Apple : New iPod nano livens things up with bigger screen, bubblegum colors

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• New iPod nano livens things up with bigger screen, bubblegum colors
• iTunes getting major revamp this October
• In Depth: iPhone 5: everything you need to know
• Apple announces new iPod touch
• iOS 6 release date confirmed as September 19
• In Depth: iOS 6: everything you need to know
• Apple leaks new iPod touch, iPod nano and iTunes
• Analyst: iPhone 5 will blow 4S out of the water, expect 'iPod Music' service

New iPod nano livens things up with bigger screen, bubblegum colors Posted: Apple's Greg Joswiak took the stage today at a highly anticipated press conference in San Francisco to introduce a new generation of devices, including the revamped iPod nano. The new iPod nano brings a number of changes to the quintessential smaller iPod. Most notably, the new iPod nano brings with it a larger, 2.5-inch display, with room for six on-screen apps, as well as a home button (like the iPod touch and iPhone) on the front and volume/playback buttons on the side. The new iPod nano also includes an FM tuner and Bluetooth, along with the fitness and pedometer features that nano fans are used to. Back to basics The design of the new iPod nano hearkens back to older iPod nano designs, before the super-small, square 2010 nano came out. Yet it integrates a touch screen and home button like Apple's newer iPod touch and iPhone, making it a true mix of old and new. The new iPod nano comes in seven colors, including white, black, pink, green, blue, yellow, and red. But those colors only cover the device's back and a small trim around the sides, the front appearing to be made of Apple's signature white glass (except on the black iPod nano, which appears to have black glass on the front). "The thinnest iPod ever" Apple is calling the new iPod Nano "the thinnest iPod ever," at just 5mm thick. At the same time, it's got the largest display of any iPod Nano ever. The new iPod nano also uses Apple's new, 8-pin Lightning dock connector, also introduced at the event today. In addition to the new iPod nano, iPod touch and iPhone 5 unveiled today, Apple revealed pricing for the 2GB iPod shuffle at $49 and the new high-quality "EarPod" headphones, which Joswiak said Apple has been developing for the last three years. The new iPod Nano will be available in October with 16GB of storage for $149.

iTunes getting major revamp this October Posted: Though Apple's iPhone 5 and iOS 6 will be getting most of the attention from today's press conference, they weren't the only stars of the show. Apple also introduced a major revamp to their iTunes service, set to arrive in late October for Mac and PC clients. The latest updates to what Apple called "the world's most popular media player" will incorporate plenty of cosmetic and interface changes, as well as a few new tricks to make the existing package even more impressive. iCloud improvements With more than 200 million people using iTunes on the Cloud, it should come as no surprise that Apple will be including better iCloud integration when the update arrives. No matter where you bought your music, movies, or books on iTunes, iCloud will seamlessly incorporate that purchase into all of your libraries. More importantly, you will now be able to continue watching or listening to movies and music exactly where you left off, and you'll be able to resume playing your media on any device with iTunes. Cosmetic changes Once the October update arrives, iTunes will be ditching the sidebars in favor of a full-window interface. The new grid-style view for your library will allow you to see everything you have in a specific category, be it movies, music, TV shows, or books. Clicking on an album will let expand the screen to show you a track listing, all the while keeping the rest of your library in plain sight for continued exploration. There's also an all new MiniPlayer, which will give users the ability to listen to and search for new songs without having to open their entire library. Additionally, iTunes will add Up Next, which will offer improved insight into what songs are coming up in the playlist, and will allow you to change your queue without much fuss. iTunes on iOS The Mac and PC versions of iTunes aren't the only ones getting a bit of polish. Coming along with the Sept. 19 iOS 6 release is a new version of iTunes for all iOS devices. Since 60% of all iTunes downloads come from mobile devices, it certainly makes sense for Apple to continue their redesign across all their brands. iTunes will incorporate a carousel view, and the new library view will be utilized across music, movie, and book stores. You'll also be able to continue browsing the store while previewing a new song, and will allow you to share your media selections on Facebook and Twitter. With a new wave of iPods also on the way, this iTunes update couldn't be coming at a better time.

