the next couple of years. Glad I waited, but me having a computer last 4 years is still pretty impressive.
New iPod touch: It’s been a while
iOS6: Haven’t paid much attention to this, as I still have my 3GS, and it’s showing it’s age.
iPad Mini: No. Too close to iPad 3 to do. I’d look for that in August for back to school or in October for “Oops, I should have gotten that for back to school”
Oh, and one more thing: iPhone 5
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June 10th, 2012 at 11:40 am
I can’t wait for tommorrow! This is so exciting!
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June 10th, 2012 at 11:55 am
Judgement day is almost here, in about 24 hours we will either be disappointed or very happy. My predictions of WWDC are as followed: Advanced i0S 6 with improved siri and possibly a change in UI, a new range of Macbooks (not that exciting), no iTV that’s later in the year, Ipad mini would just be too early,and can’t see an Ipod touch being released, so that leaves one more thing? Iphone 5? I hope so. The excitement begins.
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June 10th, 2012 at 12:01 pm
Folks, a favor: if you are a part of Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, Delicious, Redditt, Digg, or any other social media/bookmarking community, if you could do some hard core sharing of articles from here on iPhone 5 or over on iOS 6 News Blog this week, that would be extremely helpful. Thanks!
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June 10th, 2012 at 12:13 pm
“Oh,and one more thing….”
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June 10th, 2012 at 12:14 pm
It will be very interesting indeed. I have thought all along that the iPhone 5 would be released in the September/October timeframe. Sales of the 4S have been off the charts and Apple has never released a new iphone less than a year after the previous model.
However, the flurry of leaks the past month have me wavering now. You just don’t see them unless a product release is imminent. There is a chance some of them have been faked…but if they have, someone spent an awful lot of time and money (in particular, the iPhone 5 back plate that was on video last week).
I would now put the odds of an iPhone announcement tomorrow at 40/60. A month ago I thought there was no chance.
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June 10th, 2012 at 12:22 pm
First time commenter, long time reading. Firstly, I would like to say thank you to Michael Nace and the team for this fantastic blog. It’s the first site I go to every day to get the latest iPhone 5 news. Unfortunately I will be working during the WWDC but the second I finish I will load up this site and hopefully you’ll have an article on everything new…hopefully the new iPhone. I must say that I’m one of these ‘truthers’ lol and prating for an announcement tomorrow but something tells me I am going to be disappointed. One can only wait, not long now!!
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June 10th, 2012 at 12:57 pm
With all the leaks we’ve seen I am definitely more of an iPhone 5-at-WWDC2012 believer than September, compared to before. But if Apple doesn’t release the iPhone 5 tomorrow maybe the other big announcement, considering it is a developers’ conference, could be a radically revamped Mac Pro.
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June 10th, 2012 at 12:57 pm
With all the leaks we’ve seen I am definitely more of an iPhone 5-at-WWDC2012 believer than September, compared to before. But if Apple doesn’t release the iPhone 5 tomorrow maybe the other big announcement, considering it is a developers’ conference, could be a radically revamped Mac Pro.
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June 10th, 2012 at 1:06 pm
Mac 9 to 5 posted a interesting story a few hours back about some of the links that are used.
http://9to5mac.com/2012/06/10/safari-6-beta-and-ios-6-beta-10a5316k-links-surface-original-ipad-not-supported/
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June 10th, 2012 at 1:28 pm
I’m just curious…
At the risk of having this comment hidden, click on this comment:
Like if you think it’s at WWDC 2012
Unlike if you think it’s September/October/Not at WWDC 2012.
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June 10th, 2012 at 1:29 pm
^^ Informal polling at it’s worst…
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June 10th, 2012 at 1:33 pm
@Mark, I’m with you, and the 40 is a very hopeful number. In 25 hours, we’ll know.
@Matthew, For a first post, great job!
