Technologizer

Five Questions About Apple’s ‘5’ Event on September 12

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Back on July 30, iMore’s Rene Ritchie reported that Apple would announce the iPhone 5 at a press event on September 12. Ritchie is among the handful of Apple rumormongers who are actually pretty reliable and never spout utter nonsense, so I assumed that Apple would indeed announce the iPhone 5 at a press event on September 12.

Now it’s all but official. Apple has sent out invites to a September 12 event in San Francisco. It follows the company’s recent trend of being a tad less cryptic than these invitations once were: The imagery is a 12 casting a 5 as its shadow. Either Apple is planning to rickroll everyone who attends the event — which seems unlikely — or it’ll announce the iPhone 5 next Wednesday.

In the spirit of the 5-themed invite, here are five quick questions about the event and whatever will be introduced at it:

1. Will the new iPhone have 4G LTE? There are plenty of other rumors about the impending handset, including ones involving a taller screen and a new connector. But no single new feature will matter more than 4G wireless would — and no possible omission would be more startling.

2. Will it be called the iPhone 5? Maybe. But after the new iPad turned out to be called simply “iPad,” I began to assume that the new iPhone would be…the iPhone.

3. Will the iPad Mini — or whatever it’s called, assuming it’s real — be announced on September 12, too? According to Ritchie’s original rumor, it will be. But the current wisdom, which sounds logical to me, maintains that Apple wouldn’t want to unveil two blockbuster-type products at one event.

4. What’s going to happen to the iPod line? With the exception of the iPod Touch, iPods feel more like they’re part of Apple’s past than its future. But Ritchie’s original story said there’d be a new iPod Nano. And my colleague Jared Newman threatens to eat an earbud if Apple doesn’t refresh the iPod line soon. So I’m curious whether Apple can do anything to make an iPod upgrade feel innovative rather than dutiful.

5. How silly will the instant analysis of the event be? Last October, when Apple announced the iPhone 4S, a lot of experts helpfully explained why it was a huge disappointment and a sign that Steve Jobs’ absence as Apple’s CEO was already hurting the company. But someone forgot to tell consumers, who have bought the phone in record numbers. I’m curious to see if Apple can come up with anything that will wow the pundits — which seems to be an entirely different feat than pleasing consumers.

Any other questions we should be mulling over between now and next Wednesday morning at 10am PT, when I’ll be covering Apple’s event?