Will Apple release an iPhone 5 at WWDC?
This guest article was submitted by Calob Horton.
Although it wasn't a huge shock considering all the previous rumors, leaks, and speculation over the years, Apple and Verizon formally announced the CDMA iPhone 4 earlier this month.
Now as you know, Apple's typical iPhone update cycle is during their WWDC in the summer.
Even though Verizon customers willl have only had a few months of iPhone 4 ownership by then, a lot of people are still thinking about an iPhone 5 announcement in June. But is it going to actually happen? 2010-2011 held a lot of clues as to what Apple may be planning and it may not be the next iPhone, so let's take a look.
May 13, 2010
May is normally the time that Apple sends out its Apple Design Award categories and potential nominee list. So when Matthias Gansrigler, the developer of Flickery for Mac, got the news, he was disappointed to see that the Mac category was missing. As an upset developer, he sent Steve Jobs an email and got the following response (italics used by me for emphasis):
"We are focusing primarily (though not exclusively) on iPhone OS this year. Maybe next year we will focus primarily on the Mac. Just the normal cycle of things. No hidden meaning here."
October 20, 2010
Apple holds its "Back to the Mac" event. Steve and company talk about how successful the Mac is, how it's not going away, and discuss their new version of OS X, Lion. It is to be released in the summer of 2011 at WWDC. They only showed four features of the new operating system at the time, so one can only imagine that it will take up a large chunk of the WWDC keynote.
Verizon and Apple announce the CDMA iPhone 4. Other than the few noticeable changes to go with the new network, it's largely the same iPhone 4 that was released last year.
I don't think Apple would release a new model within a 6-month timeframe. Sales from Verizon customers wouldn't amount to much due to their upgrading to the iPhone 4.
There are plenty of reasons why Apple would release an iPhone 5 this summer. Maybe they want a single GSM- and CDMA-capable device, or maybe they want to clear up Antennagate once and for all. But keep in mind that, even with the antenna issue, the iPhone 4 is one of the bestselling phones out there.
Do you think Apple will announce or release a new iPhone this summer at WWDC?
This guest article was submitted by Calob Horton.
