A quick digest of prospective outcomes from the “Let’s Talk iPhone” event, scheduled to happen later today.If you've managed to spend the last 24 hours without hearing mentions of the word "Apple" or "iPhone", it can assumed beyond reasonable doubt that you've been living under a rock. The technology industry is abuzz with rumours and speculation about the “Let’s Talk iPhone” event that is due to happen later today (10:30 PM IST) at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino.
Apple’s perfected the art of creating anticipation about a product launch and this time around, it’s been kicked off with the rather-cryptic invite for the “Let’s Talk iPhone” event (see image). There is no mention of what is going to be launched and that has fed rumour mills all over the world. With the noise around the launch reaching a crescendo in the hours leading up to it, we at YourStory decided to put together one quick digest of prospective outcomes. Broadly, these are the options:
- Launch of the iPhone 5
- No iPhone 5. Just the launch of an improved version of the iPhone 4, likely to be named iPhone 4S
- Both
On the hardware front, people in the know are fairly certain about the addition of an 8 megapixel camera and a quicker Apple-branded ARM A5 processor.
On the software (and services) end of the stick, Apple has people waiting with bated breath for iOS 5, the operating system that some tout as a much larger strategic move in comparison to the handset launch. It is also rumoured that the event could see the launch of Assistant, the potentially game-changing voice recognition software that’ll get smartphones to respond intelligently to speech commands from users. Assistant has been on its way for a while now, with Apple acquiring its maker Siri, a funded startup, in April 2008. Updates to the iTunes Music Store are also expected.
But for most Apple fans, the real point of interest lies on Steve Jobs’ appearance at the event. Reuters has suggested that he may just make it, with a rider that it wouldn’t be too much of a no-show if he didn’t. Whether he will let Tim Cook, the new CEO, take the spotlight or end up hogging it himself in characteristic fashion remains to be seen.
Either way, the chances of you catching all the action on video are low, with Apple deciding not to live-stream the event. But don’t fret. Catch all the updates via our Twitter handle @yourstorydotin and we’ll also put method in this madness with a post-event update.
So, as Apple has all chanting, let’s talk iPhone.
Sriram Mohan | YourStory.in | Bangalore | 4th October 2011