Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Lost Next-Generation iPhone Believed to Be Late-Stage or Final Design
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
What damage? I only see positive feedback and a great number of news articles [world wide] about Apple's next iPhone. I call that free advertising.
LOL. How gullible can people be?!
It's a plant, of course. Otherwise Apple would have taken a very different approach, as it has done in the past.
This is just a leak to keep the iPhone in the limelight and steal Android's thunder (new models with larger screens/better features coming out, as well as Nexus One (which has similar features to the G4) coming to Verizon).
It obviously works....
Cease-and-desist letters tend to be sent when people expose trade secrets way (WAY!) ahead of time, and when the damage can still be contained (like when some obscure site posts relatively uninteresting screenshots of OS X betas).
In this case there actually isn't that much "trade secret" damage to speak of, it's only 8 weeks from launch and it's not like competitors can knock together clones in 7 weeks by studying grainy Gizmodo pictures. It would've been devastating had these pictures leaked a year ago, but now... nah. It's damaging to the marketing department though, because they would've preferred everyone's first impression of the iPhone to be a glitzy, Apple-approved product shot, not this unflattering crap.
As for containing it... fat chance, these pictures spread like wildfire to hundreds of sites and were also picked up by news channels and newspapers all around the world. It would take Apple more than 8 weeks to clean the internet of these already-familiar pictures and by that time the phone will already have been launched officially.
What are the chances that the giz handset is an "iPhone pro" and Apple are going to have two tiers of phone? Maybe they'll keep the 3GS or a similar design around too as the iPhones MacBook equivalent. This new handset looks much more professional IMO, and if it has drastically more capacity and resolution I can see it being overkill (and possibly prohibitelively expensive) for many users.
I don't see why apple can't have more than one model at a time now they've cracked the market.
I don't see why apple can't have more than one model at a time now they've cracked the market.
1. The Volume buttons will not return to the "rocker" style because we're getting a dedicated button for the camera shutter
2. The back of the phone will not be any form of metal (obviously)
3. Apple and Gizmodo are in cahoots
4. the "hole" on the top is not a battery release it's a mic for video chatting or perhaps noise cancelation
5. it is indeed possible that the phone will have a touch sensitive rear panel
6. It is completely possible that the phones will still be produced in white and black meaning the Aluminum border my be painted in either color (based on the chinese bezels that were leaked last year)
of course I'm speculating...I know as much as you do
2. The back of the phone will not be any form of metal (obviously)
3. Apple and Gizmodo are in cahoots
4. the "hole" on the top is not a battery release it's a mic for video chatting or perhaps noise cancelation
5. it is indeed possible that the phone will have a touch sensitive rear panel
6. It is completely possible that the phones will still be produced in white and black meaning the Aluminum border my be painted in either color (based on the chinese bezels that were leaked last year)
of course I'm speculating...I know as much as you do
Judging by yourself, very gullible. All someone had to do was cough *conspiracy* and you immediately went off making up a story and believing it too.
Do you really think Apple would have trouble attracting attention when they announce something officially? If there's a new iPhone, EVERYONE will know, without the assistance of a drunken schmuck and some gadget site. And every newspaper will be happy to write about it for free. I think you're mistaking Apple for some 3-man company in a basement, those are the ones who need viral marketing because A) they can't afford real advertisement, and B) nobody gives a crap about their company.
Now that the new iPhone will be old hat by the time it's released, Apple's regular marketing (the one they blow all their money on) will be partially in vain, because the thunder has already been stolen and the official launch will be received with a yawn.
Second, what positive reaction? Gizmodo issued a bunch of grainy, badly lit photos of a banged-up prototype. I was here at the time and the reaction was "Faaaake! OMG that's hideous! So un-Apple! Looks like a crappy Sony Ericsson! So unsexy my d*** fell off! Was Ive on holiday when they designed this turd??". That's not the reaction a real product shot would've provoked.
Third, if you're suggesting there's something conspicuously "convenient" about the timing (diverting attention from HTC / Android / whatever), think again. Apple spreads the releases very carefully over the year so that no big launch overshadows another. They just released the iPad, which is no mere refresh but an entirely new product category that they have grandiose world domination plans for. And not only that, but they also released new quadcore laptops only last Tuesday. Those products are what Apple wants the spotlight on, until the iPhone arrives. Instead, the focus was now abruptly shifted from their new products to one that isn't even available yet. So: This "plant", as you call it, killed iPad attention, killed MBP attention and killed iPhone 3GS sales prematurely (who will want those now?). And to top it off, it killed attention surrounding the Q2 report – their best non-holiday quarter ever. That's not a "plant", it's a ham fisted suicide attempt, and Apple don't plan on killing themselves anytime soon.
