China’s State Radio Management has approved two versions of the iPhone 5 for use on the country’s wireless networks. The first — the A1429 — is believed to be compatible with China Unicom’s 3G network; the second — the A1442 — is compatible with China Telecom’s CDMA network.

These approvals are the second round of certifications the iPhone 5 needs to be sold in China. The country’s Quality Certification Center approved the device late last night, granting Apple the required certification necessary to sell it. Now Apple needs only a network access license from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the iPhone 5 will be clear for sale in the world’s most populous country.

It would seem, then, that the device is on track for a Chinese launch in the December quarter, just as Apple CEO Tim Cook promised during the company’s last earnings call on Oct. 25. Good news for Apple, for whom China is becoming an increasingly important source of revenue. Assuming, of course, Apple is able to ramp up production enough to satisfy demand for its latest iPhone in the fast-growing market. Recall that Apple underestimated Chinese demand for the iPhone 4S when it first debuted. Remarking on sales of the 4S in Greater China this past summer, Cook conceded that Apple could have done a better job forecasting that market’s appetite for the device.

“We felt we were betting bold, as I think many of you would have thought if you would have known what we were doing,” Cook said of the 4S rollout plan for the country. “But as it turns out, we didn’t bet high enough.”

Verizon sold a lot of iPhones in its third quarter: 3.1 million. That was about 46 percent of the smartphones activated on the carrier’s network during the period. Of those 3.1 million iPhones, 650,000 were the newly released iPhone 5, which arrived at market near the end of the quarter. That means the remaining 2.5 million iPhones activated by Verizon were older models like the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.

Now that might be disappointing news to investors who’d expected Verizon to sell almost twice the number of iPhone 5s that it did. And while constrained supplies of the handset are certainly cause for concern, the broader picture here is a good one for Apple.

For one thing, analysts like Gene Munster were expecting Verizon to sell just 2.5 million iPhones during the quarter. It sold quite a few more.

For another thing, the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S continue to sell well. Verizon activated 2.5 million older model iPhones. That means consumers are still actively buying last year’s iPhone and the one that preceded it. And that is good news indeed for Apple. As Munster observed in a note to clients, “Verizon’s iPhone number suggests that the slowdown of older iPhones may not have been as drastic as previously suspected.”

In other words, the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S will continue to drive sales at the lower end of the market, as the iPhone 5 drives sales at the higher end. And the iPhone 5 is just beginning to ramp up.

When looking at Web traffic from the two smartphones, Chitika said the iPhone 5 now accounts for 56 percent of pages, compared to 44 percent for the Galaxy S III.

And the mobile advertising network says that the Galaxy S III itself has been a strong seller, outpacing the iPhone 4S in the U.S. for the month of August.

“However, only 18 days since the public release of the iPhone 5, the newest Apple device has overtaken the Galaxy S III in terms of Web traffic volume,” Chitika said. “Record-breaking sales numbers, along with new 4G browsing speeds which encourage data usage, are the most likely explanation for this tremendous growth.”

Chitika notes that businesses probably want to make sure their ads can reach both flagship devices, but adds that the head-to-head comparison “emphasizes iPhone users still being the most active — and hence marketable – users of the mobile Web.”

Is Google working on a new version of its Maps app for Apple devices on the new iOS 6 operating system and will Apple allow it into its app store?

A:

Google has hinted that it wants Google Maps on the iPhone and iPad, though it’s been vague about it, saying only: “Our goal is to make Google Maps available to everyone who wants to use it, regardless of device, browser, or operating system.” And, in a blog post, a Google official said: “We look forward to providing amazing Google Maps experiences on iOS.”

This could mean Google is building an app, or it could refer to the Google Maps mobile web site, which is already available on the iPhone 5, via the phone’s browser, at maps.google.com. A top Google official has reportedly denied Google has an iPhone maps app ready and waiting, saying such a development would be up to Apple.

Q:

Since Apple no longer includes a built-in YouTube app for the iPhone, is Google, which owns YouTube, making one available?