In Depth: iPhone 5: everything you need to know Posted: Now the iPhone 5 has been announced, here's everything you need to know about Apple's brand new handset - the successor to the popular iPhone 4S. This thing has been long rumoured of course, and we've known for a while that we'd have a lot to talk about around this time in 2012 - Apple seems to have cemented September as its time to refresh the iPhone. 1. It's called the iPhone 5 The first thing is the name - it's called iPhone 5 rather than the "new iPhone" following on from the "new iPad" which was the official Apple name for the iPad 3. Today Apple announced it had shifted 400 million iOS devices in total including a whopping 84 million iPads. 2. iPhone 5 screen The iPhone 5 has a bigger screen than earlier versions and looks pretty much like the leaked versions we saw - the rumour mill was exactly right. There's a fifth row of icons on the home screen, while the display is the expected four inch version, but the iPhone 5 screen is not wider than the iPhone 4S, it's just thinner. Again it has a 326ppi Retina display but now with a resolution of 1,136 by 640 pixels and a 16 x 9 aspect ratio. Apps will have to be resized for the new device - old apps will appear letterboxed. Apple has managed to make the screen thinner as touch is now integrated into the screen layer itself. 3. iPhone 5 size, weight and colour In terms of size, iPhone 5 is 7.6mm thick and weighs 112g. It's 20 per cent lighter and 18 per cent thinner and is made of aluminum and glass. As you'll see, it has very similar aesthetics to the iPhone 4 and 4S, albeit in a redesigned shell; the volume and mute buttons are the same, for example. iPhone 5 has a two-tone back and comes in either "white and silver" or "black and slate". In its usual understated style, Apple says "iPhone 5 combines an anodised aluminium body with diamond cut chamfered edges and glass inlays for a truly incredible fit and finish". 4. iPhone 5 processor The processor is a new Apple A6 as expected. It has twice the CPU speed and twice the graphics power - the chop is smaller and is more battery-friendly. Apple says it's better on battery life than the iPhone 4S. 5. iPhone 5 cameras The camera is smaller, but still has an 8 megapixel sensor size. It's almost exactly the same as that in the iPhone 4S in terms of spec. Apple obviously wanted to make a big thing about the stuff it did to the camera to fit it inside the new chassis, but it isn't a massive step forward although the A6 includes a better image processor. For the record it's a 3,264 x 2,448 BSi sensor with f2.4 aperture. Apple is also bigging up its low-light performance. It can also shoot panoramas to produce a 28MP image. It can also take pictures while shooting a video, like many other high end handsets. The front camera is now 720p rather than VGA for FaceTime calling. There are three microphones including a new beam-forming, directional microphone for higher quality sound. iPhone 5 now includes support for cellular wideband audio for increased clarity and more natural sounding speech. Apple says that wideband audio will be supported by over 20 carriers worldwide at launch. There are also new headphones, too! iPhone 5 and the new iPods now have EarPods (what a name!) with a more natural fit and better durability. Apple says there will be far better sound quality with these, too. 6. iPhone 5 is 4G As expected, we've now got a 4G LTE iPhone, primarily for the US. It will work on EE's new 4G UK network. The 802.11n Wi-Fi also works on 5GHz now as well as 2.4GHz. From EE: "Our Orange and T-Mobile customers will also be able to get hold of the iPhone 5 with the biggest and best network and the fastest possible 3G network speeds. Pricing and availability to be announced in due course." 7. The iPhone 5 dock connector is Lightning The new 8-signal dock connector is called Lightning, though Apple says that between iCloud, AirPlay and wireless sync, you won't need it. You can plug it in either way, while it's 80 per cent smaller than the old dock connector. An adaptor will be available for the old 30 pin type. Will it be included? We doubt it. 8. The iPhone 5 has iOS 6 The new iPhone features iOS 6 - the next generation version of Apple's mobile operating system. It includes Passbook, Apple's new e-tickets app, plus FaceTime over 3G (depending on the network) and Apple's own mobile apps (including turn-by-turn navigation). There's also native Facebook integration. The YouTube icon seems to be missing, while the Maps icon remains the same despite the change in mapping. There's also iCloud's Shared Photo Streams so you can now share pics with other friends and family. iOS 6 will be available on 19 September for other iOS devices. 9: iPhone 5 memory Once again - and surprisingly - the same memory sizes are available, so that's 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. 10: iPhone 5 release date and pricing The iPhone 5 release date is 21 Spetember. iPhone 5 will be available in the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the US on that date, with other territories to follow. New iPhone re-orders start 14 September. In the UK, the handset will be available from the Apple Online Store, Apple's retail stores, and through Everything Everywhere, Orange, O2, T-Mobile, Vodafone, 3 and select Apple Authorised Resellers. iPhone 5 will roll out worldwide to 22 more countries on 28 September, including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Apple announces new iPod touch Posted: Apple has announced the fifth generation iPod touch at its special event in San Francisio today, sporting a bigger screen and faster processor. The new iPod touch features the same 4-inch, Retina display found on the new iPhone 5, but clocks in at a wafer thin 6.1mm and barely tips the scales at 88g. It's the first iPod to rock a dual-core processor, with Apple sticking its A5 processor inside, and it offers up "7x faster" graphics, plus an improved 5MP i-Sight camera with LED flash and 1080p video capture. Not just music Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of iPod said: "It's the best iPod touch we've ever made" - and it's styled in a similar way to its predecessor, although the back isn't as rounded. Joswiak continued: "It's the world's most popular music player... but a lot of people don't realize that it's also the world's most popular videogame player as well." Yep Apple want you to play games on this baby, a lot of games, and with a touted battery life of 40 hours for music playback and 8 hours of video, it's got more juice than the fourth-gen player. And if all that wasn't enough, you'll also be able to use Siri for the first time on the iPod touch, and yet another first – there's a choice of five colours; aluminium, black, blue, yellow and red. The iPod touch release date is pegged for October, and it will be available in 32GB ($299) and 64GB ($399) variants.

