Sprint iPhone 5 with Unlimited Data Plans?

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Sprint offering the iPhone 5 with an unlimited data plan is the latest rumor, courtesy of Bloomberg. If true, that might give it a leg up over Verizon and AT&T.

 

Sprint iPhone 5
Sprint iPhone 5

Sprint will offer the iPhone with unlimited data service plans, according to Bloomberg.

That could give the carrier a competitive edge over AT&T and Verizon, both of which already offer the iPhone. “The advantage of unlimited is it’s cheaper for big users,” Bank of Montreal analyst Peter Rhamey told thenews agency, which cited unnamed “people familiar with the matter” for its original information.

Neither Apple nor Sprint has confirmed that the latter will carry the iPhone, despite the steady drumbeat of rumor building for the past month or so. Apple is widely expected to release the next-generation iPhone, which the press has dubbed “iPhone 5,” sometime in either September or October. The Bloomberg report suggests mid-October as the timeframe.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has estimated that giving Sprint the iPhone would boost the device’s overall sales by 6 million units. A Sprint iPhone would also leave T-Mobile as the only U.S. carrier without an Apple phone in its device portfolio, although the latter’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom, has offered the iPhone for years in Germany (and is allowing customers to preorder the iPhone 5, although without any mention of a release date or device specs).

Rumors suggest the iPhone 5 will include a larger screen and faster processor, along with an 8-megapixel camera and possibly a redesigned body. Some analysts have theorized that Apple also intends to release a line of low-cost iPhones, with an eye toward combating the number of inexpensive Google Android smartphones on the market.

Apple also faces significant competition from Android devices on the high end of the market, a situation that’s triggered a series of lawsuits against rival manufacturers. Samsung and Apple are locked in courtroom battles around the world, for example, with each side claiming patent violations by the other; for its part, Apple accuses Samsung of outright copying its designs.

If T-Mobile ends up acquired by AT&T, its customers could inherit the ability to purchase the iPhone—but federal regulators seem intent on denying that acquisition. That would leave T-Mobile with the sole option of negotiating directly with Apple to carry the iPhone, a deal that would almost certainly evolve on Apple’s terms.

Apple is undergoing a seismic transition with the resignation of longtime CEO Steve Jobs, who handed the reins to former COO Tim Cook. At this point, analysts generally view the disruption from the transition as minimal, at least when it comes to the product pipeline. Rumors also suggest Apple will release the next iPad sometime early next year.

Source: eweek

iPhone 5 August release date as iOS 5 beta comes, 4S goes

Cautious money is still on the iPhone 5 seeing release date in September, but early birds are gaining momentum as August looks more realistic by the day. What changed? Sudden fire sales on existing iPhone models, iOS 5 reaching late stage beta 3 sooner than expected, and sudden radio silence on the fabled iPhone 4S which increasingly clearly never existed. Here’s a timeframe for how the iPhone 5 gets to market in August, from unveiling to release date, soon enough for the early bird to get the proverbial worm.

The games will begin when Apple sends out press invites to an event which won’t explicitly be stated as the iPhone 5 introduction in advance, but the invitation language and imagery will make it clear enough that it’s the stage upon which the next iPhone will surface. About a week later the event will take place on a Tuesday or Wednesday, with Steve Jobs taking the stage to share upbeat user statistics before getting to the meat of the event: the iPhone 5. Actually, he may focus on iOS 5 first, with its various software features taking more time to demonstrate than the new hardware features of the iPhone 5 itself. Various Apple folks will filter on and off stage during the event, with the interestingness of each feature being in almost direct proportion to the seniority of the employee. Somewhere near the end, Jobs will announce the iPhone 5 release date, which will be a Friday if tradition holds true. It could be anywhere from that same Friday to a couple weeks later, depending on how much ramp up time Apple needs for the retail launch. Online preorders for the iPhone 5 may begin sometime between the press event date and the release date.

So what does any of this have to do with August optimism? Refurbished versions of the iPhone 3GS, which won’t be around in the iPhone 5 era whether Apple decides to keep the iPhone 4 around in the bargain bin or not, is now being offered for a giveaway nine dollar price by AT&T. This means inventory is being dumped fast, a move which wouldn’t seemingly be made in July if the iPhone 5 weren’t seeing release date until a later date like September. Meanwhile Apple has said all along that iOS 5 (which will see its release date in the same week as the iPhone 5) will arrive in the fall. But it’s already on its third developer beta test release which means it’s closer to being done than the original “fall” time frame would suggest.

