No Hardware Announcements at WWDC 2011? [Updated: No New iPhone Until FY 2012?]

[Dr McKay]

So your attitude is "if I can't have it, I don't want anyone to have it."?

Whether it comes out or not, you won't be getting one. So why would it matter either way?

Did I say that I don't want people to have a new phone? Im just not disappointed there isn't any new ones announced, and relieved I wont have to fork out for one at full price from Apple, and instead get a subsidized one from my Network.

And in honesty im not surprised, the specs of the iPhone 4 are still plenty (Could only do with larger storage options).
I think it's too soon for a Dual-Core A5 iPhone, with an 8MP Camera and full 1080p recording, which will probably be what the next one will have.

 

[Andronicus]

Sort of relieved no iPhone 5 announcements, Im firmly bogged down into a 2 year contract.

There will be an iPhone 5 annoucement. Don't believe everything you read.

 

[EugenexYew]

Think about it...
Appl introduced a new Verizon iPhone 4 in January of this year and it only launched last month (February).
Apple is also expected to release a white version of the iPhone 4 next month.

These two iPhone 4 upgrades seem to allow Apple to push back the launch of their next-generation handset. Afterall, how could they release updated iPhone 4s in February and April then a whole new device in June?

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Makes sense if Apple wants 10.7 and iOS5 to be the focus. Also gives a little more life to the VZW iPhone 4 (fewer bitter customers, even if caused by their own impatience). Finally, while the fall is usually iPod update time, let's face it, iPod updates are getting kinda boring. A new iPhone 5 in Sept would def be more buzzworthy. Then Apple gets back to the summer iPhone releases w/ the iPhone (6) LTE.

 

[LegendKillerUK]

Due to moving countries for a year I had to stick with my iPhone 3G. When I get home again in the summer I'd rather not be buying into a year old device.

 

[alent1234]

Maybe not at WWDC, but I don't see them waiting till Fall to put out new iPhone hardware, hold iOS5 till then, maybe, but not new hardware.

They risk losing people to Android, WebOS, etc... as the remaining iPhone3GS people all start coming off of contract, and nobody will go iPhone4 knowing 5 is just months away.

This waiting around also gives 3GS users a few months to check out other products (new Pre w/WebOS, etc). Apple does not want people looking around during that break time.

depends how many people are eligible to upgrade

last year AT&T opened the floodgates on early upgrades and locked a lot of people in who wouldn't have been eligible until later in the year

apple knows how many people are eligible so it doesn't make sense to release a phone with a smaller eligible customer base. i bet apple and AT&T will work out another financial arrangement to allow early upgrades starting in september or so

 

[Žalgiris]

The iPhone 4 is already dated relative to other phones on the market. To have a phone on the market for 18 months without an update is insane.

It was good 3 months ago, it's good now and it still be good 3 months from now. It only makes sense to wait and get everything in order if a major change/upgrade is coming. Competition is not going anywhere.

 

[doubleusn]

I'm in that boat. although I'm most likely not willing to 'jump ship'. would just be disappointed at a few more months of an 'old phone'.

They also will start having 3GS users come off of AppleCare contracts.

Nobody will buy a new iPhone if their's breaks after AC is up ...knowing that maybe in the Fall we will see an iPhone5.

Again, leaves to much of an 'open window' for defections based on frustration, etc.

...and as pointed out already by others... I agree, iPhone4 is already a dated design. delaying will just erode Apple's lead in the ever growing mobile hardware market.

Everyday another competitors comes along... it is no longer 2007... their lead is not what it use to be.

 

[wordoflife]

On second thought, I don't believe it. I think someone was just over analyzing this.

 

[asdf542]

The original article is just basing this off of the one sentence Apple included on the invitation. They have no source. Sounds to me like is is some good old fashioned FUD. If the iPhone 5 is just a 3GS like upgrade then there really won't be all that much to talk about which is why the main attraction will be the software. That doesn't mean there won't be any hardware updates.

 

[NebulaClash]

Why because it doesn't have a dual core processor, 1GB of RAM and a 3D screen with 5G radio?

