The iPhone 5 release date comes not with a bang or whimper but with a downpour, as the most wager-worthy timeframe for its arrival is September – and it’ll bring enough of a sideshow with it that it’ll feel like Apple products are suddenly raining from the proverbial iSky. The hopeful are still begging for something to happen in late July or early August, and the pessimists are still quoting 2012 even though Apple’s announcement of iOS 5 in the “fall” means the iPhone 5 is a 2011 product one way or the other. Here’s a look at why September is the date you want to place your bets as far as when the iPhone 5 sees both introduction and release, and what all else will and/or should arrive alongside it.

The September math for the iPhone 5 is simple. It’s already set for fall of 2011 based on Apple’s official iOS 5 launch date. And Apple never releases new hardware products any later in the calendar year than September. In fact Apple’s long running early September press conference is the ideal target for iPhone 5 to see its unveiling. Whether it hits stores that week or toward the end of the month is another story, depending on how much prep time Apple needs to pull off the launch. But the September event has up to now been all about iPods, and although less attention is paid to iPod generational turnover now than in the pre-iPhone years of the past, the iPod lineup (among other things) should bear fruit at that same event.

iPod touch 5: the “little iPhone that couldn’t” has become the default centerpiece of Apple’s fading September press event the past couple of years, and may now take its rightful sidekick role next to the iPhone 5 rather than being used as a weak headliner. For the first time, Apple would be introducing the new iPhone and iPod touch side by side. Now that Apple has mobile network options available on the iPad, finally adding 3G (or 4G LTE) to the iPod touch would be a nice option, as it would finally allow the iPod touch to be used as a network device in places other than home and Starbucks.

iPod nano and shuffle: these little iPod puppies have been around so long we’ve lost track of the generational numbers. The nano has shrunk into a little square, and the shuffle is so tiny it’s barely visible to the naked eye. Remember the Saturday Night Live spoof about the iPod Invisa which is too small to be seen? The September event could nearly take us there. While nothing will distract from the iPhone 5 being the centerpiece of its release date (with many folks listening in for the release date as much as its features and specs), Apple could make a secondary splash by doing something noteworthy with the graybeards of its iPod lineup.

iPod classic: If the iPod touch 5 goes to 128 GB and the iPhone 5 goes to 64 GB, then the iPod classic will finally, mercifully go away. A handful of geeks will cry out in pain; no one else will care.

AppleTV: Apple’s attempt at a TV set top box will never take off until and unless Apple builds in DVR functionality, which it won’t because it would lose its current iTunes deals with the TV studios (who in many cases also happen to be the movie studios). But Apple could make yet another attempt at revamping the Apple TV, despot the fact that aside from a geek cult following, Apple’s attempts at a TV box has been about as successful as Microsoft’s attempts at search engines. Another angle has Apple launching actual Apple-branded television sets, which could be a different story.

Ping 2.0: Remember when Apple launched iTunes Ping, and no one really cared? Now that rival Google has made headlines with Google+, Apple could make another run at a social network. First up: get it out of iTunes and make it about more than just music. Also, change its name to one which doesn’t rhyme with Bing.

Some of these products have no direct connection to the iPhone 5, but it’s fair to say that everything in Apple’s iEcosystem connects to everything else in some way. The iPhone 5 will be the centerpiece of the September press event if Apple indeed opts to use it for that, and the iPod touch 5 will be its natural sidekick. But other side dishes could be in store such that the iPhone 5 release date feels more like a downpour of Apple products than a single arrival.

Source - [ beatweek ]