@Michael, Posted on FB. You can find it at my domain name or look up Zaq plus my last name (he’s my son, and the only one on FB with that name, so you can find him through his friends.)
@Angus, Here’s hoping!
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June 10th, 2012 at 1:35 pm
great article as usual, Michael. Will you be at WWDC?
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June 10th, 2012 at 1:39 pm
Many thanks, drew. Sadly, I will not be at the WWDC. I did try and recruit some attendees to do some live blogging for the blog, but to no avail.
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June 10th, 2012 at 1:41 pm
@Michael, on the FAQ they prohibit it:
May I photograph or video record keynotes or sessions?
No. Content presented at WWDC is subject to your applicable Apple Developer Program agreement(s). Taking photographs, recording video and engaging in any form of live blogging during WWDC sessions is expressly prohibited.
https://developer.apple.com/wwdc/faq/
Does the keynote count as a session or is it a different thing?
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June 10th, 2012 at 2:18 pm
BREAKING: iPhone 5 News Blog WILL cover the WWDC live! We’ll have a correspondent there! More info coming soon. Stand by!
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June 10th, 2012 at 2:49 pm
@Michael Nace, Great !!
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June 10th, 2012 at 3:50 pm
Personally – I think we’ll all be in for a disappointment. I’m not getting my hopes up…the Apple shine is starting to wear off for me…
I hope I’m wrong – let’s see…
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June 10th, 2012 at 5:40 pm
@Michael Geat news on the liveblog!
I would say that this is Jeff in Toutle River rest area but that would take away from my counter…
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June 10th, 2012 at 6:09 pm
Yes great news on the coverage Michael, much thanks! I think the iPad mini and iTV will be announced as coming products, and *hope* for the iPhone 5 announcement. I expect great details on iOS and OSX, Siri and iCloud integration. This WWDC could be spectacular!
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June 10th, 2012 at 7:46 pm
Getting Sam to do this is like a sports team signing that star free agent. He is so plugged in that you cannot imagine. He’ll get the scoop if there is one to be gotten!
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June 10th, 2012 at 8:43 pm
Is this the calm before the storm?
I’m going to print out the feature list tonight and if it’s released, see how close the prognostications were.
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June 10th, 2012 at 9:01 pm
Great! I’m happy for the liveblog news! Oh and I hope the truthers are truthful enough! Lol I’m also a “truther”, I just don’t enjoy that name.
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June 10th, 2012 at 10:25 pm
That ending got to me; woo I’m pumped!
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June 10th, 2012 at 11:39 pm
I think the meaning of “the week we’ve all been waiting for” is that they are going to have a major announcement for the entire product line. In other words, I think “all” means “all of the products” or “all of the product teams within Apple”.
Here’s the catch… for the Iphone announcement, I don’t think it will be a new phone, but rather just the fact that it is going to the prepaid market.
Regarding the iPad, I think the major announce will be the IPAD MINI (yes, yes I do)
We won’t see an iTV announcement, but I do think we’ll see a major update to Apple TV that will eventually be used for iTV.
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June 11th, 2012 at 3:53 am
I have a dilemma in that at the same time as the WWDC England play France in Euro 2012. I’ll be sitting there with my Mac on my knee watching the game and trying to keep my eye out for good news!
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June 11th, 2012 at 4:35 am
Thank you Michael for all of your effort in this web site. It has been my go-to site for iphone news in the last year or so. It’s T-MINUS 8:25 till WWDC. Goodnight!
Oh yeah.. and one more thing..
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June 11th, 2012 at 6:10 am
I think we’re all going to be disappointed.
It will be about iOS6 and some new gesture controls, maybe a new iPod Touch and that’s probably it.
I don’t think Tim Cook will do a ‘one more thing’ as that was typically Jobs style and he wants to imprint his own character on these presentations. A few hours to go…let’s see what happens…
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June 11th, 2012 at 6:58 am
I’m so excited! Thank you Michael and everybody else for this AMAZING blog! 1st blog I go to for all my iPhone news and now I hear you are going to have a live blog! Perfect! One of my problems solved! The other remains to be seen at WWDC, I am a firm ‘truther’ and cannot wait to see all that Apple has to offer!
