Former Vice President andApple board memberAl Gore hasconfirmedthat new iPhones will be released in October. He specificallystatedthat ‘the new iPhones would be out next month’ at theDiscovery Invest Leadership Summittoday.
We’ve been informed byToby Shapshak, the editor of Stuff Magazine in South Africa that is attending the conference, that his quote was specifically: “Not to mention the new iPhones coming out next month. That was a plug.”
Shapshak says that the statement was definitely plural, although it wasn’t clear whether that meant two different models, as the statement was not clarified in any way by Gore.
But we think that it is certainly possible that this implies that there are two new iPhones in the pipeline. Many rumors recently have been focused on the fact that there aretwo models being developed, a cheaper, although cosmetically similar, version of the iPhone 4 and a new, redesigned iPhone 5.
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Yes, it’s completely true that Apple has been saying that it will release iOS 5 and, presumably, new hardware to go along with it, this fall. But this is the first time that anyone with ties to the Apple organization, even if it is just a Board Member, has made any affirmative statements about the release of its next-gen iPhone.
There is always the possibility that Gore misspoke, of course, or was just making statements based on the rumors that are already out there, but it seems like a pretty big mistake to make at a public conference.
Just this morning a report from All Things Dpeggedthe date of Apple’s next event as October 4th. This statement was latercorroboratedby Jim Dalrymple of The Loop. Both Dalrymple and All Things D are known to be excellent sources of Apple information so we’re pretty confident that this date is correct.
Still, it’s pretty unusual to have an Apple Board member say anything definite about Apple’s Plans for future products, as its company policy is that it does not speak about them, period. Although Gore isn’t an Apple employee, he has been aninfluential memberof Apple’s board, spearheading efforts to make the company more environmentally friendly and energy efficient.
So, now that Gore says that we’re getting a new iPhone next month, do you believe it more? He is a politician after all and we all know how much they like to say things, regardless of how true they are.
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Story byMatthew Panzarino
Matthew Panzarino was Managing Editor at TNW. He’s no longer with the company, but you can follow him on Twitter.(show all)Matthew Panzarino was Managing Editor at TNW. He’s no longer with the company, but you can follow him onTwitter.
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