UPDATED 06:41 EDT / SEPTEMBER 26 2011

iPhone 5 Launch All Set, No Vacation For Apple Employees

Last week, reports mentioned that the iPhone 5 will likely be released at Apple’s event on October 4th, and former vice president Al Gore also hinted for an October release of the iPhone 5, though no specific date was given.  But during the weekend, more news regarding the event surfaced.

AllThingsD is the first to report that the event on the 4th will be held in their Cupertino campus, contrary to other product launches wherein they were held in bigger venues.   The reason for this is still unclear.  Though the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is huge and can accommodate a huge crowd, it was surprisingly not chosen for this upcoming event.  Instead the event will be held at Apple’s Town Hall Auditorium, a more intimate venue.  The reason could be to give Tim Cook a chance to get comfortable with a smaller crowd since it’s his first event as Apple’s CEO, or YBCA may already be booked, or Apple just doesn’t want to make a big fuss regarding the launch (right…).

Rumors regarding how many iPhones would be launched in October may have already been put to rest as Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair stated that the iPhone 5 is just an updated version of the iPhone 4 that features a faster A5 processor, a higher resolution 8 Megapixel camera and possibly a larger screen.

Blair said, “We don’t expect a second, dramatically different iPhone to accompany this as we don’t think Apple needs to have 3 models in the market to address the high end, mid-tier and low end since the iPhone 4 (with memory lowered to 8 GB) will drop to $99 and effectively attack those markets.  Why would Apple bump up only the processor specs of the iPhone 4 in addition to a newly designed iPhone 5 if the goal is to sell it into the pre-paid market at a lower cost,” Blair asks. “A 4S would simply cost more and a 4S itself wouldn’t create a mid-tier market unless it was priced at $99 and the iPhone 4 went to $49 with the new iPhone at $199. We see this scenario as unlikely.”

Beyond expectations around the iPhone 5 launch, there’s still the matter of iOS 5.  And an upcoming Twitter event may offer a hint as to when we can see updates for both platforms.  Twitter’s Teatime – A Developer Tour is suggesting that the iOS 5 will be launched starting October 10.  The tour will start in London on October 10 and the second leg will be on October 12 at New York.  This will be the first Twitter event held outside San Francisco.

According to Jason Costa, “There’s a lot going on in the ecosystem and we’d like to take this chance to share the highlights with you – including the latest developments with the platform, areas of opportunity that we’re seeing, and a heavy focus on the iOS 5 Twitter integration for developers. We’ll also be holding a Q&A session with members of the platform team, plus time to hang out with each other.”

The event is open to developers but only 150 attendees from each city will be accommodated so early registration is highly recommended.  Apple has been noted to dictate Twitter events so that their own event will come first.

Some sources say that Apple denied vacation leave for employees during October 9 to 12 and October 14 to 15.  This suggests that Apple is indeed planning to launch their products during the first and second week of October and they are expecting heavy traffic in their stores during these dates.


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