It’s now official; Apple is holding an event on September 12 in San Francisco to launch the next iPhone. Select press members were sent an invitation to the Yerba Buena Center this morning with the cryptic but obvious message of “It’s almost here.”Interestingly, that same invite graphic from Apple shows the number “12″ reflecting the number “5″, strongly suggesting that Apple will indeed reference the new device as the “iPhone 5″.
Apple’s iPhone is a hot selling handset worldwide. This is evident after Apple revealed that it sold a whopping 37 million iPhones during its last holiday quarter, setting records for the company and putting it in the ranks as the world’s top smartphone manufacture. With the introduction of the iPhone 4S, Apple began selling the iPhone on the US’s third-largest carrier, Sprint, which helped boost sales, along with a larger availability worldwide.
According to a new report from Canaccord Genuity analyst Mike Walkley, Apple’s iPhone is outselling every other smartphone combined at Sprint and AT&T. However, it is facing some competition over at Verizon, specifically from Android.
Apple advertises its iPod touch as an iPhone without a phone. For kids and teens (its primary audience), the iPod touch is an App Store machine that lets them play jaw-dropping games, listen to music, run social apps to share stuff online and what not. Despite these treats and really low $229 price point, the gizmo is seriously lacking in the connectivity department: It works only with wireless hotspots and does not connect to cellular networks.
Now, a Dutch blog called AppleSpot.nl is running a report this morning which asserts that a fifth-generation iPod touch will contain new antennas and circuitry for 3G data connectivity.
Add Sprint-Nextel to the growing list of U.S. carriers that will offer the iPhone. The carrier is likely to gain the Apple handset by Christmas and it could be a big-seller, one analyst tells investors Wednesday.
The key is Sprint will be the last remaining U.S. carrier with an unlimited data plan after Verizon is expected to go to metered pricing Thursday. Being able to offer an iPhone with an unlimited data plan provides “an attractive proposition for more price-conscious users (a demographic that we think is increasingly important to Apple following the rise of Android), writes Citadel Securities analyst Shing Yin. Additionally, an Apple handset from Sprint could outsell the Verizon iPhone.