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June 11th, 2012 at 7:47 am
This might add some fuel to the fire as to release date, I ran across a site that had list promo discount for Verizon phone.
Iphone 4 8 GB $99.99 after discount end 6/20/12
Iphone 4s 64 GB $399.99 after discount ends 6/24/12
Here is the link. http://www.fightdivx.com/coupons/verizon_wireless_coupons.html
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June 11th, 2012 at 9:45 am
Many thanks, James. It is my pleasure. I’m just really glad that this year we’ve been able to have someone liveblogging for us at the WWDC. I’m hoping hoping that Sam will be able to do it at subsequent Apple events as well.
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June 11th, 2012 at 10:29 am
The Apple Store has posted a notice now We’ll be back We’re Busy updating the Apple Store for you and will be back soon.
http://store.apple.com/
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June 11th, 2012 at 11:48 am
About an hour before the keynote address…I’m calling it boldly: you “iphone truthers” will be disappointed by the truth…the new iphone won’t be coming for a few more months. You’re letting your hopes get the best of you and trying to call it “truth”, rather than using logic and looking at the big picture.
I’ll be be humbled and quiet (and also very thrilled) if the new iphone is announced, but don’t hate on me if it isn’t.
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June 11th, 2012 at 12:28 pm
LOL! It’s ok, Mike D. The world won’t end for folks if the iPhone 5 doesn’t drop. We’re just having some fun with this event, that’s all. We shall see!
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June 11th, 2012 at 12:36 pm
mentioned it on an earlier blog post (iOS 6 banner)but figured I’d post here. Is it me or does the icon background maybe look more like a fingerprint than water ripples?
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June 11th, 2012 at 12:41 pm
iOS 6 beta leaks have it supporting the 3GS, my prediction is the following:
3GS – will be entry level phone in emerging prepaid markets
4 – will ride off into the sunset
4S – will be entry level phone in subsidized markets
NEW iPhone will be announced today
Sorry Mike D, gotta stick to my guns too.
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June 11th, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Here.
We.
Go.
Let’s talk iPhone!!!!!
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June 11th, 2012 at 12:48 pm
Oh yeah I forgot to mention…
One more thing…
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June 11th, 2012 at 12:56 pm
Tell what’s his name to put the live thing on twitter also. Much easier to follow
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June 11th, 2012 at 12:58 pm
Will the live blogging work on iPhone???
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June 11th, 2012 at 1:16 pm
OK, the truthers have it, 25-10 at 10:15…. (see post #13 above)
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June 11th, 2012 at 1:22 pm
Could the phone that model Miranda Kerr has in these pictures be the iPhone 5? Looks similar to the iphone 5 in the leaked pictures..
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/06/08/article-2156420-1382631B000005DC-79_634x728.jpg
http://cdn04.cdn.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/kerr-body/miranda-kerr-credits-grandmother-for-sexy-body-02.jpeg
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June 11th, 2012 at 1:25 pm
No retina displays on the new Macs…this could be boding well for us ‘truthers’
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June 11th, 2012 at 1:31 pm
Spoke too soon Michael DeCook
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June 11th, 2012 at 1:42 pm
Spending too much time on the new mac to be releasing an iphone 5 next to it IMO
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June 11th, 2012 at 1:43 pm
I think Sam’s doing a great job. I like the tweet-style updates. I re-set the plug-in to update every 30 seconds so the wait isn’t too long. Don’t want to push it though, for fear of the site crashing.
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June 11th, 2012 at 1:54 pm
Will Nountain Lion Server (there’s a mouthful) come out at the same time?
