

Report: iPhone 5 Will Be 'Completely Redesigned' - joshrule
http://www.nytimes.com/external/readwriteweb/2011/01/17/17readwriteweb-report-iphone-5-will-be-completely-redesign-90456.html?ref=technology

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cjoh
I really don't like this co-branding the Times has been doing for awhile. This
is actually a ReadWriteWeb article, not an article written by Times staff, and
not one that goes through the Times' fact-checking process or anything else.

Here's the original:
[http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/iphone_5_completely_red...](http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/iphone_5_completely_redesigned.php)

Every time I get an article like this, and it's under the times brand, I
presume that it's been through the editorial processes of the Times. But it
hasn't. It's a way to confuse credibility and I really wish the Times wouldn't
do this.

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brudgers
The _New York Times_ selling unsubstantiated rumors as newsworthy, shows why
the newspapers are in trouble. It is nearly impossible to imagine Apple
allowing someone else's shoddy product to carry their logo...let alone doing
so on a regular basis.

~~~
Charuru
It's not sold... it's just a syndicated blog. You won't find this article in
the newspaper...

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brudgers
Only Apple can get this sort of marketing fluff in the _The New York Times_
very morning Wall Street will respond to the announcement about Jobs. When
_Endgadget_ calling their sources "Reliable"is sufficient for its editors, the
_Times_ is only one or two steps above _MacRumors_.

~~~
thushan
I think it's important to note that this isn't a New York Times piece but a
Read Write Web (and an amateurly written one at that) reposted in the NYT
template shell. It's a bit misleading to call it an NYT article entirely,
though they should take some responsibility for republishing it.

~~~
brudgers
How would it be different if they hired an independent journalist to write it?
Apple gets their PR in front of analysts on the subway and the _The New York
Times_ can maintain plausible deniablity.

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phwd
Why does it have to mention Steve as a key part to the process in such a way
that his leave of absence determines the success or failure of Apple ? The
last few quarters have been pretty good for them right ?

Jobs was absent for a good bit in 2009 (the same year 3GS was released). I
think that if Jobs is the visionary and leader everyone talks about then a few
months without him cannot dent the Apple market and development. The company
will still run, it is still running. It did it in 2009 and it can do it again
in my opinion.

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brown9-2
Because most business journalism isn't all that good.

If the product is going to be out in the summer you can bet a good amount of
the design has been going on for many months. Obviously Jobs would be heavily
involved in it, and would continue to be. This point of the article doesn't
make much sense to anyone who thinks about it for more than a few seconds or
who is familiar with how products are designed; it's as if they intentionally
decided to keep the story at the surface-level.

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stcredzero
_Because most business journalism isn't all that good._

Science journalism is bad. Political journalism stinks. Is it a case of those
who can do, do, but those who can't report?

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euroclydon
I didn't see anything in there about a new _design_ , just different software
capabilities. A new _design_ , to me, would be a slightly larger screen so
that my Kindle-App technical books would be more readable.

~~~
Someone
Opinions differ. To me, a 'complete redesign' means that all previous design
decisions get revisited. The end effect of a redesign could, in extreme cases,
even be the identical product (that is what Coca-Cola eventually did in the
80s)

For iPhone, I would expect differences, though. The technology (especially
batteries and screens) improves rapidly, and the target audience changes, too.
On the one hand, apple has to reach out to less technologically savvy users;
on the other hand, even those likely are more familiar with the UI than the
original iPhone buyers were.

I would expect that the UI and the hardware should focus more and more on the
cloud. The (eventual) end result of that will be the removal of the iPod
connector in iPhone 7 or therabouts.

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kmfrk
Sounds like they've bought too much of the hype without having any tangible to
show for it.

It's very likely that we won't see a Home button on any future iOS devices;
that's pretty impressive, but the new gestures seem to perform the same
function really well. It should put Apple way ahead of other mobile platforms
who still struggle with which order to place all their buttons.

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lukifer
I don't buy it. We _might_ see an option to make Home inert, but to be
completely buttonless hurts discoverability and familiarity with non-techy
consumers.