iOS 6 release date confirmed as September 19 Posted: Apple has officially launched iOS 6 alongside the iPhone 5 in San Francisco, ushering in a new, Google-free era for the Cupertino-base firm. We saw iOS 6 unveiled during WWDC in June, where Apple revealed that it would be waving goodbye to Google Maps, brining in its own mapping solution, while also adding more features to the OS, including Passbook, Facetime over 3G, Facebook integration and Siri to the new iPad. Several Beta versions of iOS 6 were released since that announcement, and it revealed Apple had also ditched another Google offering, in the form of the pre-installed YouTube app, which now needs to be downloaded via the App Store. Most devices supported If you're not willing to shell out for the sixth generation iPhone, but fancy some iOS 6 action then you may be in luck, as Apple will be bringing the update to the iPhone 3GS and above, both the new iPad and iPad 2, as well as the fourth generation iPod touch. The new iPhone 5 will run iOS 6 out the box, which starts shipping on September 21, while Apple's other devices will start to receive the free, over the air update from September 19. Sadly if you own an iPhone 3G or older, or the original iPad you will miss out on iOS 6 altogether, so you may want to start saving.

In Depth: iOS 6: everything you need to know Posted: iOS 6: what you need to know iOS 6, the latest generation of Apple's mobile software for iPod touch, iPhone and iPad, has finally been unveiled - and from what we've seen so far, it will delight an awful lot of iOS users. From badly kept secrets to things that have been on wishlists for what seems like forever, here are the highlights of the new operating system. The iOS 6 release date is Autumn Update: Apple is hosting an event on September 12, in which we expect to see the iPhone 5 announced. The sixth generation of iPhone is likely to run iOS 6 out of the box, meaning the new OS could be available before the month is out for other iDevices. Follow the iPhone 5 press conference live iOS 6 was released as a beta in August, but the final version will ship "this Fall". iOS 6 introduces Passbook Passbook is Apple's new e-tickets app, enabling you to carry electronic tickets for anything from sports events to plane travel, or to have a digital loyalty card. The tickets update, too, so for example your airline ticket would send you a notification once your departure gate was announced or changed. Hopefully enough firms will support this one to make it work for all our everyday bits and bobs. If you fancy seeing PassBook in action on an iPod in Hong Kong airport then you're in luck, because the chaps over as PassK.it have given it a spin - shame the airport wasn't ready for it though! Check out the video below. YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqLLWh5JoXs iOS 6 has an improved Phone app The revised Phone app offers smart reminders, so for example you can reject a call with a message saying you're busy, on your way or lost in a forest... You can also be reminded to call someone back when you leave your current location. The new Do Not Disturb mode is particularly nifty: when new messages arrive, they do so silently and without the screen lighting up. If you wish, you can also tell your iPhone not to silence calls from a list of favourite callers, or to automatically silent repeat calls from the same person. FutTv : 66gcLafUzBC1r iOS 6 has Facetime over 3G To tell the truth, we're amazed it took so long. If this takes off, the mobile operators will be very sad. Unless we use it abroad, in which case they'll be dancing on great big piles of our money. iOS 6 has a brand new Safari app There are lots of useful improvements here: Instapaper-style offline reading, iCloud tab syncing and photo sharing website integration to make uploading less hassle. Less wonderfully, Smart App Banners enable websites to tell you about their sodding iOS apps more easily, which is just brilliant. Who among us hasn't thought, "man! I wish more websites told me about their iOS app on each visit!"? iOS 6 Mail has VIPs and pull to refresh Pull to refresh is here! Yay! You can also create a list of VIPs whose messages will appear on your device's lock screen and in a dedicated, separate mailbox. Sharing photos or videos from within Mail is finally here too, as are per-account signatures. iOS 6 photo sharing is more selective Instead of sharing everything with everyone, you can choose which photos should be shared with which people. We're not sure why you'd use this rather than, say, putting a friends-only album on Facebook or Flickr. Anyone? FutTv : 7mZy05MVm76T8 iOS 6 makes Siri more serious, and puts it in cars Siri is able to understand a wider range of questions than before - the demo showed it understanding questions about sports scores, statistics and trivia, booking restaurants and finding out what's worth seeing