The anticipation of iPhone 5, iOS 5 or Something Big Anyway is mounting as Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), which starts June 6, draws nearer.
This week: There will be no iPhone 5 launch at WWDC because of a fire at one of Apple's partner assembly plants, triggering panic among bloggers; there will be an iPhone 5 launch at WWDC because Apple is inviting British journalists and casting a TV commercial; iPhone 5 is already out there being tested but you can't tell because it looks just like the existing iPhone 4; and you will be able to tell because iPhone 5 will have a concave glass screen.
The Date, Part 1: No iPhone 5 launch at WWDC
There is no, zero, nada chance of iPhone 5 being released in June, BeatWeek assures us. Why, you ask? Because of an explosion and fire a week ago at the Foxconn manufacturing plant where the iPhone, and the iPad, are built. The fire "should put to bed the pipe dream that saw Apple somehow introducing the iPhone 5 a mere six weeks after first shipping the white iPhone 4," BeatWeek sneeringly concluded.
But just to cover all the bases, BeatWeek also said, "But even if Apple were planning to secretly launch the iPhone 5 in June, those plans would certainly have to be scuttled after the factory damage."
The use of the word "certainly" when it comes to rumors and unfounded speculation is always good for a laugh.
MORE IPHONE 5 RUMOR ROUNDUPS: May 20, May 13, May 6
Gizmodo had a brief official statement from Foxconn, which didn't do much to clarify exactly what had blown up and burned, how bad the damage was, or whether there really would be any impact on either current iPad 2 shipments or on the iPhone 5 rollout.
The prospect of delay panicked some folks, like Derick Lemay, at The Red 99. The despair was almost palpable in his post:
"All we can hope is that Foxconn can get their plant up and running as soon as possible. Otherwise we may not be seeing a new generation iPhone at all in 2011."
2011: The Year of the Lost iPhone.
But by last Sunday, two days after the fire, MacRumors was linking to a reassuring China Times story (in Chinese) which claimed that "sources" were saying that "production of iPad 2 would not be delayed and related iPhone devices [could this be iPhone 5?] and new iPad products would still be in mass production in the third quarter."
The Date, Part 2: iPhone 5 will be launched at WWDC
We know this because 1) Apple is inviting British journalists to the WWDC in San Francisco, and 2) a casting call was posted on Craigslist looking for actors to appear in an iPhone 5 TV commercial.
U.K. tech site Mobile Pig tackled the issue head-on: "If you believe the rumours currently fizzing down Britain's broadband pipes, Apple has pretty much put the kibosh on iPhone 5 -- at least for 2011."
That statement actually qualifies as a separate rumor all on its own.
"But if that's the case," Mobile Pig triumphantly asked, "why is Apple's public relations department -- specifically the team dedicated to all things iPhone -- reaching out to selected British journalists in an effort to persuade them to attend Apple's WWDC developer jamboree on 6-10 June?"
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