Ever wonder how far in advance Apple works on their products? According to a new report, the 2012 iPhone was in progress even before co-founder Steve Jobs’ death last year, which he reportedly worked closely on.
Bloomberg is reporting that Apple plans an “overhaul” of the iPhone design for this year, confirmed by “three people with knowledge of the plans.” Rumors have ramped up in the last week that Apple will introduce a new iPhone with a larger display, which “could be released by October.”
This latest report is noteworthy because one source has revealed that late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs “had worked closely on the redesigned phone before his death in October,” which nearly coincided with the launch of the current iPhone 4S.
“The design change will be Apple’s first for the iPhone since 2010, when it introduced the iPhone 4,” the report reveals. “Electronics makers, led by Samsung, are moving toward bigger screens, as consumers use handheld devices for a broader array of tasks, including watching video, playing games and browsing the Web.”
Another of Bloomberg’s sources appear to have confirmed that Apple “has placed orders from suppliers in Asia for screens that are bigger than the 3.5-inch size now on the smartphone,” although as usual, the name of the source was not revealed since these plans have not been made public.
“Apple has been working on the new device since before the current iPhone 4S model was introduced last October, said one person with knowledge of the project,” the report concludes. “Jobs, who had gone on medical leave from Apple starting last January, played a key role in developing the phone, this person said.”
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Given that it’s mid-May and there has yet to be a new Mac introduced in 2012 thus far, it should come as little surprise to see rumors ramping up about new MacBook Pro and iMac computers. But could they be closer to release than we think?
MacRumors is reporting on a pair of curious benchmark results that have turned up in the last several days on Geekbench, which could be the best evidence yet that Apple is inching closer to releasing new MacBook Pro and iMac models this sunny summer. While it’s important to note that Geekbench results can be faked with relative ease, the benchmarks fall in line with what pundits are expecting from the 2012 models.
“This new MacBook Pro is listed as carrying an Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3820QM quad-core processor running at 2.7 GHz,” MacRumors reveals. “That processor has long been viewed as the natural successor to Apple’s current offerings in high-end 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models. With the i7-3820QM being a 45-watt chip, it is extremely unlikely that Apple would be using it in a new 13-inch MacBook Pro model.”
Labeled as “MacBookPro9,1,” the new model scored 12,252 on Geekbench, an impressive bump over the currently available MacBook Pro with a score of 10,500. The unreleased model also has a Motherboard listing that matches results found in developer builds of OS X Mountain Lion, which the Geekbench results list as build 12A211 — newer than the most recently released build on May 2.
“On the iMac side is a new iMac13,2 entry, which would appear to correspond to a new 27-inch iMac model,” the report notes. “The machine is listed as running an Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770 quad-core processor running at 3.4 GHz, which would correspond to a relatively high-end option in a new model. The system carries a benchmark of 12,183, only slightly higher than typical scores in the range of 11,500 for current iMac models using the top-of-the-line Core i7-2600 processor.”
This is certainly not the first time that Geekbench results have outed forthcoming Mac models, so the only question that remains is: When will Apple actually release them? With the release of OS X Mountain Lion not far off, it might make sense for Cupertino to begin selling the new models concurrently with its release — originally promised for “late sunny summer,” although a number of rumors have pegged it as possibly arriving as early as next month.
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If there’s one company in particular who’s eager to get their hands on new Apple products, it would be manufacturer Pegatron Technology. A new report claims the supplier has landed the contract for the new iPhone, while competitor Foxconn will build a seven-inch iPad.
DigiTimes is reporting that Pegatron Technology will be manufacturing two of Apple’s biggest products for the fourth quarter: The next iPhone as well as a mysterious “10-inch iPad to be launched in the fourth quarter.”
“Pegatron has already finished expanding its equipment and labor force for Apple’s orders,” sources close to the Taiwan-based supply chain maker reveal. The same sources pinpoint a September release for this year’s iPhone, which would be a month earlier than last year’s iPhone 4S.