And the talk that Apple would release an iPhone 4S to market to buy time in the face of continued iPhone 5 delays has since faded. There never was an iPhone 4S, as it had been floated as a mere idea by those who misunderstood the A5-enabled iPhone 4 unit which Apple sent to some developers for pseudo-iPhone 5 game testing. But that misconstrued buzz has faded to the point that it’s clear there is no iPhone 4S coming, which means Apple isn’t feeling any further timeline pressure for getting the iPhone 5 out the door. It previously launched a white iPhone 4 at the end of April to buy time once it realized it wouldn’t be able to introduce the iPhone 5 back at WWDC in early June, but the death of the never-was iPhone 4S means the iPhone 5 is no longer in Apple’s “we don’t know when we’ll be able to get to market” column. In other words, bring on the iPhone 5 release date sooner than later. September is still the conservative bet, but August sounds more realistic by the day. Here’s more on the iPhone 5.

China Telecom To Get iPhone 5 By Year’s End?

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Apple may partner with China Telecom to boost its presence in the world’s biggest smartphone market by the end of 2011.

Sources told Reuters’ Lee Chyen Yee and Huang Yuntao that the Chinese mobile phone operator would offer Apple’s handsets in November, including most probably the iPhone 5, to its 106 million subscribers, therefore becoming the second carrier in China, after China Unicom to do so.

iPhone 5 Coming to China
iPhone 5 Coming to China

 

China Unicom has been an Apple partner since 2009 and its deal with the American company is set to expire in 2012. Analysts have pointed out that although the carrier received prestige out of selling the handset, it did not boost its earnings significantly.

China Telecom’s chairman, Wang Xiaochu, hinted back in May that the two companies had already started working on plans to launch the iPhone, and it is not technology that may wreck the launch.

As one of the sources put it, Apple is not an easy company to negotiate with, especially if it doesn’t want to end up on the losing end of the deal, without a revenue-sharing scheme as was the case with China Unicom.

There have also been rumours that China Mobile, which is bigger than China Telecom, may start to sell iPhones as early as September although they’d have to be TD-SCDMA compatible which would add to the complexity of the smartphone as well as to its Bill of Material.

iPhone 5 Coming September 5 for US, October 5 Internationally [Rumor]

iPhone 5

According to a “very reliable source,” iPhone Italia has reported that one of Switzerland’s carriers, Swisscom, will start offering the rumored iPhone 5 on October 5. Also, the Italian site’s source is “100% sure” that the iPhone 5 will also be available in the US on September 5, as Apple would already have to be talking with carriers about distribution for a new device this Fall.

With rumors like this, it’s always important to take anything you hear with a grain of salt. Swisscom currently offers the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS, and there are also two other carriers in Switzerland that Apple has already partnered with for iPhone distribution.

September 5 falls on a Monday, and Apple has never released anything like a new iPhone on a Monday. Without any more background information to where this information from Swisscom actually came from, it’s difficult to place trust in this rumor.

Also, the soon-to-be CEO of Verizon recently said this about Verizon’s last quarterly earnings call:

“We are probably what I would view as maybe a quarter behind what we had talked about in January, primarily because we expected an iPhone 5 refresh sometime this summer.

We don’t know when the next one is going to come out. You will have to ask Apple that, but we expect that probably sometime in the fall, and I think you will see a significant jump there when we get to that point.”

If the incoming CEO at Verizon doesn’t even know when the next iPhone is coming out, then how in the world would someone from a Swiss telecom know? It all seems very far-fetched.

All of the rumors floating around have pretty much agreed on a September timeframe for Apple’s next iPhone announcement. Apple even said that a “product transition” was scheduled to take place this Fall at its last earnings call. So we would say it’s a good bet that Steve Jobs will take the stage in two months. Other than that, everything is speculative. (Source: cultofmac)

What do you think about this rumor of an iPhone 5 in the US on September 5, followed by international availability on October 5? Let us know in the comments.

Verizon predicts iPhone 5 release this fall?

iPhone 4 White Verizon Wireless



Verizon Wireless talks about the next iPhone — iPhone 5 maybe.


Surprisingly, incoming Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam talked about the iPhone 5 release date, and how it could help them get more iPhone customers while the mobile and wireless industry is booming courtesy of Apple and Google.


Apparently, the Verizon iPhone 4 currently sold by the carrier is not a world phone, so there’s a huge possibility that some of the AT&T and non-iPhone customers were not interested to move or to shift from other carriers. On top of that, majority of AT&T’s customers theoretically refused to switch because the Verizon iPhone does not include specs bump, and almost the same as the GSM iPhone released last year, plus the fact that thousands of iPhone 5 rumors were already circulating on the internet last Q1.


