The iPhone 5 News Blog

Some iPhone 4S users complain about low battery performance. New purported images of the iPhone 5 battery reveal a longer, thinner design that is only marginally more powerful than the iPhone 4S’s battery pack. Is this cause for alarm, or is it a fake?

In an effort to continuously confirm their iPhone 5 sighting, 9to5Mac continues to assemble new iPhone parts that all seem to fit in with what they say will indeed be the new design. Almost every week has brought on new sightings in a kind of parts parade that keeps them and their iPhone 5 claims as the topic of conversation.

Their most recent discovery is what is said to be the iPhone 5′s new battery. 9to5Mac packages the story as yet another possible big find in the search for the truth about the iPhone 5 before it is actually unveiled by Apple. and from their accounts, its longer, leaner design appears to jive with what we’ve seen from them form factor-wise. Here’s what they have to say:

Today, a reliable parts source (via 9to5Mac contributor Sonny Dickson) sent us images of new iPhone battery packs that they received. Notably, these new battery packs sport a higher capacity than the packs in previous generations of Apple’s smartphone. This new battery features a capacity of 1440 mAh. That is up from the capacity of 1430 mAh on the iPhone 4S and up from 1420 mAh on the iPhone 4, according to iPhone repair shop iFixYouri, whom examined the battery photos.

At face value, this all looks very promising for those looking to lock up the longer iPhone 5 design. And hey — look! — 10 mAh more battery juice! That’s great, right?

Not really. Read More

A flood of new iPhone component orders, as well as a new analyst’s report detailing a 25% drop in iPhone 4S production, indicates that the iPhone 5 production process is well underway. But how do these production rumors wash with the “two prototypes” rumor?

We’ve been noting recently that there has been a great deal of contradiction between iPhone 5 rumors that have been hard to reconcile. A couple of new reports today have further complicated the prognostication process, with new whisperings out of Asia that Apple — and its assembly partner Foxconn — are beginning to buy up the parts they need to assemble what is ostensibly the iPhone 5.

According to SlashGear, the iPhone 5 “. . . is set to have components that are not necessarily working with the same companies Apple has been working with before. . .”If this is the case, then, in my opinion, it remains to be seen when iPhone 5 component production really began, since new component supplies may mean that analysts have not been looking in the right places for clues. Regardless, specific information on components appears to be bubbling to the surface, “. . . with the most recent supply shock being Apple’s leaked purchase of flash memory products with Elpida, a competitor with the then $10 million USD poorer Samsung, for over half of their total parts in-house.”

SlashGear has also put their finger on this rumor: “Apple has also continued to push for parts across China and with the group known as TXC. Reports today show that TXC has secured component supply orders for use with the next iPhone release. TXC is a quartz crystal device maker in China.”

But the most interesting production rumor that SlashGear and others are reporting has to do with what Foxconn is up to. Read More

It’s hard to keep your finger of the pulse of everything that’s transpiring in the Apple universe, so leave it to the iPhone 5 News Blog readers and commenters to keep me in line. Commenter Michael D. dropped us a line last night and had this to say:

Based upon Apple’s previous methodology, the only time they have allowed retailers to discount their products have been just before release of the next iteration. I saw that one of your posters had mentioned that Target and another store had discounted the 4S and I just noticed on bestbuy.com that there is a $50 savings on the iPhone 4. Coincidence? I hope not.

Michael D.’s missive is well-timed: there are numerous reports today that connect nicely with the rise of iPhone 4S discounts in the U.S. retail sphere: Apple Insider, for example, is reporting that: “Analyst Shaw Wu with Sterne Agee said in a note to investors on Tuesday that he has found in his checks with suppliers that Apple has reduced iPhone orders by between 20 and 25 percent from the 35.1 million units the company shipped in the March quarter.”

Similarly, PC Advisor had this to say about the downslope of 4S orders on Wall Street: “Some Wall Street analysts are ‘starting to panic’ over Apple’s revenues for the quarter, claims Jay Yarrow, in a story at BusinessInsider. ‘Analysts think Apple is due for a big come down,’ Yarrow insists. But it’s hard to see evidence of panic.”

So, here’s the situation: production orders for the 4S are way down, retailers are dropping the prices, and the iPhone 5 — whether because it is actually coming soon or is simply perceived to be coming soon — is directly impacting the sales and order figures for this quarter.