A:

Yes. It was available when the iPhone 5 launched and has worked well for me. It’s in Apple’s app store and you can learn about it at: http://bit.ly/Vyhh0b.

Q:

I have an iPhone 4S and I entered some appointments for a trip this week. I love how my iPhone automatically adjusts to the local time zone, but I was shocked to find that my appointments were showing on my iPhone an hour earlier than I had scheduled them for. Does the iOS 6 upgrade fix this issue?

A:

No upgrade is needed. This is easily fixed by setting a feature called “Time Zone Support,” which locks appointments so they appear as they did in your home time zone, even while you’re traveling. It’s found in Settings, under the Calendar section of “Mail, Contacts, Calendars.”

Here’s an explanation from Apple: http://bit.ly/VynkS9.

Email Walt at mossberg.@wsj.com.

That’s the word from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, whose team surveyed lines outside Apple Stores in New York, Boston and Minneapolis, and found them to be, on average, 83 percent longer than those for the iPhone 4S last year. Based on the size of those launch day crowds, and Apple’s announcement Monday that it racked up 2 million preorders for the iPhone 5 in 24 hours, Munster predicts the company will sell 49 million iPhones in the December quarter, barring any supply constraints.

“We have counted iPhone launch day lines at every launch since the iPhone 3G in 2008,” Munster said in a note to clients. “We believe that based on our count of 775 customers in line for the iPhone 5 at the flagship 5th Avenue store, demand for the iPhone 5 is higher than any previous launch. We believe the line for the iPhone 5 was 70 percent greater than the line for the iPhone 4S despite Apple taking 2x as many online preorders. … Given the strength of the line for the iPhone 5, we are incrementally more confident in Apple’s ability to sell 8 million phones in the launch weekend.”

So who’s buying them? Previous iPhone owners, mostly. Wells Fargo analyst Maynard Um says that among the customers his team surveyed at Apple Stores in New York City, 32 percent were upgrading from iPhone 4S, 31 percent from iPhone 4 and 8 percent from the iPhone 3GS. Of the remainder, 8 percent were switching from BlackBerry, 7 percent from a Samsung device, 7 percent from an HTC device and 5 percent from “other.”

AT&T said on Monday that the iPhone 5 is the fastest-selling iPhone it has ever offered. And while the carrier offered no hard numbers to support the claim, it did say that preorders for the iPhone 5 surpassed those of all previous models on the device’s first day of availability, and over the weekend, as well.

When the iPhone 4S first became available for preorder last October, AT&T issued a similar boast. Then, as it has done today, AT&T said the device’s debut was the most successful for an Apple product yet. But the carrier also revealed that it had received 200,000 preorders for the iPhone 4S in 12 hours. So, if first-day iPhone 5 preorders broke the record set by the 4S, we’re looking at sales that are presumably well in excess of 200,000. And remember, that was over just 12 hours in 2011.

As of this writing, Apple hasn’t yet commented on first-weekend iPhone 5 sales, nor have its other carrier partners, Verizon and Sprint. But given this announcement from AT&T, the fact that ship times for preorders of the device slipped from “by September 21″ to “2-3 weeks” about an hour after it went on sale, not to mention Apple’s assertion last Friday that it has “been completely blown away by customer response,” and it’s likely reasonable to assume that there is significant demand for the iPhone 5 — demand enough to reach the first-week sales of six million to 10 million that analysts have forecast.

• Believe it or not, there are lots of people who don’t spend their time reading Apple launch event liveblogs or recaps.*
• If you are going to ask the man on the street to analyze an iPhone, don’t ask a guy in a Dave Matthews Band hat.

*But we’re so glad you do. Us, too!