To ramp up for Apple’s products, Pegatron is shifting its focus elsewhere. “To mainly focus on Apple’s orders, Pegatron has also internally decided to downsize its SI motherboard department and to shift resources to Apple’s orders,” sources claim. “Since Asustek has been reducing its motherboard orders to Pegatron, while gross margins are also rather low, the shifting in resources is expected to benefit Pegatron in its operations.”
The report also casually notes that rival manufacturer Foxconn Electronics will be building a seven-inch iPad for Apple due for release in August — despite Cupertino’s continued insistence that they have no interest in building such a device.
Now, do we have to remind you about taking rumors like too seriously again? Grain of salt, people… grain of salt…
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Five months into his reign, Research in Motion CEO Thorsten Heins will be facing the toughest crowd of them all in Orlando next week: Disgruntled BlackBerry developers who are quickly losing faith in their platform.
Reuters is reporting that Research in Motion will hold their annual BlackBerry World conference in Orland, Florida next week, but given the rough year the company has had, it’s likely to be a considerably more subdued affair.
While Apple’s similar WWDC event held in San Francisco June 11-15 sold out in just two hours and Google I/O is likely to enjoy a similar fate, BlackBerry World is expected to focus more on stopping the company’s bleeding more than about new BlackBerry 10 products, which aren’t expected until October at the earliest.
RIM has already reduced the size of the event by cancelling a traditional presentation for financial analysts in the wake of a string of bleak news from the company. That event will now be held closer to when the new BlackBerry 10 products go on sale later in the year.
“In the year since RIM’s last Orlando conference, the company has issued a string of disappointing financial results, suffered an embarrassing global network outage and watched its share price tumble by 75 percent,” the report notes. “Lazaridis and Balsillie quit under pressure in late January, replaced by Heins, a former Siemens AG executive who ran RIM’s hardware business for several years.”
“Expectations are so low I don’t think it’s possible to disappoint investors,” said National Bank Financial analyst Kris Thompson. “The conference isn’t for investors anyway; it’s for customers, developers and partners.”
Perhaps the biggest news from BlackBerry World will arrive in the form of a prototype BlackBerry 10 device, which RIM is expected to hand out to developers for testing of their apps. While the company is stressing this hardware “bears no relation to the finished product,” you can bet that tech blogs will get their hands on one in search of clues to as to where the once-iconic product might be heading.
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(Image courtesy of BGR)
While pundits have been quick to lay the blame for Research in Motion’s problems at the feet of its co-founders, a new report reveals that one of them actually attempted “a radical shift in strategy” before throwing his hands in the air and walking away.
Reuters is reporting that former co-CEO Jim Balsillie actually pushed for Research in Motion to follow a new course of action prior to stepping down from the company he helped to found, according to two sources close to the company.
“Balsillie hoped to allow major wireless companies in North America and Europe to provide service for non-BlackBerry devices routed through RIM’s proprietary network, a major break with the BlackBerry-only strategy pursued by RIM since its inception,” the report reveals. “The plan would have let the carriers use the RIM network to offer inexpensive data plans, limited to social media and instant messaging, to entice low-tier customers to upgrade from no-frills phones to smartphones.”
Such a move was widely rumored in recent months, but quickly denied by RIM. Critics of the BlackBerry maker have been quick to throw blame for the company’s lack of recent innovation in co-founder Balsillie’s direction, shared equally with Mike Lazaridis. The new report seems to indicate that the company’s new management — which still includes Lazaridis — may have been resistant to change, instead pinning their hopes on BlackBerry 10 handsets set to arrive later this year.
“Balsillie’s plan may have heralded a broader strategic move by RIM to define its high-margin network services — which bring in around billion a quarter — as a business that’s distinct from building and marketing the BlackBerry,” the report adds. “That hardware business may have lost money last year.”
Balsillie reportedly held discussions about this proposed new strategy with AT&T and Verizon in the U.S., as well as Vodafone, T-Mobile, Telefonica and France Telecom in Europe. “At least one major Canadian carrier” was also citied in the report.
The co-founder may have cut ties with Research in Motion after stepping down from as a board director recently, but Balsillie continues to be one of the company’s largest shareholders with a five percent stake in RIM.
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(Image courtesy of Reuters)