The big question is: do these developments point to the iPhone 5 actually coming soon, or are they only a result of the rumor mill? Read More

The buzz barometer known as Gartner lowered expectations for iPhone 4S sales in the first quarter of 2012, indicating a sales lull in anticipation of the iPhone 5.

As we all waited in vain for the iPhone 5 last Summer, you will recall that iPhone 4 sales slumped, with many Apple enthusiasts and prospective buyers opting to wait for the new iPhone rather than risk buying the iPhone 4 just ahead of the iPhone 5. It appears that rumors of a June iPhone 5 release are affecting iPhone sales again.

Gartner, a technology analyst who forecasts trends in the technology marketplace, is anticipating a decline in iPhone 4S sales for the first quarter of 2012, compared to the blockbuster sales of the 4S in the fourth quarter of 2011. According to IBTimes, Gartner “expects Apple’s market share to slip for a couple of quarters as novelty of the iPhone 4S wears out.”

It’s worth noting, however, that the decline in iPhone 4S sales off its norm establishes in Q4 of 2011 should by no means be seen as alarming to Apple shareholders, which manages to remain in the top three of mobile phone manufacturers, in spite of offering only a few smartphone models, none of which are considered a low-end “dumb phone” like many of the models that bolster sales for Nokia and Samsung. According to Forbes, “Apple clocks in at 19 percent of all smartphone sales, making it the leader in the rapidly growing smartphone market. The company captured 23.8 percent of the global smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2011.”

Analysts even go so far as to say that “Surging demand for the iPhone 4S and rival smartphones is helping offset the impact of the global economic crisis on consumer spending.”

Absent from the Garner report is any explicit mention of the swirling iPhone 5 release rumors, which are pegging its release for June. While impressive iPhone 4 sales in 2010 and 2011 were unusually extended by the addition of Verizon and the fact that the iPhone 4 was an overhaul of the previous 3GS model, the iPhone 4S’s profile in the smartphone market may not be as resilient in the long term, due to the fact that it is perceived by consumers as a refresh of the iPhone 4 and a stand-in for the highly anticipated iPhone 5. This fact, above all else, may be reason enough for Apple to expedite the release of the iPhone 5, making an announcement in June rather than waiting for October.

That being said, there is no reason to believe that Apple will give up on aggressively marketing its current flagship iPhone.

Considering that Apple sold 35.5 million units in Q4 — a 121.4 percent increase — and an impressive 7.4 percent share of the mobile phone market, there is no reason to believe that iPhone 4S sales will fall flat in the Spring, and may even be buoyed by the rising excitement over the iPad 3 release, which is bound to have some residual sales impact on all Apple products.

By Michael Nace

With news that the Wolfram alpha search engine currently serves 25% of Siri’s search queries, one has to wonder what the future relationship between Apple and Dr. Wolfram will be — and whether Wolfram Alpha will play an even larger role on the iPhone 5 if Siri gets upgraded to the more powerful “Assistant.”

I almost jumped out of my seat in intrigue today when I scanned the iPhone 5 news and saw — in a related story — that the ingenious search engine Wolfram Alpha currently serves up 25% of Siri’s search results for the iPhone 4S. Search is a big interest of mine, and I have long argued that when Apple developed Siri, they were subversively getting into the search engine business. I wrote an article entitled “iPhone 4S’s Siri Is a Search Engine, Will Compete With Google Search” back on October 26th, thinking that it would be a poignant story that might catch fire in the blogosphere.

It didn’t.

But the news today that Apple is leveraging Wolfram Alpha in Siri search confirms (to me, at least) that Cupertino is trying to develop a new search way to search that differs from Google. From The New York Times: “Unlike Google or Microsoft’s Bing, Wolfram Alpha does not forage the Web. It culls its own painstakingly curated database to find answers.” Rather than calling it a “search engine,” Dr. Wolfram describes it as a “computational knowledge engine.” Sounds a lot like Siri, doesn’t it?

In this way, I think it is clear that Apple understands that the Wolfram Alpha approach to search — leveraging massive databases of information, rather than skimming the internet and giving users search results — is the future of search with technology like Siri, since it works more like an artificial intelligence than Google.

So, how could this news factor into the iPhone 5?

As you may recall, there have been rumors that iOS 6 will feature a new, upgraded voice recognition engine that will replace Siri. We wrote an article about it back on December 7th, wherein we reported that recent job postings at Cupertino suggested that Apple might be looking to expand Siri to the rumored “Assistant” voice recognition platform that was rumored in the Summer of 2011.

What I’m thinking here is an acquisition.