It's not inconceivable that they will keep the old model around. They're still selling the old 3G, they're still selling the old plastic 'WhiteBook' and up until not too long ago they were still peddling the eMac (or are they still doing that?) to schools.
that would confuse customers...and what seperates iphone from the techie Androids is that it's intuitive and easy for anyone to pick up and use...if anything it appears that Apple is making a phone that will appeal to male customers as the 3G/3GS looks rather feminine
There's still opportunity for them to 'girlie it up'... if the back side is zirconia (which the evidence suggests), well, zirconia can be any color, or transparent (it's used for making fake diamonds). It's a cakewalk for Apple to make a pink version.
It's curved, slender, it's got bling (the chrome) and it's (optionally) white... and don't get me started on the default wallpapers which must have been selected by a focus group of 9-year old girls.
If that's the case, I won't be buying the iPhone; even if it is on Verizon. It's the ugliest phone I have ever seen. I'm beginning to like the Dell Thunder anyway.
EDIT: Okay, if the new iPhone looks like this:
I'll consider buying it. Only if it's on Verizon tho since I have a contract with my blackberry till 2012.
EDIT: Okay, if the new iPhone looks like this:
I'll consider buying it.
Only if it's on Verizon tho since I have a contract with my blackberry till 2012.I don't think it would confuse them that much if Apple go about it as clearly as they have with the many iPod models over the years... (and their laptops) smartphones are a hefty investment for most so i cant see anyone getting too confused. The core iPhone experience would be the same on both. Appealing to male and female customers seems wise.
Haha! So true. I wonder how they pick wallpapers for osX and the iPhone, they're a really odd bunch.
They are indeed. They look like half of them were picked by the 9-year old girls and the other half by Steve Ballmer. But the sad reality is that people in general have zero taste in wallpapers. They either want some bright landscape with grass and sky á la Windows XP, or pictures of their kids. Nothing wrong with kids but there are few things more unsightly than 200 desktop shortcuts scattered across an image of a kid with food coming out his nostrils. If Apple put a bunch of tasteful, dark(ish) and unobtrusive wallpapers on their systems they would rarely be used.
What I still don't understand is why MR, post it since day 1 on the main page? How did you confirmed it? Why it wasn't page 2 material initially?
The whole thing smells very fishy.
The initial photos looked so bad, and boom there they are on the main page, they were page 3 material.
Then more a more details are dropped one by one...
The whole thing smells very fishy.
The initial photos looked so bad, and boom there they are on the main page, they were page 3 material.
Then more a more details are dropped one by one...
![[DL]](/data/avatars/m/410/410081.jpg?1266785706){kind=avatar}
Are you serious? The iPhone 4 will most certainly NOT have an aluminum back cover, as it would make it the worst of the iPhones in term of reception. A little research would show you that Apple has been working on a ceramic material that would be largely radio transparent.
And to those who say that Apple is going to pull out some kind of surprise, get real. The phone is likely due to be released in about two months, which means the design is largely finalized. Some of the markings on the prototypes may be a means to distinguish them as test units, but this is how the new iPhone is going to look. If you believe otherwise, you're seriously deluded.
And to those who say that Apple is going to pull out some kind of surprise, get real. The phone is likely due to be released in about two months, which means the design is largely finalized. Some of the markings on the prototypes may be a means to distinguish them as test units, but this is how the new iPhone is going to look. If you believe otherwise, you're seriously deluded.
The iPhone 4 will have a aluminum back cover.
Every line of apple products have aluminum (well, almost lol), MBP, iMac, iPad, MBA, Mac Pro, Mac Mini, even the ipod nano and shuffle are aluminum, i really think this is just a simple cover just to hang around with the iphone, testing it. I don't like this design at all it's like people say....it's "unApple"
But don't listen to me, i'm nuts!
So the iphone is losing the rounded back and sides? Personally I think the "box" look is a major step down. Maybe more functional/better reception but it loses the sexiness of the original iphone. I for one hope this is an early prototype that never sees the light of day (again).
Hoping the increase the screen size in the future.
A toy ... behave.
It's nowhere near the "aluminium-esque" style of the first generation iPhone.
The entire back (minus the bottom section which was black plastic) was aluminium, on this supposed new design only the outer edges are aluminium.
It was a pretty safe bet they were real.
This entire site is based on rumors.
The articles were updated as the story unfolded.
There is no page 3 for MacRumors.
Slow news day.
Big deal if it was real.
It was real.
Etc, etc.