Apple will begin taking preorders for the iPhone 5 this coming Friday, Sept. 14. A week later, on Sept. 21, it will begin selling the device in nine key markets, among them the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Japan and Hong Kong. The following week, it will bring the iPhone 5 to 22 more countries. And if all goes according to plan, the device will be available in 100 markets by year’s end. In comparison, iPhone 4S debuted in seven countries. Apple began shipping it to 22 more countries two weeks later. And by the end of 2011, it was available in 70 countries. When the iPhone 4 launched, it debuted in only five countries, and by the end of its first month at market it was still only in 18.

So Apple has given the iPhone 5 an aggressive rollout plan. And coming as it does after rumblings of supply chain contraints that some worried would limit iPhone 5 availability at launch, it’s something of a surprise.

“The schedule’s impressive,” ISI International analyst Brian Marshall told AllThingsD. “Apple must feel confident about its supply of in-cell display panels.”

Jefferies analyst Peter Misek took a similar view. “This timeline is way, way more aggressive than expected,” Misek told AllThingsD. “It should finally put to bed the unfounded view that this iPhone launch will be hugely capacity-constrained.”

More to the point, it should go a long way toward reassuring the market that Apple can meet consumer demand for the iPhone 5 and hit heady analyst estimates for the December quarter that range upwards of 45 million units. Estimates like those of Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who’s looking for the iPhone 5 to chart some serious growth for Apple in the months ahead.

Said Munster in a Wednesday afternoon note, “While we previously expected December units to shift to September for a September launch, we are maintaining our 49 million December estimate as we believe Apple can still deliver on the 32% year-over-year growth that number assumes.”

AllThingsD was at the event. Here’s a look at the highlights from inside:

RELATED POSTS:

• Apple’s Biggest iPhone 5 Surprise: An Aggressive Rollout Schedule
• Apple’s iPhone 5 Event, in Pictures
• R.I.P. Ping (September 2010-September 2012)
• 84 Million iPads, 400 Million iOS Devices and More Big Numbers From Apple
• Interview: Phil Schiller on Why the iPhone 5 Has a New Connector but Not NFC or Wireless Charging
• Smartphone Wars: iPhone 5 vs. the Competition
• Apple Shows Off Improved iPod Nano, Retina-Display iPod Touch With Siri
• iTunes Gets a Major Makeover
• Apple Drops Price of iPhone 4, 4S
• Apple Gets Serious About Social: Facebook Sharing All Over iOS and iTunes Updates
• R.I.P., Apple 30-Pin Connector (2003 – 2012)
• Apple’s New iPhone 5: “A New Gold Standard in The Phone Marketplace”
• Live Now: Apple’s iPhone Event
• iPhone Expectations Are High — Can Apple Meet Them?
• How Many iPhone 5s Can Apple Sell in a Weekend?
• iPhone 5 Sales Could Offer Big Boost to GDP
• Apple Gets Ready for iPhone 5

While not all is known about this next iPhone, a few details seem all but assured, including a larger screen, new dock connector and support for faster LTE cellular networks. Apple has also shown off iOS 6 — the new software that will power the new phone. Among its features are improvements to Siri, Apple-created mapping software and integration with Facebook.

Expectations are running high, with analysts predicting that whatever Apple introduces will generate record sales and perhaps even give a meaningful boost to the overall U.S. economic output.

Earlier:
9:31 am: Still waiting outside to be let in. But you haven’t missed anything. And we promise, if you keep it here, you won’t.

9:52 am: Okay. In at last. We’ve got a seat and power, so we’re all set.

10:00 am: Tim Cook takes the stage promptly at 10. He is an operations guy. “Thank you for coming this morning. We’ve got some really cool stuff to show you.”

“It’s an amazing time at Apple.”

10:01 am: Sticking to familiar Apple keynote script, starting with updates.

First up, Apple retail, with a shot of Barcelona Apple Store. Man, I bet that was a great day for the city’s famed pickpockets.

Cue video …

10:02 am: Apple now has 380 stores in 12 countries. It will open its first Swedish store on Friday, making it 13.

10:04 am: On to the Mac. “We’ve had a very busy summer for the Mac.”

Mountain Lion launched in July. Seven million copies downloaded so far.

