UAE carrier in talks with Apple for iPhone 5 later this year
United Arab Emirates-based carrier Etisalat is in discussions with Apple to offer the "iPhone 5" later this year, according to a company executive.
Etisalat Chief Corporate Communication Officer Ali Al Ahmad acknowledged that his company is negotiating with Apple to carry the iPhone 5, even as the carrier begins rolling out its fourth-generation Long Term Evolution network later this year, Dubai's Gulf News reports.
"We are in talks with most smartphone manufacturers including Apple on the rollout of the 4G handset, iPhone 5 later this year. As the first telecom organisation to roll out the 4G network, LTE, in the Middle East, we have already started talking to them for the handsets and chipsets in them."
It's not immediately clear whether Al Ahmad is suggesting that the iPhone 5 will support Etisalat's LTE network, but the launch of an LTE iPhone is widely believed to have been pushed to 2012.
In the U.S., Verizon launched its LTE network late last year, while AT&T has plans to begin rolling out LTE by the end of this year. Verizon boasts real-world LTE data rates of between 5Mbps and 12Mbps downstream and 2Mbps to 5Mbps upstream. During a recent demo, AT&T showed off its LTE network running at supposed real-world download speeds of 28.87 Mbps and 10.4 Mbps for uploads.
In the race to reach true "4G" data speeds, wireless companies have scrambled to secure the necessary bandwidth and patents for LTE, sparking interest in a trove of 4G-related patents from the Canadian telecom equipment manufacturer Nortel. Last week, a report revealed that the U.S. Department of Justice has expressed concerns over Apple's interest in the patents. Meanwhile, AT&T claims that its $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA is necessary in order to obtain the required bandwidth for a nationwide LTE network.
Numerous reports have indicated that Apple's next iPhone, alternatively dubbed the iPhone 4GS and the iPhone 5, will arrive "later than usual," possibly in September. The smartphone is expected to receive upgrades in the form of an A5 processor and 8MP camera.
According to another carrier executive, France Telecom CEO Stephane Richard, Apple's next iPhone will be "smaller and thinner" and will feature an even smaller SIM card format.
Etisalat Chief Corporate Communication Officer Ali Al Ahmad acknowledged that his company is negotiating with Apple to carry the iPhone 5, even as the carrier begins rolling out its fourth-generation Long Term Evolution network later this year, Dubai's Gulf News reports.
"We are in talks with most smartphone manufacturers including Apple on the rollout of the 4G handset, iPhone 5 later this year. As the first telecom organisation to roll out the 4G network, LTE, in the Middle East, we have already started talking to them for the handsets and chipsets in them."
It's not immediately clear whether Al Ahmad is suggesting that the iPhone 5 will support Etisalat's LTE network, but the launch of an LTE iPhone is widely believed to have been pushed to 2012.
In the U.S., Verizon launched its LTE network late last year, while AT&T has plans to begin rolling out LTE by the end of this year. Verizon boasts real-world LTE data rates of between 5Mbps and 12Mbps downstream and 2Mbps to 5Mbps upstream. During a recent demo, AT&T showed off its LTE network running at supposed real-world download speeds of 28.87 Mbps and 10.4 Mbps for uploads.
In the race to reach true "4G" data speeds, wireless companies have scrambled to secure the necessary bandwidth and patents for LTE, sparking interest in a trove of 4G-related patents from the Canadian telecom equipment manufacturer Nortel. Last week, a report revealed that the U.S. Department of Justice has expressed concerns over Apple's interest in the patents. Meanwhile, AT&T claims that its $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA is necessary in order to obtain the required bandwidth for a nationwide LTE network.
Numerous reports have indicated that Apple's next iPhone, alternatively dubbed the iPhone 4GS and the iPhone 5, will arrive "later than usual," possibly in September. The smartphone is expected to receive upgrades in the form of an A5 processor and 8MP camera.
According to another carrier executive, France Telecom CEO Stephane Richard, Apple's next iPhone will be "smaller and thinner" and will feature an even smaller SIM card format.
Comments
[Now that iOS 5 will be ready in the fall I think it becomes quite obvious that it would be ridiculous to use 4S]
iPhone 5?! I thought everyone decided it was going to be the iPhone 4S.
[Now that iOS 5 will be ready in the fall I think it becomes quite obvious that it would be ridiculous to use 4S]
We don't really know. iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 or even iPhone V all communicate a reference to the 5th generation iPhone. The only one that doesn't is iPhone 4G unless one or more versions has the 4G tech, which at this point is being considered as HSPA+ starting at 14.4Mb/s.
iPhone 5?! I thought everyone decided it was going to be the iPhone 4S.
