On Thursday morning, Apple (AAPL) invited the media to what will presumably be its annual fall product release: Sept. 9 at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts in Cupertino, Calif. As usual, Apple is playing it coy, saying only: “Wish we could say more.” But Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has been promising a wave of new products this year.
What’s on deck? Reports of two iPhones with 4.7- and 5.5-inch screens have proliferated in recent weeks, a logical choice given that other makers of high-end smartphones, including Samsung Electronics (005930:KS) and HTC (2498:TT), have been offering models with bigger screens for a while. Wired reports that the phones will also have a payments platform, a feature that’s been the center of speculation for several years and could build on Apple’s iBeacon technology, which it has been quietly developing. Reuters has reported that production of the larger screens has been complicated by late design tweaks, but the company has a pretty clear pattern: Fall is new iPhone time.
Re/code recently reported that Apple will also unveil a wearable device, using the HomeKit and HealthKit software it announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June to add smart-home and fitness-tracking features. In doing so, Apple will join a late-summer group of wrist computers that also include devices from LG (066570:KS), Samsung, and Motorola (GOOG).
(Bloomberg Businessweek)