(I won't say it's completely impossible that Apple would do it, just that it's
overall a bad idea.)

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pohl
That would be perfect for my toddler. He sits on my lap and plays with Uzu (an
app) but can't resist the home button. There seems to be many people asking in
forums for cases that solve the same problem by obscuring the button. It could
be great for a kiosk mode too, especially if the gestures to get out of the
app could be a chosen secret.

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lukeschlather
Yes, it would make a great toy / embedded device.

However, as a phone I don't see how less than a back button and a home button
is sufficient. It's a lot like the mouse debate. I need at least a couple
hardware buttons.

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glhaynes
Lots of iPhone users are quite productive with just a home button and no back
button. Not to say that it's definitively better that way (I think I prefer
it, though I haven't spent nearly as much time with an Android device), but
it's certainly not so much worse as to cause an outcry for it.

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achompas
Re: Jobs's absence, AAPL stock increased by 52% while he was gone from January
2009 to the start of July 2009.

Given that the iPhone 5 has been effectively complete for a little while, and
given Apple's performance during 2009H1, I really don't see why there's a
question about Apple's performance in 2011.

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zackattack
the results from 1/2009-7/2009 were the product of work completed earlier

~~~
achompas
Fair point. My extremely scientific analysis of (a) setting a 6-month interval
on GFinance, and (b) dragging that 6-month interval forward from January 2009
revealed no lower than a 10% return on AAPL at any point in time.

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tomlin
Proximity payment system? Banks, meet your "Napster".

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adolph
Would you explain why proximity payment is like Napster to banks? My (limited)
understanding of proximity payment is that it is a token that isn't very
different from the magnetic strip swipe; it is still a token that resolves to
a particular bank account through a payment processing network.

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tomlin
Sorry for my rather brief thought. Here it is explained:

Napster changed the music industry forever and caused the music industry to
(at least to some extent) change.

My thought is that proximity payments + API for banking system (ie: PayPal or
Google equivalent) would shake things up for the banking industry.

In other words, if you could completely bypass the big banks - while they
struggle to implement 10 year old payment system technology, not to mention
high service fees - you'd end up with a system that is more convenient and
manageable.

My point wasn't the file sharing aspect of Napster. It was about how Napster
changed an industry.

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jarek
I'm not sure what you are suggesting can change. You cannot completely bypass
the big banks with just proximity payments. That's where the money is. Apple
can help you move your money, from your bank account, to a merchant, into
their bank account, but that's just Paypal level of functionality, nothing
new.

Proximity non-card payments will change the situation for the debit/credit
card operators, and possibly to a degree for Paypal-like services. Big banks
are here to stay, and if they change something, it'll sooner be reasonably
priced wire transfers to cut out the Paypal/cheque alternatives from hell.

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tomlin
You're thinking of a complete overall, whereas I am thinking a gradual
disposition.

To some extent, the card is where the control is. PayPal knows this, which is
why they came out with a debit and credit card.

If a proximity payment service emerged that could interact with the API inside
a device, it is a matter of time before a "simple, affordable
microtransaction" service/app comes about. From there, exponential growth due
to the order of convenience and simplicity. Banks, meet your "Napster", as it
were.

Imagine mint.com came out with a proximity payment system for all devices and
used the existing mint.com system as your "Bank Account" overview. Simply
amazing!

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nextparadigms
Something tells me it will also have a bigger screen - like 4". The PPI would
still be good enough, although less than 300 PPI.

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sledmonkey
good enough isn't something apple seems willing to compromise with on their
displays. they were pretty clear about the 300ppi benchmark and it's
significance when they announced the iphone 4. my guess is they never dip
below that again on their phones.

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rman666
Angry Birds will work in portrait orientation.

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pedanticfreak
It is far too late for Jobs' illness to have any effect on the iPhone 5. That
product is practically done from a design standpoint if it is going to be in
user's hands by July.

If anything the iPhone 5 will be largely similar to the iPhone 4 except faster
and with an NFC chip in it. And yes, a dual CDMA/GSM radio which happens to
come from Qualcomm.

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chanux
Jobs is not on leave. He went to meet his alien friends to get new iPhone
design.

