In the midst of the new difficulties for the iPhone 4 S (for Steve), there still is buzz surrounding the release of the iPhone 5. If this isn't proof that the world was more than ready for the iPhone5, there may not be any convincing proof. The fact that just weeks after the release of the iPhone 4S people are starting to speculate about the release of the 5 is a sign of this misstep by Apple. It doesn't help any that low battery times and any other bugs are just starting to become obvious to 4S owners Couple that with the bugs and short-comings of the OS 5 coming to light at the same time and people aren't happy. There is always a little dip, after the initial euphoria, in customer satisfaction. Perhaps it's not coincidental that many are still looking to the future model rather than jumping in with the recent 4S.
Rumors are swirling that the new iPhone 5 will be coming out in 2012. Are these rumors justified? Who knows. We thought it was coming out in October 2011, right? The big talk about the phones right now is all about LTE. It simply stands for Long Term Evolution (which some say refers to the development stage of this slow to market technology). Several carriers are rumored to be building LTE capable infrastructure in larger cities in preparation for the LTE phones coming out soon.
You may ask "If this technology is imminent, why didn't Apple just stuff it into the 4S?" It's a good question, but there is also a good answer. It is a battery hog and needs a bigger antenna, which takes up more space for hardware. These two glaring difficulties would only make customers all the more frustrated and impatient with their new iPhones, goes the line of reasoning. Apparently they're already frustrated about this even without the 4G LTE technology sucking the life out of the new iPhones.
Does Apple have time to get a stellar product to market in 2012 that will deliver on the promises of powerful new technology? Will they be able to find a design that will give good battery life and good hardware and performance? Those questions remain to be answered. In the meantime the world just has to put up with not knowing.
