Apple's iPhone 5 is slated launch exclusively on Sprint, according to
high-tech press rumors. There
may be an iPhone 4S reserved for AT&T and Verizon. We'll see tomorrow.
Call Tuesday, Oct. 4 iPhone 5 day if you want, and pundits in the tech
world will forgive you. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is scheduled to launch its
long-awaited, much-ballyhooed and heavily
debated new iPhone Oct. 4, providing a cozier-than-usual forum by
launching the device on its
Cupertino, Calif., campus headquarters. The event begins at 10 a.m.
PST, but won't be livestreamed. The biggest news for the launch would
seem to be the iPhone 5's arrival on Sprint (NYSE:S), which
is poised to become the first U.S. carrier since Verizon Wireless
(NYSE:VZW) in February of this year
to sell the smartphone. The Wall Street Journal said Sprint must buy
30.5 million iPhones from Apple over the next four years, a $20
billion investment on which the company would basically stake its
future. Sprint isn't expected to make any money on the phones until at
least 2014. That puts the
company, which has passionately fought against AT&T's proposed
purchase of T-Mobile to avoid
being relegated last in the short list of big U.S. carriers, in a
potentially precarious position. Sprint would join U.S. carriers AT&T
(NYSE:T) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZW), as the third U.S.
carrier to offer the iPhone since its arrival in 2007. Apple has sold
more than 128 million iPhones
since launching the smartphone in 2007. The talk of Sprint joining
AT&T and Verizon to further the iPhone's footprint brings up another
interesting question: Will Apple launch one or more phones tomorrow?
Boy Genius Report claims the iPhone 5 will be a 4G WiMax handset that
is exclusive to Sprint for now. AT&T and Verizon will get the
incremental upgrade, the iPhone 4GS tomorrow, and the iPhone
5 as a 4G LTE handset at a later date. There have been a lot of rumors
as to what the iPhone 5 will look like, not to mention what is
under the hood. Does it have a new teardrop shape, or will it look the
same? Will the screen size be
4 inches or larger? No one but Apple and those who signed NDAs with
the company at the risk of being banished to
the equivalent of high-tech's Siberia know for sure. Judging from
previous iPhone launches, the handset almost certainly has an upgraded
processor--
the new A5 chip. It's also rumored to boast an 8 megapixel camera,
which would be a welcome
improvement over the already high-resolution shutter of the iPhone 4.
The iPhone 5 will reportedly also include the Siri virtual personal
assistant technology Apple acquired in April 2010. Siri is a wonderful
piece of artificial intelligence software that lets users book
restaurant tables, buy movie tickets and perform several other tasks,
all by speaking into their
device. The device, originally launched for the iPhone 3GS less than
two years ago, takes into account
users' locations to direct them to local services, and the application
picks up information and
"remembers" it for context about that user. Siri co-founder Norman
Winarsky unleashed a load of hyperbole unto 9-to-5 Mac (hyperbole
warning) about how Apple taking Siri's AI mainstream will be a
"world-changing event." Possibly, but the Siri software will have to
be not only easy for them to use but highly desirable
for them to use. Apple's ability to render software useful to average
Joe Consumer is a big part of
what makes its consumer electronics devices so popular and endearing.
Meanwhile, new CEO Tim Cook has, for the first time since spelling
Apple CEO Steve Jobs thrice
previously, taken the reins on a permanent basis. The former Apple COO
will have to step from his operations guy work boots into his
showman's
cape, hoping to catch even a sliver of the Jobsian showman flair for
which the company's co-
founder is universally appreciated. Current Analysis analyst Avi
Greengart told eWEEK he had no idea whether to expect a massive
redesign or a minor one. "Even if all Apple does is launch an A5
processor, and a little larger screen, and up the resolution of
the camera, those would be improvements to a phone that is the
best-selling smartphone 16
months after launch," Greengart told eWEEK. He said he is curious to
see whether the iPhone 5 will be LTE-enabled, and whether Apple
launches
a low-cost iPhone. Low-cost Android smartphones sold overseas have
helped Google's open source
mobile OS become the world leader in smartphone sales. A new, sub $99
iPhone could be a smash
hit not only overseas but in the United States. "A low-cost iPhone
would be the single most disruptive thing that Apple could do right
now,
perhaps not in the U.S. but globally," Greengart said. Apple commands
only 20 percent or so worldwide market share, well behind Google's
(NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform at 40 percent. Apple's U.S. market
share is 28 percent, compared to 43 percent, according to Nielsen's
latest report. Yet hype over the new iPhone(s) has built to such a
fever pitch that one wonders whether Apple
won't catch Android market share, at least in the United States, by
this time next year, if not
sooner.