Yesterday, Apple announced that on Tuesday, October 4 at 10am Pacific, Apple will hold an iPhone-related special event on its campus in Cupertino, California. This will be the announcement of the new, 2011 version of the iPhone. In other words, it appears that the rumor I discussed last week was true.
The invitation to the event includes this picture with the caption "Let's talk iPhone."
The pictures on Apple's event invitations often provide clues about the event itself. This time, the picture contains four iOS icons, reflecting that this will be an iPhone event. The first icon reflects that the event is on Tuesday the 4th, the second reflects that the event starts at 10am, and the third icon reflects that the event will be at Apple's headquarters, the 1 Infinite Loop campus adjacent to I-280 in Cupertino.
The fourth icon is somewhat of a mystery. Why did Apple include an icon of the phone app, and then choose to put a 1 on it? This is a representation of a single new voice mail, so perhaps it is simply indicates that Apple has something that it wants to tell us. But could it mean something else? As I was wondering this last night, I saw California attorney David Sparks tweet: "Have the Kremlinologists started on the iPhone event announcement yet? I bet the little '1' over the phone will spawn many posts." For example, Lex Friedman of Macworld speculates that the "1" might indicate that there will be only a single new iPhone model announced next week (and that post also includes a good discussion of some of the likely, possible, and unlikely features in a new iPhone).
And then there is the message below the icons. Let's talk iPhone. Dave Caolo speculates that perhaps this should be read as "Let's talk, iPhone" with a comma, reflecting Apple integrating Nuance technology into the next iPhone that will let you speak commands to the iPhone. Andy Ihnatko of the Chicago Sun Times has a similar thought. Whether or not this is reading too much into three words, I would really love it if the rumors are true and Apple will include advanced speach recognition technology in the new iPhone.
For more absurd interpretations of the picture on the event announcement, see this post by Steven Sande of TUAW, and this post in which Alan of Art of the iPhone wonders if the four square icons means that Apple is buying FourSquare.
What will the new iPhone include? Will it be called the "iPhone 5" or something else? When will it be available? How much will it cost? We'll know the answers to all of these questions in less than a week.