It's the usual geek misconception of what a device needs. They are all about checklist items. And thus they are missing the fact that a major paradigm shift is occurring in this world where the far larger non-tech audience is now buying tech toys. This audience does not know much about specs, and cares even less. All they care about is cost (Apple is right there in phones), how their apps work (just great on the iPhone), choice of apps (no one has more choice than Apple), and what they have read or heard about (Apple is the advertising leader).

So geeks will continue to stamp their feet and pout about checklists that Apple is "failing" at. The rest of the world will keep happily using their amazing iPhones.

 

[GQB]

The iPhone 4 is already dated relative to other phones on the market. To have a phone on the market for 18 months without an update is insane.

Not as far as 95% of users are concerned. Most users don't utilize half of what the current device can do.

But on a larger issue, exactly which is it? Apple updates too frequently or not frequently enough?
The big anti-Apple talking point since iPad2 has been that all of its features could have been available on iPad 1, but Apple held off in order to make people buy another one (nonsense, btw). So they get slammed either way.

As far as hardware announcements at WWDC, I think it makes sense to de-couple iPhone announcements from that event just as it made sense for Apple to de-couple its major announcements from MacWorld. Having an unrelated event drive announcements locks Apple in unnecessarily.

They'll just have a separate, more appropriate, announcement venue for iPhone 5.

 

[alent1234]

They also will start having 3GS users come off of AppleCare contracts.

Nobody will buy a new iPhone if their's breaks after AC is up ...knowing that maybe in the Fall we will see an iPhone5.

Again, leaves to much of an 'open window' for defections based on frustration, etc.

...and as pointed out already by others... I agree, iPhone4 is already a dated design. delaying will just erode Apple's lead in the ever growing mobile hardware market.

Everyday another competitors comes along... it is no longer 2007... their lead is not what it use to be.

us 3GS users have been eligible for upgrades since last month

i was going to wait for the iphone 5 but my 3GS had water damage so i went over to android

 

[KnightWRX]

Why because it doesn't have a dual core processor, 1GB of RAM ?

Yes, precisely. Android and other handsets are moving to Tegra 2/Orion based platforms with maybe quad core SoCs coming in Fall '11 from nVidia. An A5 equipped iPhone shipping around September would be outdated the minute it hits the shelves as far as hardware is concerned.

With Pocket Legends already reporting that gaming on Android is making them more money than on iOS and this delay in Apple's usual release schedule, it could mean that iOS gaming could lose out to Android and set the pace for future developments, just like what happened to Apple in the 80s with the rise of the PC.

While I doubt we have anything to worry about short term as iOS device owners, if they keep this up in the long term and keep losing ground to Android, it might become a problem.

 

[Hammer God]

My thought exactly. They would also avoid pissing off 11 million Verizon iPhone customers.

Hadn't thought of that. Also a good point.

Having said all this, Apple often points out that they don't worry about their competition, they just do their own thing and let the market sort it out.

But the decision as to when you release the LTE iPhone will be one of the bigger ones they make in the next few years. Too soon, not enough infrastructure/buyers; too late, you may lose ground to rivals.

The one thing you can say about Steve Jobs, however, is that he has a very good sense of timing. He generally seems to know when the technology is ready to meet the expectations of consumers. I'm guessing he'll make the right call here again.

 

[bdkennedy1]

GOOD! I am tired of Apple's yearly release cycles.

 

[synagence]

Seems nonsensical that people are interpreting the annoucement as foregoing iPhone5 reveal...

The conference is a week long event and the opening keynote sets the scene for whatever focus it is but overall its a one hour presentation to kick off not the whole damn thing

Just because the focus is iOS/OSX for the conference doesn't mean Apple will stray from an established release cycle and do the simple reveal .... they simply can't afford to with the market competition starting to get significant market share.

 

[jav6454]

Every year we get people saying we are and we are not getting new hardware updates.

Like an arrow shot in the air, the target is always a hit and miss.

 

[alfonsog]

I think the iPhone 4 is still the easiest to use and best phone. My friend has an evo and I think it is too big and his is always crashing. Even if they release an iPhone 5 I might just keep the 4 until the 4g/lte/wimax whatever it is comes out unless mine is lost/stolen/broken.