But the Verizon iPhone 5 could be very different, confirmed that it’s a world phone, and is expected to be released simultaneously by both AT&T and Verizon Wireless. So, can Verizon Wireless increase its iPhone activation next quarter? Possibly yes, but only if Sprint Wireless and T-Mobile will not offer the iPhone 5 too because that will mean more competition for the biggest carrier in United States.


According to Verizon, they were expecting an iPhone 5 sometime this summer — so it’s highly possible that Apple really changed the release date of the phone, and the decision could be related to other carriers carrying the company’s next smartphone to challenge the insanely fast growth of the Android market share courtesy of low-end to high-end Android devices available across all carriers.


Verizon is also expecting “a significant jump” once the iPhone 5 is out in the market. During the Q2 or second quarter of this year, Verizon Wireless activated nearly 2.3 million iPhone 4 CDMA, very impressive right? But AT&T recorded more iPhone activations last quarter, according to them, around 3.6 million and a quarter of them are new customers.


Lowell McAdam will succeed Verizon’s current CEO Ivan Seidenberg on August 1, which is considered as one of the biggest months of the smartphone industry, with multiple reports confirming that high-end Android devices from Samsung, HTC and Motorola and even the Windows Phone of Nokia will enter the US smartphone market. Plus, rumors say the iPhone 5 release date is by September (some are suggesting late August), so McAdam’s entry is very interesting.


Aside from iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S II (still a rumor), Verizon Wireless is also expected to sell another popular phone next month, the Motorola Droid Bionic, the carrier’s first dual-core Android 4G LTE smartphone manufactured by Motorola Mobility. Reports say the redesigned and re-engineered Droid Bionic is scheduled to arrive by August 4 based on the leaked document. (Source: popherald)


Who do you think will dominate the US Smartphone Market ? Let us know your opinion in the comments.

New iPhone 5 Feature: Panoramic Camera Mode

iPhone 5 Panoramic Camera

iOS 5 features have revealed the iPhone 5 will support panoramic photo capture capabilities.

Following reports that the iPhone 5 is to sport an 8-megapixel camera with panoramic shooting modes, updates to the latest iOS 5 beta code have revealed new aspects of Apple’s planned snapshot features.

Officially unveiled at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference last month iOS 5 is expected to later this year alongside the eagerly awaited iPhone 5 handset with a section of code discovered shortly after the beta OS was made available to developers suggesting panoramic photo modes are to be one of the key new additions.

Whilst last month’s code revealed users will be able to take, save and cancel panoramic shots, the section of code responsible for this photo-enhancing feature has since been extended with new sections revealing that users will need to pan their device from left to right, “tap the Camera button to begin” and “keep the arrow on the center line” to make use of the update.

Despite repeated rumour and comment claiming that Apple will launch the next-generation iPhone  in September a new report released earlier today has suggested that the iPhone 5 release date will actually be on August 16th.

When do you think Apple will finally launch the iPhone 5 and will its panoramic photo capture modes enhance the user experience?  Let us know in the comments.

Source: T3

Apple to launch New iPhone 4S/ iPhone 5 for $350

New iPhone 5 ?
We know these next-generation iPhone rumors have been out of control (aren’t they every year right before a new iPhone is slated to be released?), but we just received some new information from an incredibly solid source of ours. According to our source, Apple will indeed be launching a prepaid / lower cost iPhone this year. We are told the handset will retail for no more than $350 without contract. Ready for the really interesting part? It’s entirely possible that the low-cost iPhone will in fact be the iPhone 3GS. We reported that we were able to independently confirm that the iPhone 5 featured a radical new design, however this source of ours isn’t quite sure that will be the next iPhone. Whether it’s the iPhone 4S or 5, it will be coming out or “at least announced by the end of Summer, late August-ish.” They theorized that we’d have seen new 3rd party cases by now if the upcoming iPhone featured a different exterior, though Apple has surely been cracking down on their case specification leaks. If this turns out to be true, it will mean there would be an iPhone 4S in addition to the prepaid iPhone 3GS available within the next month to two. Let’s do one better, though. In addition to that news, we are told that Apple will continue to sell the current iPhone 4 as well, finally giving the company a full range of devices in the lower, mid, and high-end price segments. Coupled with rumored launches on Sprint and T-Mobile in the U.S. alone, Apple seems prepared to once again take charge and lead in the smartphone market.

iPhone 5 fan gets £40,000 worth of freebies in bid to land first handset

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A refuse collector has binned the day job… to live off free goods. Rob Shoesmith spends his time getting his hands on handouts – and has so far blagged £40,000 worth of gear.

iPhone-5-fan-Rob-Shoesmith
iPhone-5-fan-Rob-Shoesmith

 

The 29-year-old has been given everything from scented candles and aftershave to use of a £20,000 Chevrolet car, £800 worth of outdoor gear and food from top restaurants.

