Start Getting Excited: Apple Begins Yerba Buena iPhone Event Prep
by Joe White
September 7, 2012
Just a few days after announcing its September 12 iPhone event (and five days before event's scheduled date), Apple has started preparing the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, Calif., for the unveiling of the sixth-gen iPhone handset.
As you can see, a bunch of images (via 9to5Mac) have surfaced online, which show the Yerba Buena building in the process of being transformed into an Apple venue. Though no signage as of yet indicates exactly what will be announced next Wednesday, Apple's September 12 invitation appears to assert the importance of the number five.
Folks have speculated that this could refer to the "iPhone 5," known also as the sixth-generation iPhone. However, after Apple dropped the numbers and letters from its iPad, some have speculated that, rather than an "iPhone 5," Apple will instead unveil a "new iPhone" in the coming days. Clearly influenced by this methodology (and also by those pesky iPad mini and all-new earphone rumors we've heard so much about), others have argued that the "five" cited in Apple's invitation means we'll be seeing five new products launch next week, one of which will presumably be a sixth-gen iPhone.
Me? I think Apple removed the numbers from its new iPad models in an attempt to assert the "computer status" of the tablet (we're living in a post-PC world, remember). After all, we don't have MacBook Pro 5 products, or iMac 4S computers. So on that basis, it makes sense for the iPad - whose status as "computer" is already questionable - to be named appropriately. It has also been argued that a name like "the new iPad" will fit better alongside "the iPad mini," if such a product is to launch.
Below, we've included a gallery of images showing the Yerba Buena Center's "in-progress" new look. Let us know your thoughts on Apple's iPhone event in the comments.
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