iPhone 5 Release Date Is Upon Us?

Invitations are here just in time to tease us for the new iPhone 5 release date.  Yes, save the date, Wednesday, September 12, 2012, will mark Apple's special event where all indications point to the unveiling of their next generation iPhone, the new iPhone 5.

According to Jim Dalrymple over at The Loop, the invitation he received "says the event will take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts at 10:00 am."

If you haven't had a chance to see what appears to be Apple's next generation iPhone, check out the video below!

Samsung Galaxy S3 Release Date

Yes, details are beginning to firm up on the Samsung Galaxy S3 release date.  Not only is the Samsung Galaxy S3 going to be released in London, but it's going to be the official smartphone of the 2012 Summer Olympics!

Rumors have it that, prior to the actual Samsung Galaxy release date, Samsung will unveil their new Galaxy S3 in London, on May 3, 2012, at the Samsung Mobile "Unpacked" event.

According to BGR, inside sources are also indicating that major launches could be occurring in New York, Seoul, and Dubai.

Clearly, Samsung is looking to play off of the success of their previous Samsung Galaxy smartphones and want to make a big splash with the new Samsung Galaxy S3.

In terms of launch details, the new Galaxy S3 is expected to ship in two color options (white and black / blue), running a 1.5GHz Exynos quad-core processor, communicating with a 4G LTE radio, sporting a 4.8" full HD display, and housing an 8 megapixel rear camera / 2 megapixel front facing camera.

As would be expected, the Samsung S3 is also expected to be released running Android's 4.0 Ice Cream sandwich operating system at looks like Samsung will be getting rid of the plastic backing for a ceramic and / or metal backing!

iPhone 4S Record Sales - Who's Really Disappointed?

As the reality and disappointment in the tech community set in that Apple wasn't going to be releasing a new iPhone 5, just a modified iPhone 4, consumers came away from the Apple special event with clearly a different take as evidenced by their actions when they got their first chance to preorder a new iPhone 4S.

The iPhone 4S pre-order period ended with record sales surpassing (by nearly 400,000 units) the record sales set forth during the iPhone 4 preorder period.

"CUPERTINO, California—October 10, 2011—Apple® today announced pre-orders of its iPhone® 4S have topped one million in a single day, surpassing the previous single day pre-order record of 600,000 held by iPhone 4."

Why such a disconnect between the media takeaway of the Apple Special event and the consumer who clearly ignored this negative sentiment with an overwhelming eagerness to get their hands on a new iPhone 4S?  Really, the answer is quite simple.

Needless to say, Apple has built quite a reputation on creating quality products.  Whether you're a fan of them or not, you can't deny that their products connect with an overwhelming number of consumers.  If you're a techie, you can gripe that the iPhone is limited in customization options (without jailbreaking), but, in being objective, you have to admit that the iPhone is solid in nearly every aspect from form to function.  There's little disagreement that it's the industry standard (even if you're an Android fan).

If you're a consumer, you're not worried about any (or at least most) of these technical nuances.  When you take your new iPhone out of the box, it looks great.  You turn it on, it looks even better.  You immediately go to use it and there's virtually no learning curve in getting started with the basic functions.

If you view the iPhone 4S from this vantage point, let's look at what you get.  The iPhone 4S has the same great design that the iPhone 4 had, but it will be faster, loaded with new software features, a better camera and video recording capabilities, and a new voice operated assistant.  Of course the consumer's reaction is going to be, "Wow!".  Your friend loves their iPhone, there's no way I'm not going to love the new one even more!  You get my point.

For the most part, the general consumer is not overly concerned and, in many instances, may not even be aware of all of the small details that come under the hood of the new iPhone 4S.  They may not realize that it's essentially twice as fast as the iPhone 4, boasting 7x improved graphics performance.  They may not even understand what the new notification system and iMessage software enhancements will mean to them in terms of improved performance and overall usability.  They may not even realize that Siri software is the foundation behind the new voice operated assistant.  These are mere details that the tech community delves into and is left to sort out while the consumer is going to stick with the general tag lines that Apple and Apple owners market so well.

From the tech side, they were widely anticipating and eagerly waiting for the "oh, there's one more thing" and the "one more thing" was supposed to be the new iPhone 5.  When that didn't show, neither did their overwhelming excitement and positive reviews for the new iPhone 4S!