What would the chances be that Apple could make a bid to purchase the fledgling Wolfram Alpha and subsume its technology into Apple’s own data centers? Considering that Apple purchases and partners with technologies that it may or may not ever use down the line, it would seem that if Wolfram Alpha is already doing heavy lifting for Siri, the two entities could tie the knot sooner rather than later.

I have contacted Wolfram Alpha’s PR department to see if I can get some further answers to questions regarding their current relationship with Apple. We’ll see what they have to say.

In the meantime, look for Apple to become a bigger and bigger player in search, with their mobile devices leading the way as new tools for searching on the go. You read it here first.

By Michael Nace

Canalys reports in its full, detailed Q4 2011 country-level smart phone shipment estimates to clients, that 488 million smartphones shipped in 2011, easily outpacing 415 million client PC (and that’s including ‘pads) shipments last year in rounded figures.

Vendors shipped 158.5 million smartphones in Q4 2011, up 57% on the 101.2 million units shipped in Q4 2010. This bumper quarter took total global shipments for the whole of 2011 to 487.7 million units, up 63% on the 299.7 million smartphones shipped throughout 2010. By comparison, the global client PC market grew 15% in 2011 to 414.6 million units, with 274% growth in pad shipments. Pads accounted for 15% of all client PC shipments in 2011.

In 2011 we saw a fall in demand for netbooks, and slowing demand for notebooks and desktops as a direct result of rising interest in pads, says Chris Jones, Canalys VP and Principal Analyst. But pads have had negligible impact on smartphone volumes and markets across the globe have seen persistent and substantial growth through 2011. Smartphone shipments overtaking those of client PCs should be seen as a significant milestone. In the space of a few years, smartphones have grown from being a niche product segment at the high-end of the mobile phone market to becoming a truly mass-market proposition. The greater availability of smartphones at lower price points has helped tremendously, but there has been a driving trend of increasing consumer appetite for Internet browsing, content consumption and engaging with apps and services on mobile devices.

Canalys’s market research competitor International Data Corporation (IDC) says the worldwide mobile phone market grew 6.1% year over year in Q4 2011, with the feature phone market declining faster than anticipated, dragging market growth down to its lowest point in over two years. According to the IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped 427.4 million units in 4Q11 compared to 402.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010. The 6.1% year-over-year growth was higher than IDC’s forecast of 4.4% for the quarter, but weaker than the 9.3% growth in 3Q11.

“The mobile phone market exhibited unusually low growth last quarter, which shows it is not immune to weaker macroeconomic conditions worldwide,” observes Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker. “The introduction of high-growth products such as the iPhone 4S, which shipped in the fourth quarter, bolstered smartphone growth. Yet overall market growth fell to its lowest point since 3Q09 when the global economic recession was in full bloom.”

For its part, Canalys expects smartphone market growth low in 2012 as vendors exercise greater cost control and discipline, and put more focus on profitability. Notably, even vendors who have focused on conquering the low-end of the market with aggressive pricing, such as Huawei, ZTE and LG, are now turning more attention on the higher end of the market, which is Apple’s market domain. Canalys expects flagship models aimed at raising selling prices and improving margins will feature more heavily this year.

Indeed, Apple’s impressive end to 2011 resulted in it becoming both the leading smartphone vendor as well as client PC vendor (when iPads are included) in Q4 2011, shipping a whopping 37.0 million iPhones plus 15.4 million iPads and 5.2 million Macs. Canalys notes that Apple also smashed the all-time record for the most smartphones shipped globally by any single vendor in one quarter, beating Nokias previous record of 28.3 million shipped in Q4 2010. Moreover, Apples performance meant that it displaced Nokia, for the first time, as the leading smartphone vendor by annual shipments. Apple shipped 93.1 million iPhones in 2011, representing growth of 96% over 2010.

IDC’s metrics show Apple jumping into the third spot globally from fifth spot lin QA3 ’11 thanks to its record-breaking 4th quarter shipments, and scoring the company’s highest-ever ranking on IDC’s Top 5 global mobile phone leaderboard. The launch of the iPhone 4S, available in over 90 countries as of mid-January, was the primary reason the company leapt over LG and ZTE in 4Q11 IDC says. Canalys attributes some of the iPhone 4s’s strong performance to pent-up demand resulting from the launch coming in October rather than June, but Apples overall volume was also boosted by continued shipments of the more aggressively priced iPhone 4 and 3GS models. IDC reports that the iPhone 4S was particularly well-received in Australia, Hong Kong, Korea, and Taiwan.

