The lastest news is Sprint has got the certification to sale iPhone 5 in Oct.. And Sprint became the third carrier of "Big Four" which cooperate with Apple, except T-Mobile.
The latest beta-test version of iOS 5 includes code for supporting LTE-enabled devices. While the immediate focus will be on 4G smartphone implications, there's a more prescient matter at hand: once the iPhone 5 and see their release date, this latest discovery points to one or (more likely) both being 4G LTE devices.
And that falls in line with Steve Jobs’ original vision for the iPad, which he believes will eventually replace personal computers such as Macs and PCs for most users. Part of that equation comes from increasing horsepower under the hood of the iPad, which will allow for ever more sophisticated apps to propel the iPad toward being a computer replacement. But the other part involves the iPad being a networked device with speeds worth putting to use.
Currently, the iPad 2 (as was the case with the original iPad before it) offers the same 3G cellular data network access as the iPhone, which allows the device to essentially access the internet anywhere cellphone signals are present. There’s also a cheaper iPad model which can only access wifi, but as the iPad era has gone on, an increasing percentage of iPad sales have been of the 3G model through either Verizon or AT&T. Consumers have demonstrated that they want to be able to access the internet and network-based functionality such as online gaming and social networks while on the go, and not just when they’re able to find wifi, which is usually a source of frustration outside of ones own home. But 3G networking is barely fast enough to support the comparatively lighter-weight computing which typically takes place on smartphones, leaving the iPad in the position of attempting to replace the computer while only offering the mobile network speeds of a phone. This latest iOS 5 nugget, however, suggests that the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 release dates could bring with it faster speeds, which could also point to just when the latter might arrive…
Apple has yet to give any indication of whether the iPad 3 will be a late 2011 or early 2012 product, even as the iPhone 5 seems clear for fall 2011 takeoff. Apple’s traditional annual product cycle points to the latter, while various hints have suggested the former instead. But the later the iPad 3 arrives, the more likely it is to support 4G LTE networking. While Verizon has been slow in rolling out its planned 4G LTE nationwide network (LTE coverage is defined on the map by dots on big cities rather than shaded areas over regions, to give you an idea), AT&T has done far worse: it offers no map because its 4G LTE plans consist mostly of smoke and mirrors even as it considers acquiring T-Mobile so as to integrate the carrier’s quasi-4G network instead. That would seem to point to a 4G LTE iPad 3 later than sooner. But upon more careful analysis, it becomes fuzzier: Apple wouldn’t be adding 4G LTE hooks into iOS 5 now unless it’s planning to roll out LTE-based products on iOS 5 right from the start. That could either be a new LTE iPhone 5 this year, or it could be an LTE iPad 3. But it has to be one or the other, and it has to be this fall, or else Apple would have waited to build the LTE code into a later iOS 5 iteration such as iOS 5.1 or iOS 5.2 next year. In the mean time, all we know for sure is that Apple is gearing up to release 4G LTE product(s) this fall including the iPhone 5 and perhaps the iPod touch 5, and whenever the iPad 3 rolls around, it appears it’ll be supporting 4G LTE as well. Here’s more on the iPad 3. Here’s more on the iPhone 5.
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