10:06 am: Apple is No. 1 in U.S. market share for notebooks for last three months, Cook said.

Mac growth has outpaced the PC for six years, Cook said.

10:06 am: On to iPad.

Apple sold 17 million of ’em between April and June.

“We sold more iPads than any PC manufacturer sold of their entire PC line. Yes, we are in a post-PC world.”

As of June, Apple has sold 84 million iPads. “Our competitors have taken note of this,” Cook said, noting that hundreds of tablets have been launched since the iPad. A year ago, Apple had a 62 percent share of worldwide tablet market (no source given for this data).

This year — April through June — Apple had a 68 percent share.

It’s even bigger when it comes to usage, where iPad accounts for 91 percent of tablet Web traffic.

“I don’t know what these other tablets are doing,” Cook said. “They must be in warehouses or on store shelves or in someone’s bottom drawer.”

10:11 am: Cook talking about the 250,000 iPad apps.

Four hundred million iOS devices sold through June 2012. “This is amazing. No one could have predicted this,” Cook said. (Android claims 500 million activations, though.)

“Today, we are taking it to the next level, making a huge leap.”

Brings on Phil Schiller to talk iPhone.

10:12 am: Schiller: It’s really neat to stand here and look at all the Apple logos glowing.

10:13 am: “Today we are going to introduce iPhone 5.”

10:13 am: The iPhone comes up on a pedestal.

“It is an absolute jewel,” Schiller said. “It is the most beautiful product we have ever made, bar none.”

Even with a bigger screen, it is tiny when seen from the audience. Thankfully, there is a video.

10:14 am: Schiller: It is made entirely of glass and aluminum.

10:15 am: It’s thinner and lighter than its predecessor. New iPhone is 7.6mm thin, 18 percent thinner than iPhone 4S.

It weighs 112 grams, 20 percent lighter than iPhone 4S.

10:16 am: iPhone 5 has a four-inch screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio. Why this design? To fit the thumb well, Schiller said.

There’s a fifth row of icons on the home screen. Built-in apps take advantage of bigger display, such as Safari, calendar and email.

Apple is also updating iWork and iLife apps to take advantage of the screen: Keynote, Pages, iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, etc.

Existing apps run at the same size as previous iPhone. Doesn’t stretch or scale, gets centered and letterboxed.

“It works exactly as the developer intended it to,” Schiller said.

Of course, developers can update apps to take advantage of bigger screen.

10:19 am: Schiller is showing two apps that have been tweaked for the new display: CNN and OpenTable.

“Everything you do looks gorgeous on this display,” Schiller said.

Display also has 44 percent more color saturation, Schiller said. Touch sensor is integrated into the display — an emerging trend in phones.

10:21 am: Other key feature: Faster wireless. iPhone 5 features support for all kinds of 3G radios, as well as support for LTE, along with two faster flavors of HSPA+.

LTE Support:

In the U.S., Sprint, AT&T and Verizon.

In Canada, a bunch of carriers, as well as top carriers in Korea, Australia, Singapore and Deutsche Telekom.

10:23 am: Ultrafast wireless doesn’t just stop with cellular, Schiller said, noting iPhone will support more flavors of Wi-Fi.

10:24 am: iPhone 5 also packs a new A6 processor with CPU and graphics that are twice as fast.

10:25 am: Electronic Arts Studios Executive Producer Rob Murray is onstage to show what the game company can do with the faster chip.

EA is showing Real Racing 3, with a car running on a photorealistic version of Raceway Laguna Seca.

“The new iPhone lets us take this to a whole new level,” Murray said. The detail is pretty incredible. There’s even a working rearview mirror showing cars behind the racer.

The game features time-shifted multiplayer, so one player can race one day and another the next day and yet compete head-to-head. … “This is something we have never seen done before,” Murray said.

Real Racing 3 is coming to the App Store later this year.

10:28 am: Schiller back, with a battery icon behind him.