However, Samsung finished 2011 in a strong second place, shipping 35.3 million smartphones in Q4 2011 under its own brand, and bringing its total to 91.9 million for the year, compared to just 24.9 million in 2010. That metric also excludes shipments of rebranded products, such as the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus, which Canalys counts under the Google brand.

Nokias smartphone performance in the fourth quarter was less spectacular, the company shipping 19.6 million smartphones, a 31% decline from the record high of a year earlier, but still up 17% on Q3 2011, aided by 1.2 million and 0.6 million shipments of its Windows Phone and MeeGo-based products respectively, Nokia’s total smartphone shipments for the year came in at 77.3 million globally.

Its first Windows Phone products, the Lumia 800 and 710, along with the recently announced Lumia 900 through AT&T in the US, have improved the outlook for Nokia, comments Canalys Senior Analyst, Tim Shepherd. They are well-designed, competitive devices that demonstrate innovation is still alive within Nokia. But the battle is not over and it has huge challenges ahead. Nokia must continue to build out its Lumia portfolio with devices tailored to address all price points and all the markets in which it aims to compete. It must hasten its transition from Symbian to Windows Phone around the world and, with Microsoft, promote and generate excitement for the platform and new products. And it must succeed in attracting more developers to build high quality, locally relevant apps.

Hard-luck BlackBerry-maker RIM ended 2011 as still the fourth largest smartphone vendor with annual unit growth of 5%. At the platform level, Android accounted for 52% of global smartphone shipments in Q4 2011, with iOS runner-up representing 23% and Symbian 12%. Android was also the leading smartphone platform by volume for the whole year, accounting for 49% of all devices shipped in 2011, well ahead of iOS with its 19% share and Symbian with 16%. Collectively, Android smartphone shipments grew 149% year on year in Q4 2011 to 81.9 million units, resulting in a total of 237.8 million for the full year, up 244% on 2010.

comScore’s MobiLens service reported last week that Apple continued to gain ground in the U.S. mobile subscriber market in September with a 12.4 percent share of total U.S. mobile subscribers (up 2.2 percentage points), compared with Samsung at 25.3 percent, LG with a 20 percent share Motorola just slightly ahead of Apple at a 13.3 percent share, and RIM rounding out the top five with a 6.7 percent share.

Much has been made about users’ dissatisfaction with the iPhone 4S, coupled with the still lingering frustration of the ever-delayed iPhone 5. But a new poll reveals that the iPhone 4S is the most beloved iPhone yet.

A statistics professor once told me, “you can make a poll say anything you want it to.” But in the case of a recent iPhone 4S customer satisfaction survey, it would appear that the results are plain and true: iPhone 4S users love their iPhone — and particularly Siri.

The new survey, which was conducted by ChangeWave Research, has been widely reported in the tech media today, as it cites a customer satisfaction rating that tops even the ever-popular iPhone 4. From AllNewsMac: “According to the results, iPhone 4S owners are 77% “very satisfied” with their new device. This is an increase of 5 points compared to iPhone 4 last year.” The article and survey go on to reveal that, in spite of the fact that users are indeed complaining about the newest iPhone’s battery life, the sheer coolness of Siri seems to be overshadowing the battery issue.

Coming in as close seconds and thirds to the popularity of Siri, users also identified “ease of use” and the beefy 8-megapixel camera as favorite features. In this way, it can be stated with some degree of certainty that iOS 5 has been a net success for Apple, since “ease of use” points toward the operating system of the iPhone 4S more than anything else. Surprisingly, however, iCloud, while on the “likes” list of the survey, only places a distant fifth place, gaining just 19% of the vote. Given Apple’s massive data center investment into iCloud, it remains to be seen if Cupertino could see poll results like that as a success or failure.

Even more surprising, however, are some of the “dislikes” in the poll results that fall under the obvious first place finisher — “battery life is too short.” The lack of 4G LTE — a feature that many vociferous iPhone users believed would be unnecessary in making the anticipated 2011 iPhone 5 a success, is apparently sorely missed by a plurality of iPhone 4S users. 30% of poll respondents complain of a “lack of 4G capability,” a percentage that rivals the poor battery performance issue at 38%.

Also, “screen size,” while represented as the third-place dislike, is actually a distant third, getting only 11% of the vote. In a nutshell, this poll found that 4G LTE is almost three times more coveted among iPhone 4S users than a larger screen.

