iPhone 5 release date "is" Oct 14 (but no 4S Apple?)

By Richi Jennings (@richi ) - September 28, 2011.
 
Let's talk iPhone. Specifically, about the iPhone 5 release date. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) fanbois everywhere have been waiting for this moment, with baited wallets. However, it looks like rumors were wrong about a cheaper iPhone 4S being announced at the same time. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers read the rumor runes.
 
Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: Join with Nile Rodgers and Roseanne Barr on Friday to send a simple, yet powerful message...
 
 
Gregg Keizer reports:

The invite was typically terse, composed of a graphic showing several app icons and directions to the event. ... Because of Apple's secrecy, little is known about the next iPhone, dubbed by most as the "iPhone 5."
...
Apple is expected to launch iOS 5, the next version of its mobile operating system, either slightly before or alongside. ... [This] will be the first Apple smartphone introduction since co-founder Steve Jobs...hinted that he was resigning for health reasons. ... [New CEO Tim] Cook will likely lead the presentation next week.   

   
"Little is known?" Pah! John Paczkowski begs to differ:

[S]upply-chain chatter has previously indicated that it will use the...A5 processor...dual-mode GSM/CDMA baseband, and...eight megapixel rear camera. We’ll find out for sure next Tuesday.   

Matthew Panzarino answers the next obvious question:

We have been told...that you should expect to be able to line up and purchase your next iPhone on Friday, October 14th.
...
As with anything like this, sources can be wrong...but everything that we have heard so far is pointing to [it] being available a week and a half after the event...[and] that the release of iOS 5 will come a couple of days before, on October 12th.   

And Kasper Jade triangulates the release dates:

Apple...has in some locations blacked out vacation time for employees from October 9th through 12th and October 14th through 15th, according to people familiar with the matter.
...
[T]hat would give the...company roughly 10 days to field pre-orders.   

But what's that red "1" badge mean? Michael Santo muses:

The upper left icon is clear: the event is on October 4th. The next one is a clock...[so] the event will be at 10. ... The third icon is an indicator that the event is being held at Apple's corporate headquarters.
...
For the question of whether or not Apple will release one or two iPhones, one could interpret the No. 1...to mean there will be one iPhone launched at the event. ... We've heard they are close, but there are issues with the screen and the beveled edges planned for the iPhone 5 that may prevent the release of the device this year, we just heard.   

 
And Jonny Evans has been reading too many patents:

Notably, the invitation does not suggest a plurality of phones.
...
iPhone 5 may also support some interesting new iOS 5 features, including a new virtual assistant...from Apple's Siri acquisition and also new features licensed from...Nuance.
...
Apple is reportedly hoping to shift 26 million iPhones in the next quarter.   

Meanwhile, Dan Lyons is fed up of all the speculation:

That...latest bit of foaming-at-the-mouth SEO-bait speculation...“could be a clue that Apple is only releasing one iPhone,” rather than two, or three, or seven, or twelve. ... Or the number 1 could mean something else. Or...nothing at all.
...
This then becomes the basis for an article. ... And now the basis of [this] post...and yet another reason for me to descend...into a Slough of Despond for what my life has come to.   

  
And Finally...
Hate Free Friday: Join with Nile Rodgers and Roseanne Barr on Friday to send a simple, yet powerful message
[hat tip: Howard Price]
  
 
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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. He's the creator and main author of Computerworld's IT Blogwatch -- for which he has won American Society of Business Publication Editors and Jesse H. Neal awards on behalf of Computerworld. He also writes The Long View for IDG Enterprise. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com. You can also read Richi's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.