This is a key question mark. The iPhone 5 will exceed battery life of iPhone 4S, with eight hours of 3G talk time, 3G browsing and LTE browsing.

10:29 am: On to the camera.

Specs: Eight megapixels, backside illumination, f/2.4 aperture, five-element lens, Hybrid IR filter.

New features include a dynamic low-light mode, better-aligned lenses and a sapphire crystal lens cover. Apparently, sapphires aren’t just pretty, they are hard, so that should make it sturdy.

A6 chip will help with noise reduction, faster capture and better low-light performance.

10:31 am: Schiller showing a few untouched photos from the camera. “The ocean just looks bluer … Kids look happier.”

No word on whether it cures cancer …

New Panorama feature allows you to sweep. Schiller shows a 28-megapixel image.

(We’ve seen a sweep panorama feature on other cameras, but typically not with this resolution — many apps use the video camera rather than the still-image engine.)

10:34 am: On the video side, there is improved video stabilization, face detection and — the ability to take photos while recording. (That’s a popular feature on Android phones, such as the HTC One X.)

10:35 am: On to audio.

It adds a third microphone, with one at back, front and bottom. That helps for voice recognition as well as noise canceling. Speaker is better even while crammed into a 20-percent-smaller space.

There’s also wide-band audio to make voice calls sound more natural. Twenty carriers will support this at launch, including Orange and Deutsche Telekom. (Not sure if both phones need the tech.)

10:37 am: Ah yes, the new dock connector, replacing the one that has been in there since 2003.

A lot of things have gone wireless.

“A lot has changed, and it is time for the connector to evolve.”

New connector — Lightning.

“Now we have Thunderbolt and Lightning.”

10:38 am: Lightning is 80 percent smaller, all-digital, reversible.

Partners like Bose, JBL and others are working to support the new connector. There will be an adapter that lets you plug an old cord into iPhone 5.

10:39 am: And, of course, there is support for iOS 6.

10:41 am: Scott Forstall is demoing the new Apple-created Maps. iOS 6 drops Google Maps for Apple, but builds in voice-guided turn-by-turn directions (as Android and Windows Phone have offered previously).

10:42 am: Apple also has new satellite imagery. “It’s just gorgeous,” Forstall said, flying over London’s Big Ben.

10:43 am: Forstall showing Safari, including a full-screen mode and the ability to share tabs from a Mac using iCloud.

10:44 am: On the email front, Apple has updated the Mail app with a “VIP” feature that lets you designate contacts that are most important, and see their messages.

10:46 am: Forstall shows Passbook, including an ability to show a boarding pass even from behind the lock screen.

Next up is shared photo streams. (Lots of folks in the industry have been taking a crack at this, from Samsung with the Galaxy S III to Google with the updated Google+ app.)

10:47 am: On to Siri.

Siri now knows all about sports. She knows that the 49ers beat the Packers last Sunday, 30-22. She can pull up standings, etc.

For Kara Swisher and others who don’t care about sports, Siri can also launch apps, pull up movie info and ratings, and help find and book a restaurant.

Much of the iOS 6 stuff was demoed at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference earlier this summer.

10:50 am: Other iOS 6 features: Facebook has been integrated into many apps and, carrier permitting, the ability to make FaceTime video calls over cellular.

10:51 am: Schiller back. iPhone will come in white and black. “They are both stunning,” Schiller said, but I don’t recall him ever disliking anything Apple has done.

10:52 am: Schiller in full-on sales mode, recapping the phone’s new features.

And, cue video.

In the video, Jony Ive is talking about the design, noting that the phone is so important, as it is the product you have with you all the time.

“We take changing it really seriously,” Ive said.

Video still going. iOS chief Scott Forstall, and hardware guy Bob Mansfield also like the new iPhone.

10:58 am: Long video, giving me a chance to check the stock market. Apple shares are at $663.08, up about $2.50, or less than half of a percent.

10:59 am: Video done, Schiller back. Methinks it’s pricing and availability time.

10:59 am: Yep.

