iPhone 5 release date confirmed, as Apple amps Chinese sweat

The new iPhone ’5′ release date is confirmed by various sources and by Apple partners’ feverish activity in China. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is strongly expected to announce the device on 9/12 and ship on 9/21. We might also see the 7-8 inch iPad Mini. So we’re overdue for another Richi-style roundup: In IT Blogwatch, bloggers separate specious rumor from triangulated fact.

By Richi Jennings: Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: Dinner with Neil Armstrong…
  
  
Rene Ritchie (no relation) recounts the rumor and tells the tale:

Apple is planning to debut the new iPhone…September 12…with the release date…September 21. … The iPad mini will be announced at the same…event.
…
[This] schedule would put the iPhone 5 launch at just over 11 months after the iPhone 4S. …recent reports and parts leaks [show] the 4-inch, 16:9 screen version is what Apple’s going with…the new, smaller Dock connector…along with the nano-SIM…in-cell display…LTE radio…and the bigger battery.
…
If these…dates prove accurate, we should find out in only 6 short weeks.      

       
John Paczkowski brandishes the C-word:

…we’ve confirmed it. …an event for the week of September 9th, with Wednesday being…likely.
…
Apple is ramping up for a big fall product cycle. …you need only look at the recent spike in the company’s prepayment…[in] Apple’s latest 10-Q. … [They're] at their highest level in four years…a good indicator that Apple is ramping up for a big product launch.      

As does Dante D’Orazio:

Our own sources familiar with the matter have confirmed that date.
…
It’s still not certain…but it seems very likely that it will be the next-generation iPhone.      

Ah, but “very likely” isn’t exactly definitive. What does Jim Dalrymple say? Is it the iPhone 5?

Yep.      

TL;DR. So what of our own Jonny Evans? He’s been predicting this for many weeks:

It is no secret [Apple] has held a special event at around this time each year since…2001. Traditionally [for] the latest iterations of its music products. … However, as iPod sales decline the company is becoming ever more focused on…connected mobile devices.
…
Connectivity will be the focus of the September 12 launch…reflecting the importance of Apple’s cloud-based media management solution, iTunes Match.
…
It might be wise to temper expectation based on component orders. … Given the huge growth in interest in smartphones [Apple must] ensure it has sufficient component supply to manufacture tens of millions of…new iPhone[s]. … This alone could account for the huge climb in [prepayment].      

Meanwhile, Tiernan Ray triangulates rumors from the market perspective:

Cirrus Logic‘s (CRUS) claim…that it will see revenue rise by 70%…is provocative given that the company gets about 60% of [its] revenue…from Apple.
…
Cirrus Logic stock is up $6.51, or 22%. … The stock sees…Vernon Essi of Needham Co. raising his target…“though investors were expecting CRUS to be in the iPhone 5, this guide indicates a considerable content increase in the iPhone 5 as well as the new iPad line-up.”.      

      
And Finally…
Dinner with Neil Armstrong 

Article source: http://blogs.computerworld.com/smartphones/20772/iphone-5-release-date-confirmed-apple-amps-chinese-sweat