For months, the Internet has been a rumor generating machine in regards to the next version of the iPhone. Now that Apple has announced the iPhone 4S, we look back on all those rumors that have now proven to be wishful thinking.
The iPhone 5: This was perhaps the biggest rumor that came crashing down at Apple"s press event. As Brad mentioned earlier today, there were ton of rumors and even leaks of iPhone 5 cases that seemed to show that it would have a bigger 4-inch screen and a new teardrop-like case design. Instead we get the iPhone 4S, which has a lot of changes inside but has the same screen and case size as the iPhone 4. Were all of those previous reports false or will we see this new design in 2012? Time will tell.
The Facebook announcements: We heard a lot in the past few days about how Facebook was going to make some big announcements at Apple"s press event, such as launching a new iPad exclusive Facebook app, an improved version of the iPhone Facebook app and perhaps launch an HTML5-based app store called Project Spartan. Well, the event has come and gone and no such announcements were made at all. iPad users in particular must be wondering what the hold up is on their Facebook app.
The retirement of the iPod Classic and the iPod Shuffle: While Apple isn"t making as big of a deal of its iPod media player line as it has in the past, the rumors that it would discontinue the iPod Classic and the iPod Shuffle were flat out wrong. While both won"t be getting new models, Apple hasn"t stopped selling them either, unlike Microsoft who this week finally put the Zune media player business out of its misery.
Sprint"s exclusive deal: Late on Monday it was claimed that Sprint might get an time exclusive on the iPhone 5 for the next several months, with Verizon and AT&T getting the phone in 2012. We had our doubts about this story right off the bat and they were confirmed today when there was no such exclusive deal announced. We think that Sprint getting the iPhone 4S, with its unlimited data plan, is pretty big news on its own, thank you very much.
So what have we learned? As always, rumors might be fun to read about but in the end take them with a huge grain of salt, no matter what news source they come from.