Just when we thought that all of the special shopping events had come to a rather disappointing end, Apple has taken the initiative and surprised us yet-again by announcing their intention to hold a one day long event on January 25th. The event is in celebration of the Chinese New Year and as such will only be applicable to residents of certain countries within Asia, but it should allow those lucky residents to get their hands on some great fruity bargains.
jOBS, one of two movies based on and around the life of one Steve Jobs, is set to release later this year, and to mark the occasion, the movie's leading actors Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad will kick off Macworld next week. The movie was the first to be announced, and Kutcher (Jobs) and Gad (Steve Wozniak) will be representing two of the Cupertino company's co-founders, and their impromptu visit to the annual Macworld/iWorld conference will no doubt ramp up intrigue in jOBS prior to its April release.
Even though we aren't currently in the middle of an Apple product release schedule, history has shown us that it is pretty much impossible to escape the rumor mill that so often surrounds new hardware from the fruit company. Following on from earlier speculation about the potential existence of a new budget iPhone, the latest news coming from Asia is suggesting that Apple is not only planning on announcing the seventh-generation iPhone along with a budget handset, but also a larger 4.8-inch device.
With iOS 6 out for a few months and iOS 6.1 right around the corner, many are already wondering where Apple might next take its mobile operating system. After a few releases with little user interface changes, it is plausible that Apple may be working on quite a lot of changes for its upcoming release, iOS 7.
Of all the far-fetched rumors we've been fed of the purported "iPhone 5S" these past few weeks, this latest one really takes the biscuit. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities foresees the Apple's purchase of AuthenTec paying dividends with the seventh-gen smartphone, with the Cupertino finding a way of implementing some description of fingerprint sensor into the home button.
Considering the iPhone 5 was launched all the way back in September, I don't think it's unreasonable we begin talking about its eventual successor. The analysts certainly don't mind, having speculated about the "iPhone 5S" for at least a month now, and one such analyst - Peter Misek of Jefferies - has been at the heart of it. Today, he's chimed into the argument once more, noting to investors that two iPhone prototypes are currently being tested by the Cupertino company.
The continuing reports and speculation surrounding the possibility of Apple releasing a budget iPhone suggests that even a denial from Phil Schiller can't seem to derail the iPhone rumor train. It has been widely speculated in the last few days that Apple intends to appeal to emerging markets and territories like Latin America with the release of a budget iPhone during 2013, with the latest reports suggesting that the company could save money on a phone of this nature by manufacturing it with a plastic outer shell and only including metal parts where necessary.
Before any new iOS release makes its way to your treasured iPhone, iPad or iPod touch device, it goes through a series of dev-only betas, and although the current latest release is either 6.0.1 or 6.0.2 depending on the age of your device, the release of iOS 6.1 has been looming for months. Now, it would appear as though Apple at internal testing stage of a new iOS 6.1 beta, which looks as though it'll serve as the Golden Master build. The Golden Master, or GM build, presents the software in its complete, end-user state (barring any significant bugs), and suggests the public release of iOS 6.1 may not be too far away now.
Earlier this week, a report surfaced suggesting that Apple might be working on a lower-end, lower-cost iPhone in order to increase its share of a market that is becoming increasingly crowded with low-cost smartphones. In a rare one-to-one interview with a Chinese newspaper, Apple Marketing SVP Phil Schiller flat-out denied the rumor.
For the last few years, a common story in the rumor mill has been a possible lower-cost iPhone in order to serve customers who are not able to put down hundreds of dollars on the current standard-range one. While this story has been one and off over the last 4 years, there is a new report that suggests that Apple is beginning to take this possibility quite seriously.
