Monday, May 16, 2011

The iPhone 5 News Blog News Feed

The iPhone 5 News Blog News Feed

iPhone 4s on Sprint, T-Mobile Could Pave the Way For a Massive iPhone 5 4G Launch in 2012

Posted: 16 May 2011 08:05 AM PDT


Let’s try to make sense of these new iPhone 4s rumors.

Doubtless you’ve heard the recent rumors that the fabled iPhone 5 could in fact end up being branded as the “iPhone 4s,” and released in the late-Summer/early-Fall timeframe that seems increasingly likely. While many of us find the notion of naming the next iPhone the iPhone 4s to be both perplexing and ill-advised on the part of Apple, one must admit that calling the next iPhone the “iPhone 5″ was never an absolute, what with Apple’s use of the “3Gs” tag after the release of the iPhone 3G. However, if Apple chooses to go with “iPhone 4s” instead of “iPhone 5,” their choice most certainly means something, and speaks to their long-term strategy for marketing the iPhone product line.

It may be that the iPhone 4s could be a transitional product that onboards new mobile carriers, such as Sprint and T-Mobile, as well as a host of new iPhone users, all in anticipation for a massive 4G-equipped iPhone 5 for 2012.

If this were to happen, strangely, all of the rumors — however wacky some of them have seemed — will have been true: the mysterious, rumored iPhone 4s getting released, the next iPhone release arriving in late-Summer/early-Fall, and a 4G-ready iPhone 5 indeed coming in 2012.

The iPhone 4s Gets Everybody on the Same Page

In spite of the huge success of the iPhone 4, Apple has failed to achieve sales parity with all of its mobile network partners. While the white iPhone 4 was released simultaneously on AT&T and Verizon, the 6-month-delayed release of the Verizon iPhone 4 must have complicated the sales cycle of the iPhone 4 to some extent for Apple. They are most definitely looking to launch their next new iPhone device all at once in an iPhone onslaught, to rival the multiplicity of Android offerings this year.

In order to accomplish this, forging a partnership with Sprint and doing the necessarily things to onboard T-Mobile for the iPhone would go a long way in making the next iPhone release — whether it be called the iPhone 5 or iPhone 4s — Apple’s biggest iPhone launch ever. Giving the iPhone 4s to both of these carriers would indoctrinate a huge swath of Sprint customers to the iPhone and give them a chance to buy into the most cutting-edge version of the iPhone 4 franchise, all of which could be a step towards amassing a wide pool of iPhone users for a 2012 iPhone 5 release, complete with the 4G capabilities that everyone is eagerly anticipating.

iPhone 4s on Sprint and T-Mobile: Why It Won’t Be Easy

It only takes a few keystrokes for the iPhone rumor mill to postulate that the supposed iPhone 4s will magically end up on Sprint and T-Mobile. The reality is that, while all parties involved could get the deal done, it isn’t as easy it may seem for Apple to bring Sprint and even newly-AT&T-acquired T-Mobile into the iPhone fold.

Sprint has most certainly expressed interest in carrying the iPhone, as we have reported in another article. And the fact that the iPhone 4 has a CDMA version for Verizon, and that the next iPhone will most likely be a GSM/CDMA hybrid device, makes it technologically possible to add Sprint to the list of mobile networks carrying the iPhone 4s. But the complexity of adding Sprint to the mix also lies in Apple’s relationship with AT&T and Verizon: whereas both of these carriers have doubtless picked up new customers coming off of their Sprint contracts, looking to buy into the world of the iPhone, Sprint will lose much fewer customers if they get the iPhone 4s. In fact, they may quickly become the cheapest iPhone carrier, which could hurt Verizon the most, as both companies use CDMA.

T-Mobile is another story.

T-Mobile told us directly that they would not be offering the iPhone in 2011, as we reported in another article. T-Mobile cites a series of flaming hoops that they still need to jump through in order to complete their acquisition by AT&T, as well as AT&T needing to strike a separate deal with Apple to get the iPhone on T-Mobile (since T-Mobile will remain a separate company and not be subsumed into AT&T). There is also the issue of the fact that AT&T and T-Mobile work on different 3G bands.

In this way, T-Mobile carrying this “iPhone 4s” in 2011 still seems unlikely. Sprint, however, remains more of a possibility.

An iPhone 5 Launch in 2012 Could Mean a Wave of 4G iPhone Goodness

Even if T-Mobile was not to get on board with the iPhone until the release of an iPhone 5 in 2012, if the iPhone 5 features 4G technology, we could see a virtual tidal wave of 4G users palming the iPhone 5 in 2012, with AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile all launching it simultaneously. For all we know, Google, too, is planning 2012 as their year of deploying widespread Android smartphones, and Apple is simply going to use the iPhone 4s as a stop-gap to get them through the end of 2011 — yet another way that they are extending the life cycle of the iPhone 4 product line.

Whether the  2011 iPhone will have “4s” or “5″ after its name, one thing remains probable: the iPhone 5 will continue to be the most anticipated iPhone in its history — whenever it may finally arrive.