Archive for September 5th, 2011

Several sources have claimed that GameStop will soon sell the full lineup of popular iOS devices such as iPods, iPads and iPhones at its stores. The company announced it to dealers at this week’s trade show in Las Vegas. Besides, this week GameStop began offering trade-ins of iOS device for in-store credits.

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Today Deutsche Telekom has begun offering first-served reservations for the iPhone 5 whenever it debuts. The company confirmed that the program is now in effect.

Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE) will allow customers to reserve the next generation of Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone as of today in anticipation of supply bottlenecks for the device, spokesman Alexander von Schmettow said by phone. The operator will hand out coupons to people who expressly request the successor model to the iPhone 4, without providing the name or release details of the device, he said.

Apple typically keeps its carrier partners in the dark about its release plans until it is ready to make a public release. So Deutsche Telecom seems to work on the ground of rumors rather than official information. Hints have been multiplying since last week that Apple could be close to unveiling a fifth-generation iPhone. Apple store employees have received their iOS 5 and iCloud training materia and internal Best Buy documents have pointed to a Sprint iPhone 5 launch in the first week of October.

(before Galaxy Tab 7.7 was pulled)

Yesterday Apple has achieved one more legal victory over Samsung by banning Samsung from selling its tablets in Germany. Last week pan-European CES-like IFA show featured new consumer products from almost every manufacturer except Apple.

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We’ve heard that Apple has begun iOS 5 and iCloud training with retail store employees through a new section of the company’s recently released internal RetailMe application. Such fact might be an indication of a forthcoming release of the iPhone 5 as Apple typically introduces major iOS updates in the days surrounding new iPhone launches. Apple Store employees have begun receiving detailed information on Apple’s upcoming iCloud service and iOS 5. Apple originally said iCloud would be launching alongside iOS 5.  This iOS 5 and iCloud training news helps support rumors about  late September iPhone 5 pre-orders and an early October launch.

First evidences anticipating radical redesign of the iPhone 4 appeared in April. The co-called iPhone 4S/iPhone 5 was expected to adopt new larger form factor. Late in July a design document for the iPhone 5 was surfaced. According to this document, we assumed that the iPhone 5 design should have had dimensions of 4.33" x 2.36", suggesting a shorter but only slightly wider design. In comparison, the iPhone 4 dimensions are 4.5" x 2.31". Soon after appearing of that document, different third-party case manufacturers began producing cases for the rumored iPhone 5.

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Best Buy expects that the iPhone 5 will be available for pre-order during the first week of October. BGR points to an internal memo:

Thanks to a leaked document from a Best Buy source, we have discovered that Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores are anticipating taking preorders for the iPhone 5 starting in the first week of October. What’s a tad bit more interesting, however, is the mention (and further anticipation) that Sprint will be carrying the iPhone 5 at launch.

Of course, the dates may be changed. Noteworthy to say that the Wall Street Journal is also anticipating Sprint will be carrying the iPhone 5. Meanwhile, Best Buy is also expecting a new "Apple Fixture Installation" on Friday, October 21st.

To be clear, this isn’t a run-of-the-mill installation for the big box — our tipster tells us that the request that a manager be on-hand at 6AM is out of the ordinary (they usually show up at 7AM for inventory), and that a similar arrangement was scheduled for the iPhone 4 launch.

Recently 9to5Mac and AppleInsider have published new evidences showing Apple’s work on a "Find My Friends" service that was originally discovered in iOS 4.3. "Find My Friends" is a location-based friend-finding service like Loopt and Google Latitude. The strings (embedded above) seem to confirm those suspicions:

It includes references to standard social networking functions, like a list of people a user is "following," as well as "pending" and "accepted" follower requests. The code also mentions user statuses, updates, blocking of users and removing followers.

"Find My Friends" will allow you to find your friends who near you in real time by leveraging your mobile phone's GPS signal and using constant updates. This service will also allow you to "follow" or be followed by others.