Or am I just making this poll say what I want it to say?

In either case, it won’t matter: based on what we know and what we think we know, it seems highly plausible that the iPhone 5 will feature both 4G LTE capabilities and a larger screen. And we can also assume — or at least hope — that bigger, better battery will accompany all of these high-octane features on the iPhone 5 as well. Otherwise, the next poll might be far uglier for Apple.

By Michael Nace

U.S. readers: I don’t know about you, but the prospect of braving the Black Friday shopping crowds to get a few good deals just doesn’t seem worth it anymore. I awoke this morning to read about riots, fights, stampedes, and other animalistic behavior at U.S. retail megastores like Target, BestBuy, and Walmart, all in an attempt to get some good deals and a leg up on Christmas shopping. One story tells of a woman who actually used pepper spray on other shoppers in order to “gain an upper hand” in some “competitive shopping.”

Nice.

For my part, I think that online shopping makes total sense, since most of the top retailers offer the same if not similar online deals, from Black Friday until Cyber Monday. This is equally true with iPhone case companies: sensing the fact that there is now a huge crop of new iPhone 4S users, they are really going for it with good Black Friday deals on iPhone 4S cases, figuring that a discounted case is probably the right price for a wide range of Christmas gifting situations.

But first, let’s unpack Apple’s own Black Friday sale.

Not to be outdone, Apple is cutting prices on some of their most beloved toys. According to MacLife, at Apple.com you can “Get a new Mac for $101 off, iPads from $41-61 off (depending on capacity and type), iPod nano for $11 off and iPod touch models from $21-41 off. The big price slash has been reserved for the base model 11.6-inch MacBook Air at $898, but there will also be a wide variety of accessories on sale this Friday as well.” That’s an extremely good deal on the MacBook Air: to be able to get into the world of Apple laptops for under $900 is stunning.

But the first place I wanted to look for Black Friday deals was Case-Mate. They are, after all, the iPhone case company that trotted out those bogus iPhone 5 cases back in the summer, claiming to have an inside track on its “teardrop-shaped” design (which is looking less and less likely for the 2012 iPhone 5). I was curious to see what hot dog promotion they would roll out.

It looks like Case-Mate is going a general promo code sale of 30% off. You can use promo code SaveMore2011 to get it.

Rather than offering a blanket promotion for all orders, Griffin is cherry-picking certain items. The good news is that they are offering up to 80% off on some items — the bad news is that the iPhone 4/4S cases are slim pickens. I count only one case — the Explorer — on sale for the iPhone 4/4S, at just $12.99 instead of $39.99. Not bad at all.

I love Otterbox cases — to me, they are the true iPhone insider’s case. I say “insider’s” because they aren’t the kind of case that the average user picks up at Best Buy — they are more of a “deep cut.” All of this being said, I’m not too thrilled about their Black Friday promotion: instead of giving a chunky discount, they are instead giving away a “free gift,” valued at $15.00, with any order over $30. To me, this means that they are giving away some outmoded accessory or Otterbox-branded trinket — not at all what I’m interested in. But you can see for yourself here.

UNIEA may have the sweetest deal of them all over this weekend. They are doing a 40% off promotion from now until midnight on Cyber Monday, plus $5.95 flat rate shipping worldwide. It is designed to let people stock up on cases and accessories for Christmas presents, with that flat rate shipping promotion really making a difference as you buy more stuff from them. The promo code for their promotion is BLACK40, and the flat rate shipping gets applied at checkout automatically. Go to UNIEA.com to take a look at their stuff.

Zagg, who is well known for their screen covers for the iPhone, has a little Black Friday deal going on, where if you buy their earbuds ($49.99), they give you a $25 gift card back. This is actually a pretty good deal, since they also carry three iPhone 4S cases under $25. Take a look here.

Finally, it is noteworthy which companies decided to pass on doing up a big Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal: I see nothing of real note from Hard Candy, Belkin, or Case Logic. It’s hard to believe that they are doing so well that they don’t need a good Black Friday sale to put them into the “black,” but hey: to each their own.

By Michael Nace

Apple’s most recent iOS 5 update for the iPhone 4S was meant to fix the battery issue. But with users complaining about how the update made their battery use worse, plus new reports that iOS 5 is causing SIM issues, the iPhone 5 release date cannot get here soon enough.

With tech pundits seemingly weighing either June or October 2012 as possible iPhone 5 release dates, it is appearing more and more that the release of the iPhone 5 cannot get here soon enough.