The freebie grabbing is part of a publicity stunt while he camps outside London’s flagship Apple store to be first in line for the new iPhone 5 later this year.

While stationed outside the Covent Garden branch for about three weeks, he will use his popular blog to promote companies that donate products and services to help him survive the experience.

‘The postman doesn’t like me right now,’ he said, ‘Something’s coming through every day at the moment.’

Rob, from Coventry, made headlines two years ago when his design for an iPhone application was picked for a competition.

He quit working as a binman three weeks ago to work full-time as a marketing executive for Medl Mobile, which makes apps for Apple phones.

The stunt will also help him build contacts with the thousands of companies he has emailed for free goods.

He said: ‘People might look at this and say that I’m being greedy but I want to prove that it can be done in the most over-the-top way.’

He plans to donate reusable items to charity when his experiment is over.
Source: metro

iPhone 5 release date delayed due to A5 chip Overheating ?



iPhone render beareyes.com

We’re taking this one with a healthy dose of skepticism (and so should you) and purely for the sake of the discussion. Straight from Chinese-language site Sohu.com comes a story of an iPhone 5 delay blamed on the A5 chip overheating. If machine translation is to be believed, that’s why Apple pushed back the next iPhone launch from the usual June-July timeframe into the late August-early September timeframe. The story has it that Apple’s silicon team is facing difficulties keeping the dual-core A5 chip cool in the iPhone’s tiny enclosure where space and battery are at premium.

This has led the company to postpone the iPhone 5 launch for an unspecified period of time, but quite possibly into 2012. And there you have it, the iPhone 5 – described as a major, “revolutionary” upgrade – won’t arrive “soon”. The story also mentions that Apple will be transitioning to a 28-nanometer manufacturing process with the A6 chip, apparently due next year. The A5 chip that goes into iPad 2 is manufactured on Samsung’s 45-nanometer process and is almost twice the size of the iPhone 4′s A4 processor. If there’s any substance to this story, what then (if anything) will Apple release come this Fall?

Apple A5 Processor for iPhone 5 – Closeup

The author speculates that the venerable iPhone 4S – a modest upgrade from iPhone 4 – will keep fans busy until Apple’s engineers find a solution to overheating woes. Insiders mentioned in the story re-iterate many of the iPhone 4S specs the blogosphere has already chewed upon, such as an eight-megapixel camera, a Gorilla glass display, likely a dual-core chip (could this be a dual-core variant of the iPhone 4′s A4?) and “4G network” support. Now, the claim of the A6 production on a 28-nanometer process in 2012 somewhat jive with an EETimes report from March. Per that piece, Apple was abandoning Samsung and moving silicon manufacturing to rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and their 28-nanometer process. It is interesting to note that  Samsung’s disappointing earnings guidance and losses at their LCD panel and manufacturing divisions could indicate that Apple may have been sourcing parts from alternative suppliers for weeks, if not months. Summing up, we are unsure about how reputable this report is and without it being in native tongue, it is difficult to get a sense of how credible it is.

Source: 9to5mac

iPhone 5 Release Mid-August – Hint: Apple’s Job Posting

The mysterious job posting on U.K. jobs site Reed. (Credit: CNET UK)

CNET UK colleagues have a juicy find today. It centers around job postings for an influx of temporary workers to help sell Apple’s iPhone, right around when the iPhone 5 is expected to hit.

The post–there are several in various regions around the U.K.–seeks an “Apple iPhone sales specialist” to work for two and a half months in Apple retail stores beginning in mid-August for what recruiter Gekko calls “an exciting project”:

“Our client, Apple, one of the largest consumer electronic hardware and software companies in the world are seeking full-time iPhone Sales Staff for an exciting project to work 5 days a week (Tuesday-Saturday) for the period 16th August – 29th October within key retail stores,” the posting reads.

Gekko notes that those who get the gig need to attend a four-day “training event” during the second week of August, presumably to be briefed on any new product information.
Apple has released a new iPhone every year since unleashing the original model on June 29, 2007. The latest, the iPhone 4, is now more than a year old, and multiple reports of Apple delivering a next-generation version of the handset have pointed to a release in the August/September time frame. It’s worth noting that the iPhone 4 was released in the U.S. and the U.K. on the same day last year.

Alongside new hardware, another key release to expect in the fall is iOS 5, the next version of the system software that powers the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Apple this week delivered the third beta of that software to developers so they can ready their apps ahead of a public release.

Source: CNET