Apple still hasn’t announced an official iPhone 5 launch date, but the cyberweb has kinda decided, on Team Cupertino’s behalf, that it’ll happen on September 12, with sales starting on September 21. So there.
As for the iPad mini, well, rumourmongers have been touting that same September 12 launch date, but one chap in particular has a different theory.
The problem with a simultaneous iPhone 5/iPad mini launch is that you’d have two major products jostling for the spotlight. Not to mention the fact that Apple would be asking for – what? - £800+ for the pair.
The solution? Daring Fireball’s John Gruber suggests: “I’m thinking it makes more sense for Apple to hold two events. First, an iPhone event, focused solely on the new iPhone and iOS 6. Then, the iPhone ships nine days later, and there’s another wave of iPhone-focused attention as the reviews come out.
“Then, in the first or second week of October, Apple holds its traditional 'music event', exactly along the lines of the events at which they’ve been debuting new iPods for the last decade.”
Interestingly, Gruber refers to the iPad mini as the iPad Air, describing it as “cool, but just a smaller thinner cheaper iPad.”
Well, two events is certainly a possibility, and Gruber has been on the money about Apple stuff in the past. Roll on September. And October.