[Now that iOS 5 will be ready in the fall I think it becomes quite obvious that it would be ridiculous to use 4S]
We don't really know. iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 or even iPhone V all communicate a reference to the 5th generation iPhone. The only one that doesn't is iPhone 4G unless one or more versions has the 4G tech, which at this point is being considered as HSPA+ starting at 14.4Mb/s.
Ah... I think with iOS 5 there's no way the next iPhone will be called anything BUT "iPhone 5". Keep in mind the average (literally, when it comes to tech) customer.
"Yeah, here's the latest fifth-generation iPhone 4S running iOS 5, it's better than the fourth-generation iPhone 4 (the one without the S) running iOS 5... Again, 4S is good for 5, 4 okay but not great for 5. So, yeah, you should get the fifth-generation iPhone 4S - the one running iOS 5. Oh, but to remind you it's not 4G, maybe the iPhone 5 (the phone, not the iOS) will be 4G"
*Customer's head explodes*
Ah... I think with iOS 5 there's no way the next iPhone will be called anything BUT "iPhone 5". Keep in mind the average (literally, when it comes to tech) customer.
They called the 2nd generation iPhone the iPhone 3G and its OS iPhone OS 2.0. To make it worse they still referred to iOS as iPhone OS for the iPod Touch and iPad until June 2010.
With the current iPhone 4 and frequency I'm seeing HSPA chips in smartphones I don't think iOS 5.0 on the iPhone 4G is unacceptable. It's only the Verizon iPhone that will not be 4G by some standard, but that is only a fraction of the world's iPhone sales. Also remember that marketing is king and even now we're seeing 4G advertised as the next best thing. For these reasons I think the most likely outcome at this point is iPhone 4G.
They called the 2nd generation iPhone the iPhone 3G and its OS iPhone OS 2.0.
That's true... but their most recent phone was the iPhone 4... so that will be fresh on everyone's minds. Everybody knows about the iPhone 4.
I can hear people now... "iPhone 5? That's gotta be better!"
iPhone 5 running iOS 5 is a powerful way to market the phone too... I'm sure Apple will be selling people on the strengths of its software as well.
I agree with some other people here... iPhone 4S running iOS 5 is sloppy.
You're right... Apple did have the iPhone 3G running OS iPhone OS 2.0.... but that was a long time ago. Most people don't even remember it was called iPhone OS back then.
Nowadays... the iOS brand is very strong... as is the iPhone brand itself.
iPhone 5 with iOS 5 makes the most sense today.
They called the 2nd generation iPhone the iPhone 3G and its OS iPhone OS 2.0. To make it worse they still referred to iOS as iPhone OS for the iPod Touch and iPad until June 2010.
With the current iPhone 4 and frequency I'm seeing HSPA chips in smartphones I don't think iOS 5.0 on the iPhone 4G is unacceptable. It's only the Verizon iPhone that will not be 4G by some standard, but that is only a fraction of the world's iPhone sales. Also remember that marketing is king and even now we're seeing 4G advertised as the next best thing. For these reasons I think the most likely outcome at this point is iPhone 4G.
I agree. Without a doubt the next iPhone will be 4G yet it's very unlikely that it will be LTE. Yet, GSM carriers (AT&T/TMO) are branding their upgrades to HSPA+ as "4G" and the new iPhone will have a comparable baseband. iPhone 4S makes no sense. iPhone 4G would make sense. The iPhone 5 could just be iPhone LTE.
However, I don't know how big a difference a speed boost would effect the user experience. Network speeds are sufficiently fast now. There was a huge difference between 2G & 3G, since 2G is lacking for video & music streaming, downloading large files, sending photos etc. 3G functionality was a huge step up, thus it made sense for Apple to brand the iPhone 2 as iPhone 3G. That made branding the 3rd iPhone as iPhone 3 undesirable since it would appear to be a step below a "3G" moniker, hence the 3GS. The iPhone 4 got apple back in sync, making the branding IP4 a no brainer. The next iPhone logically should be called iPhone 5. I guess it all depends how much emphasis apple wants to place on the "4G" functionality.
The next iPhone logically should be called iPhone 5. I guess it all depends how much emphasis apple wants to place on the "4G" functionality.
It may well end up depending on how changed the external design is. If the new phone is pretty much indistinguishable from the iPhone 4 then I won't be supprised if they call it iPhone 4S, if it looks radically new or even significantly different then it will definitely be iPhone 5.
Apple don't tend to churn product names, in fact quite the opposite. The unibody macbook pro has had the same consumer level product designation since it launched.