Same prices as iPhone 4S. $199/16 gigabytes, $299/32GB, $399/64GB.

iPhone 4S $99 for 16GB, iPhone 4 free. All with two-year contracts. Preorders start Friday, Sept. 14, with shipment a week later, on Sept. 21, in several countries. One hundred countries by the end of the year.

11:01 am: iOS 6 will be a free update Sept. 19.

11:01 am: Tim Cook is back.

Cook calls iOS 6 and iPhone 5 “the biggest things to happen to iPhone since iPhone.”

11:02 am: Cook said he also wants to talk about something near and dear to its heart — music.

“This is the reason we created iPod and iTunes.”

11:02 am: Eddy Cue on to talk about changes to iTunes and iPod.

11:03 am: iTunes Store now available in 63 countries.

There are 435 million iTunes accounts with 1-Click shopping enabled.

A lot of commerce happening from within iOS itself, Cue said, noting that the company has revamped its iTunes store for the iPad, iPhone and other iOS devices.

Now, previews keep playing while you are browsing the store. Also, direct sharing to iPhone and Twitter.

11:06 am: Now on to iTunes on Mac and PC.

Things have changed with iTunes in the Cloud, Cue said. New version of iTunes is dramatically simpler and has iCloud built-in, Cue said.

Demo time again …

(Here’s a bit more on the new Lightning iPhone connector from Lauren Goode.)

As for iTunes, it looks like creating playlists is easier, as well as browsing the music library.

There is an “up next” feature to rearrange or change what is coming up on the go. Lets you alter a playlist without permanently changing it.

There’s a new mini-player too.

(Is it me or does this whole topic feel a bit five years ago?)

11:12 am: On to movies from within iTunes.

Cue Hulk.

The iTunes store also gets a makeover.

11:14 am: Okay. Demo over. Eddy Cue recapping, but not sure these features needed recapping.

New iTunes due late October.

11:14 am: On to iPod. Greg Joswiak comes on.

Some 350 millions iPods have been sold so far, Joswiak said. “We love music and we have the most-loved family of music players there is.”

But, changes coming. First up: iPod nano.

11:15 am: Seventh-generation nano is designed to reinvent the device, with a large display.

The nano seems to be the product in Apple’s lineup that changes shapes most.

It’s back to being long and tall, has new connector. 5.4mm thin, 38 percent thinner than the nano it replaces.

It has a 2.5-inch touchscreen and comes in seven colors with matching wallpapers.

It has an integrated FM radio tuner with live-pause feature.

Also, it can play video.

“We’re bringing video back to the iPod nano,” Joswiak said.

Fitness and pedometer are built-in, he said.

It will also have integrated Bluetooth to stream to headphones or speakers. (The Jambox gets a name check and an onstage pic.)

11:20 am: On to the iPod touch.

It’s the most popular music player, Joswiak said, but also the most popular portable game-playing device.

The fifth-generation iPod touch sports a four-inch Retina display, has five rows of icons, like the iPhone 5, and is also thin and light — 6.1-millimeters thin and weighs 88 grams.

11:22 am: The iPod touch also gets the A5 processor. (It had been using the older A4 chip.)

That means up to seven times faster graphics, Joswiak said, bringing up a game maker to put that into some real-world terms.

11:23 am: The demo is for Clumsy Ninja, a character that uses real-time simulation rather than playback of recorded moves.

Well, whatever. He’s darn cute.

You can tickle him, and he likes it for a bit. But then he runs away.

Apparently the goal is to train the little guy to be less clumsy. (Why can’t we just let him be?)

“He’s using technology that not long ago would have required a supercomputer,” the demo guy says. Clumsy Ninja due out this holiday season.

11:26 am: Joswiak back. iPod touch features up to eight hours of video playback, up from prior model.

It also has a much better five-megapixel camera, with f/3.4 aperture, LED flash and autofocus.

It also can do panoramas, just like the iPhone 5. The new iPod touch will also support iPhoto.

