iPhone 5 release date

Apparently all those frustrated by Apple’s failure to announce an iPhone 5 this week are punishing Apple by crashing its website with a flood of iPhone 4S preorders. Even with the specter of the iPhone 5 scoring a release date anywhere from four to twelve months from now, buyers went wild last night at the start of the iPhone 4S pre-order cycle, lighting up Apple.com to the point that the online store was overwhelmed with traffic. Users reported the same difficulty when they attempted to score the new iPhone through the official websites for iPhone 4S carriers AT&T, Verizon, & newcomer Sprint as well. In other words the iPhone 4S broke four of the world’s larger eCommerce sites just a few days after the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs broke Twitter as the news broke the world’s heart. Even as Apple users paid tribute to Jobs across the internet & at Apple retail stores worldwide, iPhone 4S presales began at a more frenzied pace than the public’s initially dour reaction to the “seen that before” iPhone 4S on the day of its introduction earlier this week, with AT&T now reporting that it saw two hundred thousand preorders the first night (that’s not counting Verizon & Sprint, who have their own preorders), making the iPhone 4S already more popular on the carrier than the iPhone 4 was when it went into initial preorder mode last year. That’s even as others continue to stick with their initial stance that they’ll be waiting for the iPhone 5.

The rise of the iPhone 4S dictates that the iPhone 5 release date won’t be in 2011. Not on new favorite son Sprint. Not on uneasy recent partner Verizon. & not on old frenemy AT&T. But rest easy, it won’t be in 2012 either. The fate of the iPhone 5 now comes down to Apple’s strategy as much as whatever manufacturing or component issues which held it up in the first place, as Tim Cook & the company must not only contend with the passing of Steve Jobs a mere one day after the 4S unveiling, but also the fact that it can’t very well turn around & launch the iPhone 5 a few weeks from now even if it is ready; backlash from 4S buyers would off the charts. So while Apple hasn’t said a word about the iPhone 5 or even so much as spoken the words “iPhone 5″ at any point, here’s a look at what logic, circumstance, & common sense dictate are the practical iPhone 5 release date scenarios. Listed by date, & handicapped by the odds of each happening:

January whiplash>> This sees the iPhone 5 ready to go by January and, realizing that the iPhone 4S didn’t overwhelm anyone & opting to waste no time, holds a press event in mid January & gives the iPhone 5 a late January release date. Those who skipped the 4S will be thrilled, those who bought it in October will be more than a little ticked that their new iPhone just became obsolete three months later, particularly in light of stringent cell carrier upgrade pricing schemes. The iPhone 4S would also stick around as a bargain model, & would see a price cut of at least $100 as of the iPhone 5 arrival, leaving 4S buyers feeling not just disappointed but ripped off.

iPhone 5 sees five release date scenarios from rosy summer to 2012 fail

As the cadre of would-be iPhone 5 buyers turned to Steve Jobs for answers on its release date, he simply shrugged & talked about how great its software features are going to be once it shows up. His hype-fest merely served to ratchet up expectations & thus excitement for the next generation iPhone 5 while failing to give any real hint as to when it’s coming. As such, the question we get asked most often, “When is the iPhone 5 release date?”, is being asked even more frequently than when the week began. The answer: we don’t know. & neither does anyone else outside of Apple’s innermost posse. But here are five scenarios for its release, along with the realistic odds of each & the corresponding impact.

Very soon. The theory: Apple didn’t unveil the iPhone 5 this week because it wanted iOS 5 & the iCloud to get all the attention. Apple will hold a press conference next week & announce the iPhone 5 on its own. The reality: Not bloody likely. Why would Apple do something so strange?

August. The theory: iOS 5 needs beta testing & developer lead time, & Apple doesn’t want to roll out the iPhone 5 until iOS 5 is ready. Announcing the iPhone 5 this week would have hurt iPhone 4 & 3GS sales in the mean time, so it decided to hold off.

September. The theory: see the above scenario, except Apple decides to use its traditional early September iPress Conference to launch the iPhone 5. The reality: Feels like the most likely scenario.

Just before the holidays. The theory: Something about the iPhone 5 and/or iOS 5 is running late, & we mean late. But Apple is determined to get it to market before the holidays, so it’ll surface sometime not too long before November’s Black Friday shopping season launch. The reality: You’re getting colder. If Apple really were going to need to leave the iPhone 5 hanging for that long, it likely would have done some sort of interstitial model in the mean time.

Doomsday 2012. The theory: Apple decides to leave the iPhone 4 as the current model for more than a year & a half, unleashing the iPhone 5 in February of 2012 or so. The reality: aside from fouling up the iPad 3 launch, waiting this long for the iPhone 5 would be too poor of an idea for Apple to even be considering, particularly in light of the fact that it just unveiled iOS 5 which will apparently be ready for public release within months. Do you really see a scenario in which Apple either A) releases iOS 5 this year for the iPhone 4 but with no iPhone 5 in tow, or B) has unveiled iOS 5 now but with no intention to release it until the iPhone 5 is ready next year? Either scenario evokes the phrase “epic fail.” These are both nonsensical, which is why we expect to see the iPhone 5 this year. & because Apple almost never releases major new hardware any later in the year than early September, we’re betting on that scenario above. Here’s more on the iPhone 5.

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