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June 11th, 2012 at 1:55 pm
err… Mountain
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June 11th, 2012 at 2:00 pm
Jeff – Apple site shows Mountain Lion coming this summer. So guessing new MacBooks do not come with ML installed?
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June 11th, 2012 at 2:05 pm
@Matt,
I meant as an O/S. Typically, if you buy a Mac with a new O/S coming out, you get a free upgrade. I’m running Lion Server on my iMac, and I was curious about the Mountain Lion Server coming out.
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June 11th, 2012 at 2:09 pm
Ohhh…. this is like water torture!
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June 11th, 2012 at 2:41 pm
Ok iOS 6 looks pretty nice! If new IP5 isn’t announced today I could see IP4S selling spike just from that alone.
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June 11th, 2012 at 2:45 pm
FaceTime 3G. That’s no small thing.
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June 11th, 2012 at 2:54 pm
No IP5…
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June 11th, 2012 at 3:00 pm
Looks like the truth is still out there LOL. Oh well, back to work. Time to re-figure the the tea leaves for the ‘New iPhone’ launch this fall. The good news is that those ugly back plates might not be real now.
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June 11th, 2012 at 3:02 pm
So Apple calls a 2 hour meeting. They say it’s the week we’ve all been waiting for. And they don’t announce an iPhone 5.
I guess we can all start playing the waiting game until August-October.
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June 11th, 2012 at 3:05 pm
@Matt, I want to dislike your comment because of no iPhone 5 news but I won’t as you’re just the messenger…
But not because you wrote it.
Looks like another 4 months for my 3GS!
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June 11th, 2012 at 3:08 pm
@Michael Nace, I bet iPhone5newsblog was the best domain name investment you’ve ever made! Another 3…4…18 months on it!
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June 11th, 2012 at 3:18 pm
@Jeff – no worries. I was a bit disappointed as well but somewhat expected this outcome. Agree with Michael DeCook though that at least those ugly backplates from last week weren’t true. But I will disagree with a few others out there that I think the Keynote was pretty good. iOS 6 looks to have some very nice new features. And others sites where I was following live feeds of the WWDC keynote sounded like iOS 6 would “ship” this fall. That might have been a freudian slip…but iOS don’t ship they’re installed via upload. But great clue indicating new iPhone maybe.
And it seems like this might be the trend moving forward. iOS announced in June with Beta release – and iOS ready for production with new updated iPhones in the fall.
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June 11th, 2012 at 3:23 pm
Samsung will be laughing their socks off!
By the time the ‘New iPhone’ comes out they will have produced several new phones and copied whatever Apple have just announced.
Oh dear.
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June 11th, 2012 at 3:40 pm
@Vernicularis, I agree, and 2 1/4 years to develop a new phone; it better be astounding.
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June 11th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
OK, our collective conjuring up the iPhone 5 on Michael’s blog for Apple’s San Francisco event did not materialize the new iPhone. On the positive side, the beast to come may be an even more huge win for all of us. I am not a techie, but might the new Mac Book Pro Retina Display of 2880 x 1800 resolution (which according to Sam Levin is the world’s highest resolution on a notebook) impact the upcoming iPhone 5 screen?
Not much was said about cameras/sensors. Hmm m m m! That worries me a bit. Yet, I am still hoping one of Sony’s new improved light/color collecting, larger sensors will make it on board the upcoming iPhone 5. Please, please, Mr. Tim Cook…a bigger screen!
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June 11th, 2012 at 4:18 pm
P.S.: Thank you, Matthew, for all your efforts in getting us live-blogged to the San Francisco Apple event. That was really appreciated!
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June 11th, 2012 at 4:30 pm
P.S.: I meant to day, “Thank you, Michael, for all your efforts in getting us live-blogged…”
(Think this stupid cold I have is impacting my memory cells… Sorry, Michael.
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June 15th, 2012 at 2:26 pm
Has anybody downloaded the OS 6 in to a IPhone 4S yet? Have you any kind of problems or Issues ?
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