On the video side, the iPod touch now supports 1080p video and a better front-facing camera, with support for 720p video.

A button on the bottom of the iPod is a pop-up loop to add a wrist strap, to make it easier to hang on to.

11:30 am: On the wireless side, support for Bluetooth 4.0, low-energy, and improved Wi-Fi.

It also supports AirPlay mirroring to take the gaming experience, for example, to the TV. And, yep, it packs iOS 6, naturally.

The new iPod touch will also support Siri (but you’ll probably need Wi-Fi when you want to actually use it).

11:31 am: And, for the first time, the iPod touch will come in five colors.

11:32 am: The iPod shuffle will get new colors — matching the seven hues of the new iPod nano.

11:33 am: Apple has shipped 600 million of those little white earbud headphones.

Joswiak said that Apple has spent three years designing a new headphone, dubbed EarPods. They look like a cross between the iPod earbud and those noise-isolating in-ear headphones.

The EarPods will ship as a standalone accessory, starting today. They will come included with new iPod touch, the iPhone 5 and the new iPod nano.

11:36 am: Prices.

iPod nano 16GB for $149, seven colors.

The fourth-generation iPod touch stays in lineup.

16GB for $199 and 32GB for $249.

The new iPod touch, shipping in October, sells for $299 for 32GB. Looks like there is also a higher-capacity model, but I missed it.

They will also come in Product (Red) versions, with a portion of the proceeds going to fight AIDS in Africa.

11:39 am: Cook is back, showing an ad for the new iPods.

The ad shows all of the new models bouncing around. I’m sure you will see it soon enough.

11:39 am: Cook back, reviewing the day’s announcements, starting with the new iPods.

The new products are all great, Cook insists. But what separates the products from the competition, Cook says, is the way they all work together.

“Apple has never been stronger,” he said.

11:41 am: Cook pulling a page from the old Steve Jobs playbook, having a musician come out and play at the end of a music event.

It’s the Foo Fighters.

11:49 am: Foo Fighters still playing, but I think we are done with news here.

A few things we didn’t hear any mention of: NFC, (near field communications) for contactless payments. Also, no wireless charging, a la the Lumia 920.

Here’s a Photosynth panorama of the Foo Fighters. (Warning: May require Silverlight.)

RELATED POSTS:

• Apple’s Biggest iPhone 5 Surprise: An Aggressive Rollout Schedule
• Apple’s iPhone 5 Event, in Pictures
• R.I.P. Ping (September 2010-September 2012)
• 84 Million iPads, 400 Million iOS Devices and More Big Numbers From Apple
• Interview: Phil Schiller on Why the iPhone 5 Has a New Connector but Not NFC or Wireless Charging
• Smartphone Wars: iPhone 5 vs. the Competition
• Apple Shows Off Improved iPod Nano, Retina-Display iPod Touch With Siri
• iTunes Gets a Major Makeover
• Apple Drops Price of iPhone 4, 4S
• Apple Gets Serious About Social: Facebook Sharing All Over iOS and iTunes Updates
• R.I.P., Apple 30-Pin Connector (2003 – 2012)
• Apple’s New iPhone 5: “A New Gold Standard in The Phone Marketplace”
• Live Now: Apple’s iPhone Event
• iPhone Expectations Are High — Can Apple Meet Them?
• How Many iPhone 5s Can Apple Sell in a Weekend?
• iPhone 5 Sales Could Offer Big Boost to GDP
• Apple Gets Ready for iPhone 5

In years past, most phone makers also developed a host of models aimed at the mid-tier of the traditional carrier market. Increasingly, though, that market is served by cutting the price of last year’s top-of-the-line model.

“The mid-tier is totally gone,” HTC President Jason Mackenzie said in an interview last week. “The new mid-tier device is last year’s hot model.”

The move has some long-term benefits for phone makers, who are have struggled to manage having a host of expensive products with a very brief life span.

However, the shift also means some short-term pain, particularly for all the companies that aren’t Apple or Samsung.

