I have to agree with this. Myself and a lot of others had hoped, with the serious competition that had surfaced by last year, that Apple would get off this 2 year cycle for new phones and release a gang-buster last year.This "rumor" was just the imagination of some who were disappointed with the 4s and wanted to rationalize it
There was never any real substance to the rumor
And there were no "issues"
Rushing the 4s to cover for a botched phone is something that would be relatively impossible on such short notice
My guess is that they were working on the new iPhone last year. But it wasn't approved because it was not "good enough". But they didn't want to have a year of gap so they released 4S which had the done parts for the new iPhone. (like the better camera and Siri in beta etc.)
That is also why I anticipate the new iPhone so much - they worked on it for 2 years. Also by this guess, it would prove the SJ involvement correct.