-Hello and welcome to Inside Scoop and Sumi Das and joining me is Josh Lowensohn, staff writer for CNET.com.
Josh, thanks for being with us
-My pleasure.
-especially just hours after you got up a plane coming from vacation.
-Sure.
-How better to start your week back than to talk about Apple and this new rumors about the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5S going into production in early 2013, which really isn't that far away.
Didn't we just hear about the iPhone 5 and wasn't it just released?
-That's a crazy thing.
I mean the iPhone 5 just came out in September.
I mean it's not even out in some countries.
-Wait.
-They're still planning a launching for the next few months.
-Wait list-- yeah.
-Yeah, people are still lining up for this thing, all not lining up but you have to line up online basically.
It's a couple of weeks to get one.
-Right.
-But keep in mind this is a device that we actually got finished up last year.
It went in the production early in the year.
They're building a map and that's what it happens.
I mean these things take months to make and in the scale that we're talking, which is millions of units.
-Okay.
So let's first talk about the rumor.
Where it did originate from?
A Chinese publication, tell us about that and whether or not this is a reliable source historically.
-Sure.
So, it did come from China Times.
And they're actually-- the interesting thing about this is that sometimes they've been wronged about things.
-Uh huh.
-But they nailed this rumor about the iPhone 5 going to early production last year.
-Okay.
-And so the timetables when we go back, it really does gonna work out.
The really unexciting part about this rumor is that they say iPhone 5S.
When you're talking about innovations, the S models
we've had the 3GS, we had the 4S, it's safe to say we're gonna get 5S too.
This is technically not exciting product.
-Uh huh.
-It's an innovation that usually, you know, speeded up a little bit, the log, a better camera, maybe some improvement wireless.
That's not sexy, right?
-Right.
-I mean it's just--
-It's-- It's obviously doesn't have the excitement around it that the 5 had around it.
-Right.
I think the key thing to think about these kind of rumors is when we're talking cellphones you get people on contracts.
So, they get a new phone every typically 2 years.
So, you get these groups of people, these waves so we've seen it what the 4 and the 4S
-Uh huh.
-now with the 5.
This people buy every cycles and something like the 5S would, you know, be just in point without full innovative process.
-The iPad 4 when it was announced along with the iPad mini, that kind of took people by a surprise and a lot of people were angry because they had just bought the iPad 3.
So, what does do to customers?
I mean what kind of message is Apple sending?
I mean if I'm thinking about buying a phone and there's a new one every 6 months, I feel like I never gonna buy a phone 'cause I'm always gonna feel like I'm gonna get the phone and then within a matter of months it's already gonna be out today.
-Sure.
And this is really something that people on Android are used to.
I mean you have a new flagship phone every couple of months.
-Uh huh.
-At some point, it would be almost every couple of weeks you got this new benchmark device, which is
the latest and greatest that everything Android--
-But Apple fans get their knickers in a twist once you get off the product cycle.
You know what I mean?
-They do.
And that's what complicates.
It was something like this-- this whole S class device.
The people are really looking for that big jump.
Don't get it.
But the people need a new device.
Someone say it's a little bit better.
You know, it's right there.
It's right on time for that.
-So if it does indeed go into production in early 2013, then we won't see it for 6 months after that.
Is that--
-Presumably that means it would be a summer release.
-Okay.
-And that's what we saw with the iPhone 4 and then like moved to the fall with the 4S and obviously with the 5 too.
The big potential thing that I see with this rumor actually being true is that Apple really needs something the changes up when they're releasing their products.
It really pushes everything towards the end of the year and that complicates of the financials
-Right.
-when you-- when you're comparing quarter every quarter and you don't have that growth to compare it to.
They might change it up just to make those numbers look better and really catch some of those people around that older cycle
and really get the people wanna buy the phones for summer and have enough for the holidays.
Something that might be a problem with the 5.
-Alright Josh if these rumors start to percolate more, you'll keep us on us and let us know, right?
-Definitely.
-For Inside Scoop, I'm Sumi Das.
Thanks for watching.
