Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster has been saying for more than a year that he expects Apple's (AAPL) to introduce a "family" of new iPhones in 2009. On Monday afternoon, less than a week before the start of WWDC, the company's annual developers conference, two reports surfaced that suggest his expectations may finally be realized.
Neither report has received independent confirmation and there are elements of the second that raise eyebrows. Among the specs listed in the Fido snapshot is "Video Calling (iChat)" -- a feature that would require a camera mounted on the front of the iPhone. This is not inconceivable, but it would give the new iPhone two cameras -- one on the front for iChat, the other on the back for normal photos and videos. That's a lot of optical hardware for $99.
Whether a new iPhone will be unveiled at Apple's (AAPL) World Wide Developers Conference -- which begins a week from today -- is still an open question, but all the signs of an impending announcement are now in place.
Two weeks ago, we got specs and spot shortages (see here). Last week the leaked photos started showing up. The provenance of none of them is certain, but neither has any been MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jun 1, 2009 10:16 AM ET