I really can't think of anything they can do to it other than that; a faster processor or memory doesn't matter to me because I don't really play many games, better camera doesn't matter because I don't take many pics, 3D screen on small display seems like a gimmick, when I have a 3dtv. Maybe there will be something surprising but if my phone was lost/stolen/broken today I would go get an iPhone 4 again.

 

[Gregintosh]

It makes sense given that the iPhone 4 in White is just about to hit the market.

It would be stupid for Apple to finally START selling the White iPhone 4 only to 2-3 months later release the iPhone 5. Why go through all the hassles of developing the White iPhone only to effectively end its appeal 2 months later???

If they were going to do that, they would have probably just scrapped the white iPhone 4 and told everyone to stay tuned because something better was coming in its place.

I know I would be royally pissed if I had bought a product at release date only to have something even better come out just 2-3 months later. I know technology moves fast, but damn!

This way, if the iPhone 4 White Hits in April, that gives people at least 5-6 months of using it before a new one is announced or released.

This may also be an indication that iPhone 5 will just hit when iOS 5 is ready and that it will be uniquely positioned to take full advantage of it.

It also means I got until September to stash enough cash to buy the iPhone 5 unlocked and contract-free at release.

 

[MikeDTyke]

Cue, End of the world. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

 

[SwiftLives]

At face value, it would make more sense for Apple to announce the new iPhone in the fall along with the iPods. The iPod Touch and the iPhone are both iOS devices. And keep in mind there's all sorts of chatter about either a third generation iPad or an additional iPad model. So why not roll them all into one announcement in September?

Of course, by keeping the announcements separate, Apple extends their publicity.

I still expect an iPhone 5 announcement to be made at WWDC. Going longer than a year between updates gives competitors an advantage. And frankly, smartphone competitors are catching up.

 

[kingtj]

Umm, seriously??

Apple has been repeatedly bashed for focusing too much on iOS devices, to the detriment of their core computer product line. (They took people off of working on OS X to finish fixing things on the iPad, etc. etc.)

Now, it sounds like they're trying to bring the focus back to the Mac again for a little while, and people are complaining??

Why would you feel a need to get a new cellphone every single year? Contracts tend to run 2 years, discouraging you from upgrading that often anyway. But regardless, all of the recent "smartphones" I've seen are built well enough so they'll easily hold up for a good 2 years of use. All of the things I'd really need to do on a mobile phone will work fine next year, just the way they work this year. Even if you're just hung up on having "the latest thing"? If Apple delays release of the iPhone 5, then the 4 remains the "latest thing" from them for a while longer.

More to the point of the original topic though? I can definitely see why this WWDC would be a critical one, in many ways, to talk about a lot of software changes! Apparently, the Linux community is rapidly switching over their software to the "GPL3" license, which has a lot of "gotchas" in it that try to restrict what commercial businesses can do with the code. Essentially, they're trying to keep companies like Apple from benefiting from their free, open-source projects, and keep them for Linux users instead. The Apache web server is moving to a GPL3 license, for example, as is the gcc compiler and Samba.

Apple has to start moving to alternate products for all of this core functionality and get developers up to speed on the changes, or we're in for a LOT of reduced functionality in future OS X versions.

That's just getting complacent in my opinion, people like myself like changing phones yearly, no new iPhone means no return business, I'll try something else instead, bad move if true.

 

[bdkennedy1]

So? Do any of those phones have 1/10th the user experience of the iPhone? Who is standing in line for them? Do you question the speed of the electronics in your TV set? No because it does what it's supposed to do.

Yes, precisely. Android and other handsets are moving to Tegra 2/Orion based platforms with maybe quad core SoCs coming in Fall '11 from nVidia. An A5 equipped iPhone shipping around September would be outdated the minute it hits the shelves as far as hardware is concerned.

With Pocket Legends already reporting that gaming on Android is making them more money than on iOS and this delay in Apple's usual release schedule, it could mean that iOS gaming could lose out to Android and set the pace for future developments, just like what happened to Apple in the 80s with the rise of the PC.

While I doubt we have anything to worry about short term as iOS device owners, if they keep this up in the long term and keep losing ground to Android, it might become a problem.

 

[ChazUK]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.3; en-gb; Nexus S Build/GRI40) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

Hardware or no, I'll still eagerly await what's to come from Apple.