Eventually, Mackenzie said, the shift will benefit other companies, including his. But at the moment, HTC is struggling, as none of its models from last year have the same cachet as the iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S III.

Apple really kicked off this trend when it kept the iPhone 3GS in its lineup even after the introduction of the iPhone 4. Then, last year, the company introduced the iPhone 4S, and kept both the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 on store shelves, effectively expanding to new price segments without developing any additional products.

It will be interesting to see if Cupertino continues the trend by keeping around the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S even as it announces its newest model on Wednesday. One indication that it might well do that is the fact that some carriers are just now getting the iPhone 4 and 4S.

Target is offering the Verizon and AT&T flavors of the iPhone 4S for $179, while Best Buy has shaved $50 off the eight gigabyte iPhone 4, selling that model for just $49.

Those price drops join a promotion from Sprint, which is currently selling the iPhone 4S for $149, $50 less than its usual price.

Apple stores are also quietly matching prices from these and other retailers, according to a Wall Street Journal story.

Apple is expected to announce a new fall product lineup, including the next iPhone, at an event the week of Sept. 9.

The company has begun telling retail employees that they may offer discounts of $49 on the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 4 to customers who cite lower prices from other outlets, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

The move comes ahead of what is expected to be the introduction of a new iPhone as soon as next month. Apple is planning a media event for the week of Sept. 9.

Sprint is touting the new price — as well as a waived activation fee — on its Web site. Word is it’s a Sprint promotion, but with Apple’s blessing.

Verizon and AT&T representatives were not immediately available for comment on whether they intend to offer a similar promotion.

The folks at FixYa have put together a report correlating several top smartphones with the most common complaints made about said smartphones.

The report doesn’t list the types of things that happen to all kinds of smartphones, such as cracked screens or water damage.

Battery life issues are listed as the most common bugaboo by iPhone 4S owners, followed by complaints about Wi-Fi or bluetooth connections and gripes about Siri, the phone’s automated assistant. On the battery side, FixYa notes that while operating system updates have improved the situation for some users, others still struggle to make it through the day.

“At its core, the iPhone 4s is a power-hungry device that comes with a host of features, which suck up battery life,” FixYa said. “Even with Apple’s update to the iOS, users continue to find issues with the battery when they aren’t huddled around electrical outlets.”

Meanwhile, owners of the just-launched Galaxy S III are most likely to be griping about problems with the phone’s microphone, followed by issues around the device getting hot, its battery life and issues connecting to the Internet.

The microphone issues, FixYa said, can often be solved by restarting the phone, though in some cases a software update or full factory reset is required.

As for the Lumia 900, the main issues are a purple haze on the screen, for which there is now a software update, as well as just a general lack of availability of apps for Windows Phone — a problem for which FixYa can’t really offer much help.

The report, which is now online, also took a look at several other phones including the HTC Titan II, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the BlackBerry Curve.

Image courtesy of Fabio Berti/Shutterstock

It’s a benefit to Sprint because it brings the most popular phone to its prepaid customers and because — as part of its deal to get the iPhone — Sprint has agreed to a hefty minimum purchase agreement with Apple.

Customers seeking a new iPhone could also save, even though they pay way more upfront. Virgin Mobile is charging $649 for the 16 gigabyte iPhone 4S, compared to $199 for the phone on Sprint’s main brand, AT&T or Verizon.

However, Virgin Mobile’s far cheaper monthly plans mean customers could pay as little as $30 a month, amounting to hundreds of dollars in savings over the life of a two-year contract. It could mean even more savings for customers who use their iPhone beyond two years.

For a full comparison, check out the handy chart that The Wall Street Journal put together.

That said, prepaid customers have tended to avoid such expensive upfront payments, so it will be interesting to see how the iPhone does with such a hefty front-end cost. Prepaid carrier Leap Wireless is also getting the iPhone, though it is opting to subsidize the cost a bit (though less than the traditional majors). Service on Leap’s Cricket brand starts at $55 a month.