When it comes to anything ‘i’, whether you’re actually an iUser or not, it seems that iWant to know about it – and as much as iCan!
So much so that despite the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini getting only the most cursory of recent references as “future product” by Tim Cook during the recent earnings call, a rare admission of future iProducts in itself; and despite no official confirmation of anything from Apple until it happens, the facts are everyone wants to know about the next iPhone 5, new iPad 4, new iPad Mini, new iPod Touch 5 or anything else – whether it’s to love, to hate or just evaluate – people want to know.
So, when the latest rumour and quasi-confirmation of what appears to be a firming September launch timeframe, rather than the previously mooted August 7 or October 4th or 5th timeframe as was the case with the iPhone 4S, and it comes from respected iNews site iMore… it’s worth letting you know about it!
iMore attributes this information as coming “from sources who have proven accurate in the past”, while saying it lines up with the September 21 release prediction made by the French App4Phone site in a story we covered earlier on the Sept 21 release claims by App4Phone’s Chinese sources.
iMore claims we’ll see the new iPhone 5, a new iPad mini, a new iPod Touch and a new iPod nano all launching together on September 12, but make the disclaimer that no release date for the iPad mini has been confirmed even if it is expected on Sept 21 alongside everything else, while remarking there’s been no specific new iPod touch information either, leaving those devices up in the air and presumably following the iPhone 5’s technical lead.
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Obviously the amazing new capabilities we’ve seen in iOS 6 are going to push iDevices ever harder and further into the future, especially with whatever new iOS 6 and iPhone 5-only features are coming that still haven’t leaked.
Aside from the iPhone 5’s now well-rumoured new photo from parts and feature set which we looked at earlier today, there’s much excitement about the new iPad mini too, especially after the success Google’s low-cost Nexus 7 tablet has enjoyed in the marketplace.
Despite plenty of Windows 8 launch action and disruption to come, the iPad mini is gearing up to do some market disruption of its own, even if it disrupts some of the larger 9.7-inch iPad’s sales.
You’d have to imagine a lot of existing iPhone, iPod touch and iPad owners will want to own one, even if they already own all of the other iDevices. The iPad mini is a tweener device, in between a smartphone and a full size tablet, let alone something like Toshiba’s 13.3-inch Android tablet.
The iPad mini is expected to retain its 4:3 aspect ratio for instant iPad app compatibility while having a higher pixel per inch ratio than the iPad 1 and 2, but without still being at Retina status, something that both Daring Fireball and iMore go through in some detail.
Indeed, Daring Fireball’s John Gruber explains how you can simulate your own iPad mini now – by taking a screenshot of your vertically held iPad, and then viewing it horizontally in the Photos app, showing you what a shrunken iPad Mini would effectively almost look like exactly.
I compared it to the Nexus 7 display, and the screen size width is larger than the Nexus 7, reaching instead to the case on either side of the Nexus 7 display, and showing you that with a black or white bezel as is the case with iPads, how that much wider on either side an iPad mini would be compared to a Nexus 7 tablet, which can fit into an inside jacket pocket, something an iPad mini will probably not do without pocket modification.
The wait for the iPhone and more confirmation on an iPad mini or next-gen iPod Touch continues, with Apple’s sales expected to re-ignite dramatically even while facing what should also be stellar sales for Google’s Nexus 7 tablet and a myriad of Windows 8 models, from ultrabooks to tablets to hybrids, desktops and more.
So, while none of this is confirmed by Apple press release, it is the latest on where the magic iPhone 5 and iPad mini launch date has moved to today, although who knows where it will end up tomorrow!
