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Just an idea...

What I really find amazing is that in the last dozen years of following rumours to do with Apple, people fall into the same trap over and over and over again.

What trap? That even Apple can turn on a dime, design wise. A new Apple hire in a particular area? Great, there's new product being announced next week. A new rumour about curved glass? Great, the iPhone 5 will have curved glass.

The iPhone 5 has been set in steel or aluminium for quite a while now. It will be evolutionary, not revolutionary and should come out about September.

Do you really, really think that Apple has gone and brought hundreds of glass cutting machines that companies wouldn't invest in themselves probably because they've go no idea about yield quantities and all sorts of potential problems that might arise and all of that is magically going to coalesce by September?

If the rumour is true, it is no doubt to do with the iPhone 6, or whatever the next generation of iPhone is called after the yet to be released new model.

Geting industrial design right takes time. Ever notice how Johnny Ive speaks really slowly? That's because he takes the time to design things beautifully, not to be sweating on whether unknown glass cutting manufacturers can magically get their yields right in time for a launch less than four months away.

I haven't read through every page, so maybe someone already said this. About the idea that the curved glass can't be for the next iPhone. Well, it's possible that Apple has been testing curved glass for awhile now with prototypes. The fact that they bought so many specialized glass cutters and are giving them to the factories already makes me believe they are close to starting production. Who'd invest that much money in manufacturing hardware without plans to use it soon? It may not be for the iPhone, could be a range of their products. I will admit that if they have been testing curved glass iPhones, I'm surprised that this is the 1st rumor about it.
 
Curved glass is one thing, but a curved SCREEN sounds like they're going OLED, as it's the only screen technology that I know of that can be made curved or flexible.
 
Ever seen the nice highlights that will be unavoidably present on a curved piece of glass. Unless they use a matte finish (which will reduce resolution), this will be a verrry bad thing. (IMHO)

It's curved the other way, and on the Nexus S, this is touted as reducing glare and highlights.
 
ironic how they are suing each other, helping each other, doing business with each other, and thinking about doing MORE business with each other lol
 
After reading another thread about what people want on their next iPhone, it's interesting how randomly Apple makes decisions.

First priority in every case is aesthetics.

True functionality is spread out over years as Apple teases with what they know users want, but keep them waiting.

An example of this blatant disregard is the lack of fundamentals like cut & paste absent from the first gen iPhone. Based on this practice, the full development of the iPhone will drag on for years.

Copying Samsungs curved glass like my Nexus S has, is a typical move to take the easy way and use another manufacturers excellent idea. Going back to Apples formative period they stole many ideas then claimed they invented things like the mouse, the GUI, etc.

I give Apple a lot of credit for what they've gotten away with. Even better is their ability to play cloak & dagger games, conning those around them so effectively. It's the best "Magic Show" in town. :)
 
I don't agree that Apple stole anything. Jobs is an intuitive genius, in that he can see people tinkering with really innovative stuff, like the GUI and mouse, and hatch a vision which is so far beyond that of anyone else that we now have computers that my 83 year mom in law can use. Take the smartphone, yes Blackberrys were around, and Treos, but not until the iPhone did they become useful to anyone who was not a business person. And now everyone is imitating it. The Kindle was around before the iPad, the former is awful, I just unloaded mine, the latter is amazing, and also being frantically imitated by lesser minds.

It is also true that Apple moves at a very staid pace. Everyone is churning out the newest Droid with amazing cameras, screens etc. And that does make me a tad envious. Here I am waiting to finally get an iPhone ever since the Verizon deal, but have to wait 'til September to get the new version. The only reason I put up with this, is that the Apple experience simply eclipses the others, IMO.
 
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daabido said:
What I really find amazing is that in the last dozen years of following rumours to do with Apple, people fall into the same trap over and over and over again.

What trap? That even Apple can turn on a dime, design wise. A new Apple hire in a particular area? Great, there's new product being announced next week. A new rumour about curved glass? Great, the iPhone 5 will have curved glass.

The iPhone 5 has been set in steel or aluminium for quite a while now. It will be evolutionary, not revolutionary and should come out about September.

Do you really, really think that Apple has gone and brought hundreds of glass cutting machines that companies wouldn't invest in themselves probably because they've go no idea about yield quantities and all sorts of potential problems that might arise and all of that is magically going to coalesce by September?

If the rumour is true, it is no doubt to do with the iPhone 6, or whatever the next generation of iPhone is called after the yet to be released new model.

Geting industrial design right takes time. Ever notice how Johnny Ive speaks really slowly? That's because he takes the time to design things beautifully, not to be sweating on whether unknown glass cutting manufacturers can magically get their yields right in time for a launch less than four months away.

You make it sound like the next revision of Apple products are left to the last few months before release. The iPhone 4 was probably on the drawing board years before its arrival, and it's likely that the iPhone 3G/3GS and the original iPhone were also on paper long before we had any idea rumors of such a thing. So it's quite possible that ideas, techniques and manufacturing processes have been tried and tested for the iPhone 5.
 
In other words, there's a new rumor to support the FACT that no one has a clue what the next iPhone will look like.

Actually, like this:

iphoneconcept.jpg



from a fun iPhone Concept page... ;)

http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2009/02/15/10-beautiful-apple-iphone-concepts/
 
If yes, I hope they do it soon. That way they can work out the bugs so if they decide to repeat and use it on the iP6, it will be sufficiently durable. Between the normal bugs to be sorted out of Lion and what appears could be the short product cycle of the iP5, it's a great time to wait.

Sit back, relax, enjoy what we have now, and then go for the next generation which stands a better chance of being well sorted out.

There are times when a wait and see approach saves one a lot of time, frustration and money. Especially since the new Apple gear I have now is doing so well.
 
Could it be that Apple has purchased these 200-300 glass curving machines, not for the production of a curved glass iPhone, but rather for the construction of their new curved glass spaceship headquarters in Cupertino? Or can the machines not be used for that purpose?
 
Could it be that Apple has purchased these 200-300 glass curving machines, not for the production of a curved glass iPhone, but rather for the construction of their new curved glass spaceship headquarters in Cupertino? Or can the machines not be used for that purpose?
Good observation. You never know. :cool:
 
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