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Verizon iPhone, white iPhone 4 for Apple’s September 1st iPod event?

Verizon iPhone, white iPhone 4 for Apple’s September 1st iPod event?

Those expecting a new version of the iPhone 4 at next month’s newly announced Apple press conference will be sorely disappointed, if history tells us anything.

Even with the iPhone 4 so overwhelmingly popular that it’s still three weeks back-ordered online and hard to find in stock at retail, the same geek tech pundits who inexplicably bet their reputations on the iPhone 4 an “antenna problem” which would cause it to flop or even be recalled are now predicting that the iPhone 4 and its non-existent antenna problem will be “fixed” at the September 7th Apple Event. Set aside for the moment that there was any antenna problem, and Apple successfully dumped the concocted controversy with a small press conference a few weeks ago such that the issue only still exists in the minds of the headline writers who created it. Let’s focus instead on the cold hard fact that early September is always the time of year in which Apple rolls out its new iPod models for the upcoming holiday season.

In fact, like clockwork, Apple has held a press conference within the first twelve days of September for years now, and that event has always been used to roll out the new iPods. Sure, other introductions have gotten tossed in over the years (AppleTV, Mobile iTunes Store, and yes, even once, an iPhone price cut), but this is the iPod event. Back in 2005, Apple introduced the original iPod nano at an early September press conference, and then turned around and introduced the original video iPod at yet another press conference in early October. The result? Third party accessory makers were able to get iPod nano products into retail in time for the holidays. The same couldn’t be said for video iPod accessories. What Apple apparently learned that year was that an early September rollout of a new iPod meant for a smooth, clean transition in time for Christmas shoppers, while an early October rollout couldn’t produce the same.

Ever since then, a trip to hear Steve Jobs speak in the first half of September has meant hearing him talk about the new iPod lineup. Logical next-generation iPod rollouts could be along the lines of a new iPod touch which finally has a built in camera (possibly even a video camera), and maybe the touch even goes to 128 GB, which would mean the merciful end of the long-outdated iPod classic. We could also see a total revamp of the iPod shuffle, which history would suggest will only get physically smaller as the years go on. And when it comes to the iPod nano, which now seemingly does everything including recording video, well, perhaps the future of the nano is best left to the imagination of Apple’s engineers, who always seem to have something up their sleeve for that particular product.

But those expecting Apple to dump the iPhone 4 in favor of, what, the iPhone 5? Three months after the highly successful launch of the iPhone 4? Not unless you live so deep inside the geek bubble that you can’t even see mainstream reality outside of it. A new iPhone 4 with a “fix” for the antenna that 99.4% of iPhone 4 never had any problem with to begin with? Again, back to your geek bubble. Here’s what you might actually see from Apple regarding the iPhone: The emergence, finally, of the long delayed white iPhone 4. Perhaps even an early announcement of plans a Verizon iPhone, although it’s not clear what Apple would stand to gain by announcing it in advance.

And while such a story might carry the headlines (and expect a few clowns to write “Apple still fails to correct iPhone 4 antenna problem” headlines), the bulk of Apple’s early September press conference will be about iPods, iPods, and more iPods. After all, it always has been.

[Thanks: http://www.beatweek.com]

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