ITWire

Ever since yesterday’s surprise announcement from iMore that the world would be seeing a new iPhone, which may or may not be called the iPhone 5, on Sept 12, and then launched on Sept 21, the world has gone into yet another iFrenzy of iAnticipation.

iMore’s detailed report not only suggests the iPhone 5 is coming, but an iPad Mini too.

However, it’s the iPhone 5 that most people are truly waiting for, so much so that Apple’s last quarter of sales was a bit less than expected, as consumers become much savvier in anticipating Apple’s next releases, and for obviously wanting to have the very latest – rather than seeing a new smartphone be superseded in just two or three months for a lack of patience.

It was the French language App4Phone site which first spilled the beans on a September 21 availability date, but with iMore suggesting a launch would happen 9 days later, it all has a ring-of-plausibility and believability to it, although when it comes to rumours, nothing is certain until Apple makes its own announcements.

The whole event is also a study of Apple’s pre-launch practises – is the company actively leaking information via third-party sources, or has Apple’s attempt to “double down” on secrecy backfired on the company as leakers leak so very wetly despite Apple’s sincere desires to keep things on the iQuiet until the appropriate – and official – iLaunch?

If Apple has been actively leaking, it has done a stunning job, but either way, the company has garnered incredible free publicity of the sort that money simply can’t buy – publicity that lesser companies would probably want to kill for – even though Apple is still the company that is killing Android manufacturers for total individual sales of tech devices.

We also had the case leak that came from a Japanese blog and iPhone repair site, assembling a stack of supposed iPhone 5 parts, showcasing the iPhone 5’s 4-inch screen, bottom facing and virtually rain-drop-proof headphone socket – alongside that smaller 19-pin dock connector some have been fretting about.

Again, if Apple planned it this way, it certainly has worked, with the public well aware of what the next iPhone should look like – although it is quite surprising to see that no iPad mini cases have leaked, nor any information about the new iPod Touch 5th gen.

It looks like Apple is being very selective about its leaks, controlling the info flow as best it can, while doing its utmost to keep secret stuff like the iPad mini still a mysterious secret, even though there are plenty of hints, and things like a MacBook Pro 13-inch with Retina secret too, even though it’s now definitely expected to make an appearance too.

So, is Apple the master tweaker and pre-launch info-leaker? It’s hard to say, but knowing just how insanely clever and cunning the world’s captains of crunch really are, there’s every chance that at least some of the leaks are no accident.