In spite of the fact that Apple enjoyed record sales of the iPhone 4S, and continues to see robust demand for their fifth generation iPhone, it would appear that a notable percentage of 4S users continue to be dogged by battery — and now SIM — issues associated with the latest iOS 5 update. According to InRumor.com, users are now reporting iPhone 4S SIM card issues as a result of the most recent iOS update: “According to reports on the net, the problem regarding the iPhone 4S SIM card occurs regardless of the telephone operator and prevents users from activating their phones once the SIM card is in the slot.”

While this most recent snafu is more annoying than devastating for most users, AT&T iPhone 4S users are experiencing a much more serious issue, since on AT&T iPhone 4S models “the SIM card is used to verify the user’s account and allow access to the device.”

This breaking development joins a recent report echoed by many in the tech community that the iOS 5.0.1 update, which was meant to fix the battery drain issue on the iPhone 4S, has actually led some users to see the battery performance decline instead of improve. According to KnowYourMobile, iOS 5.0.1 “doesn’t seem to have fixed everybody’s battery issues,” and that a 5.0.2 update is now very likely to be released sooner rather than later to hopefully fix the issue.

This isn’t good.

While iPhone 5′ers desperately wanted the iPhone 5 to be released in 2011, instead they have had to settle with the iPhone 4S, which, aside from the fact that it reconstituted the same screen and form factor as the iPhone 4, did indeed deliver on new features like Siri and improved camera hardware. But with quality and battery life now at issue with the iPhone 4S, as well as persistent rumors that the iPhone 5′s 2011 release was nixed at the last minute by Steve Jobs, pressure is once again beginning to build among the iPhone community for an iPhone 5 sooner rather than later.

If you’re weighing June versus October for the iPhone 5 release date, June is looking more and more likely.

By Michael Nace

A programmer and iPhone user has discovered a hidden panoramic camera feature in iOS 5 that was obviously meant for the iPhone 5. With the panoramic camera feature spoiled, how will Apple now upgrade the camera feature for the next iPhone? 

All throughout the 2011 iPhone 5 rumor mill, analysts and pundits predicted that one of key features on the 2011 iPhone would be a panoramic feature. Few were dismayed by the lack of the panoramic feature on the iPhone 4S — partly because disappointment in the iPhone 4S had more to do with it not being the “iPhone 5,” and partly because the camera upgrades on the 4S were impressive enough in their own right. By all assumptions, any introduction of a panoramic camera feature was to be reserved for the iPhone 5 in 2012.

A computer programmer and iPhone user, however, has put an end to any grand plan by Apple to roll out a panorama feature for the iPhone 5‘s camera. According to TechSpot and a host of other media outlets, the panoramic function and an “autocorrect bar” is present in the current version of iOS 5 and can be hacked into. Even more surprising is that “Both items can be enabled without jailbreaking your iPad or iPhone, but not without a few initial steps.”

The articles goes on to explain that “iOS hacker, Sonny Dickson, was responsible for unearthing an “Android-like” autocorrect bar Thursday morning. In fact, the autocorrect  bar is so “Android-like”, it may explain in part Apple’s reservation to include it as a production feature.” At the same time, the fact that Cupertino chose to include in the current release of iOS 5 is surprising; it is hard to believe that Apple developers assumed it would not be found, given the level of exuberance that Apple enthusiasts pour over the details and designs of Apple gadgets.

It very well be that the crux of TechSpot’s theory — that Apple recognized the feature to be too Android-like to promote, and that highlighting it would have invited scrutiny and criticism for being too derivative of the Android platform. Instead, Cupertino may have slipped in with the knowledge that it would eventually be discovered by hackers like Mr. Dickson. Why, however, would Apple include anything in iOS 5 — announced or unannounced — that would be too Android-like?

It is a strange development, and hard to understand. Apple, to my knowledge, has not responded to the discovery.

It remains to be seen whether or not this will disqualify any further panoramic functionality being included on the iPhone 5. It very well may be that Apple will tweak what they already have and give it an official debut in 2012 with the iPhone 5 and/or launch of an iOS 6. Or, in a future iOS 5 software update, Apple may choose to roll it out officially. What seem unlikely, however, is that Cupertino’s developers will overhaul it for official inclusion in the next iPhone. Otherwise, it would make the current panoramic feature’s inclusion seem even more ham-handed and pastiche than it already appears.

Weird!

By Michael Nace