The ToyBox

Ricardo Bilton & Gloria Sin

Five rumors proven wrong by the iPhone 4S announcement

By | October 4, 2011, 1:15pm PDT

Summary: A lot of speculation was thrown around about Apple’s announcement of the iPhone 4S today. What did the rumor mill get wrong?

1. The next iPhone will be a radical departure

Remember all that talk about the iPhone 5 being a radical departure from the design of the iPhone 4? There was talk of a larger, edge-to-edge screen and even a tear drop shape. Considering that the iPhone 5 is still MIA, it’s possible that all those things could eventually be true. But they weren’t today. And those leaked iPhone 5 cases? Someone must have a lot of useless silicone floating around right now.

2. The next iPhone will be a Sprint exclusive

According to the Wall Street Journal, Sprint’s faith in the next iPhone was so extensive that it reached a deal with Apple to purchase 30.5 million iPhones over the next few years. Some, however, took that news a bit further, and speculated that Sprint would get exclusive access to the next iPhone. It was a crazy rumor, and it didn’t come to pass.

3. RIP iPod

Apple didn’t just not kill the iPod. It also updated it, announcing both a new version of the iPod Nano and iPod Touch. Rest assured: The iPod is safe. For now, anyway.

4. Apple Assistant

Instead of calling the iPhone’s new voice functionality the rumored “Assistant” Apple instead opted to call the feature Siri. That’s a surprising move from Apple, which tends to rename its acquisitions.

5. The iPhone 5

Probably the biggest thing the rumor mill got wrong about today’s announcements is the iPhone 5, which never actually materialized. While much speculation said that Apple was planning to release both the iPhone 4S and a more significantly-changed iPhone 5, Apple opted to simply go with the former. This left many people upset, as they had perhaps rightfully expected something a lot more significant than the iPhone 4S. But as perplexing as Apple’s decisions were on Tuesday, the iPhone 4S is still a pretty big deal. It’s not entirely revolutionary, but revolutionary is not something Apple has to be anymore.

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Ricardo Bilton writes for ZDNet's The ToyBox. His work has appeared in The Japan Times, The New York Observer, and The International Business Times, among other publications.

Disclosure

Ricardo Bilton

Ricardo Bilton has no investments that may conflict with his work with ZDNet. Similarly, he has not worked with any companies that he may write about in his technology coverage.

Biography

Ricardo Bilton

Ricardo Bilton writes for ZDNet's The ToyBox. His work has appeared in The Japan Times, The New York Observer, and The International Business Times, among other publications. He lives in New York, and is a graduate of Amherst College.

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Iphone 4s A new Innovations
yuranet 16th Jan
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0 Votes
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Does "Siri" have a backstory?
daboochmeister 4th Oct
Or are they just Dan Simmons/Hyperion fans?
Why would fans have "rightfully expected" something more significant? Apple has always been about what they think is important, not what customers think.
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Revolutionary
Originalme8 4th Oct
Actually, I believe Apple absolutely needs to stay revolutionary if they are going to stay ahead of the competition. With other mobile OS's moving up in the ranks (ie Android and Windows 7) it is imperative that Apple continue to step-up their game. Otherwise they will fall just like all the other Giants before them. (R.I.P. RIM)
LOL... Apple's not going anywhere any time soon, I can assure you of that.

As for the iPod death rumor, I don't know where you heard that. The rumor was that the iPod Classic would be axed. No way Apple would entirely kill off the iPod line itself.

As for the iPhone 4S... I'm not sure what everyone was so hyped about. The iPhone 4 was truly revolutionary in the market last year, with a striking industrial design statement. No way Apple was going to throw all that work in the trash (Antennagate and all) after just 1 year. I figured when I bought my 4 a year ago that I would get to keep it through one additional "S" generation, and THEN upgrade after that. There's enough good in the case, and display of the iPhone to leave that alone and just moderately update the internals. Apple has never been a "me too" company and wasn't ready to jump on the gigantic screen and 4G bandwagon just yet.
@Playdrv4me

If you mean clunky, heavy and ugly by "industrial" design, then I totally agree. I'd also like a design that didn't need a case wink
Oh, and while we're at it... let's go ahead and quash those damn Apple HDTV rumors for good.
0 Votes
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No doubt Apple is playing with the marketplace a little and is releasing the 4S before the holiday season and will save the iPhone 5 for spring when they've already moved a lot of the older models and feel a post holiday sales slump...
@nokryptonite4me@...

This was a late iPhone release, so while we can expect next year's to be early to mid Summer, Spring would be way too soon. Besides, they don't need to release it early anyway as they'll sell tons of 4 and 4S models as it is.

The big Spring product will be the iPad3/iPad HD. No need to use up all the excitement of two major product releases in one season, and Apple is masterful at that.
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Apparently Steve Jobs thinks 3.5" is enough for anyone.
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@johnafish
... when the iPhone's screen has the highest resolution for its size of any phone currently on the market? Bigger isn't always better, you know.
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Iphone 4s A new Innovations
yuranet 16th Jan
10 times I had been read all of articles, but just from this site I find the answer of my problem , this is great for me.
http://www.commonwealthnetbank.org

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