The mobile user interface is set for a range of changes in the next 12-24 months, creating new modes for users to interact with their devices, and with other devices nearby and network-based services.
For months, rumours and speculation have been obsessed with the next iPhone's hardware including the screen size, a processor upgrade, more memory, the shape of the case and even the material used for the case. But the announcement (Wednesday AEST) at Apple's California headquarters is more likely to show the company's conviction that hardware is in a sense simply an "enabler" for software.
Apple has finally revealed the date it is expected to unveil its next-generation iPhone, the iPhone 5. The company sent out invitations to the media overnight for an event on Wednesday morning 5 October (Australian time).
According to current speculation, Apple's iPhone 5 is just weeks away from becoming a reality.
Apple reportedly will send the Golden Master version of its iOS 5 mobile operating system to manufacturing partners around the last week of September, and that means a new iPhone could be on the way shortly thereafter.
It shouldn't come as a shock that iOS 5 beta 6 has succumbed to jailbreaking. But unlike the usual speedy jailbreak action we're used to seeing (i.e. jailbreaks discovered within 24 hours), this one took nearly three days to figure out, which is a pretty slow turnaround for the hacking community. Either way, the tools required to unlock iOS 5 beta 6 are now here.
Apple is testing internally the next major iOS release with third-party applications, according to some trace evidence uncovered by an iPhone software developer.
Apple watchers are buzzing about a possible iOS 5 launch this fall, suggesting the company will break from recent tradition and release the new mobile operating system software after its next iPhone.