at the cinema - but as yet it's unclear which, if any, of these features will make it to the UK. Local search is being rolled out worldwide, however, and there's support for more languages. Siri is also going mobile: the new Eyes Free feature will put a Siri button on the steering wheel of Jaguars, Land Rovers, BMWs, Mercs, Toyotas, Chryslers, Hondas, Audis and GM cars. The car manufacturers have promised to support the feature in the next 12 months. iOS 6 brings Siri to the iPad ...but only the new iPad. iOS 6 has Facebook integration Apple promises "the best Facebook integration ever in a mobile device", and to our eyes it looks pretty much the same as iOS 5's Twitter integration: you can post photos, locations, URLs and so on to annoy your friends. The API is public, so non-Apple apps can share to Facebook too, and you'll be able to see your Facebook friends' App Store recommendations. iOS 6 has guided access for children The new Guided Access feature enables you to disable certain parts of the screen so that children can't accidentally hit the wrong buttons. We're going to use it on the in-app purchase icons in every kid-targeted iOS game. Hahah! iOS 6 has a new Maps app New York, London, Paris, Munich, everybody's talking about - iOS 6 maps! Well, maybe not, but Apple's much-rumoured mapping system finally breaks cover. It's pretty, will have traffic information, doubles as a sat-nav system with turn-by-turn navigation, can be controlled via Siri and will probably be useless outside major metropolitan areas in the UK. Still, the new Flyover 3D views of major cities are lovely. It's also been confirmed that Yelp, a social networking, user review, and local search service, will be integrated into Apple's mapping software - enabling you to check out restaurants, bars, clubs and cultural venues. FutTv : 934K2E0RZmt2K Update: Google is clearly concerned about loosing a huge chunk of the mapping market, since it's slashed the price of its Maps API by 88 per cent following Apple's announcement of its own service. Update: And Google isn't taking Apple's decision to dump it lightly, so has rolled out its own 3D mapping update to the Google Earth iOS app - months before we'll see Apple launch its version. How do like them Apples? Update: Apple is determined to dump Google Maps completely from iOS 6 - it's been revealed that all third-party apps that previously used Google Maps will be redirected to Apple's new service. iOS 6 supports larger phone screens Rumors of the iPhone 5 coming with a larger 4-inch screen have come a bit closer to reality, thanks to a discovery made with the iOS development tool kit. Using the beta version of iOS 6, TechRadar was able to stretch the screen to fit a 640 x 1136 resolution version, and everything scaled perfectly. iOS 6 dedicated Podcast app A report from AllThingsD suggest that Apple may be about to give Podcasts their own application within the forthcoming iOS 6 software. iOS 6 doesn't require password for free apps With iOS 6, you won't be asked to enter your password every time you want to download a free application. Once you have linked your iTunes account to your iOS 6-toting iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, you won't need your login details again - unless you want to make a purchase, you know, with actual money. You also won't be asked for your password if you are re-downloading a previously purchased app. iOS 6 has in-app purchase protection In iOS 5.1 some naughty hackers found a loophole that enabled them to steal in-app purchases, which may have cost some developers millions in lost revenue. Apple has said that there will be no such problem in iOS 6 though, releasing a statement saying: "iOS 6 will address this vulnerability. If your app follows the best practices described below then it is not affected by this attack." iOS 6 could sport Bluetooth 4.0 bridge It's claimed Apple is working on a new feature in iOS 6 that uses Bluetooth 4.0 to act as a bridge between compatible devices, which could enable a future iPod to do a variety of tasks, such as making calls via an iPhone running iOS 6. iOS 6 beta is revealing YouTube - Apple has removed its YouTube app from iOS 6, leaving Google to pick up the pieces and build its own version for the App Store. Update: Google has countered Apple's decision to sever all ties with it and has launched its own YouTube app on the App Store - so you won't be without your favourite videos for long. Dock connector - A new hardware feature has been spotted in the iOS 6 beta releases of Apple's upcoming operating system, with a line of code reading: "DeviceSupports9Pin" – possibly a reference to a new 9-pin connector dock - although there's no way to be sure at the moment. iOS 6 should be adopted very quickly Unlike other mobile operating systems, iOS isn't dependent on mobile operators approving updates: as a result 80% of Apple's 365 million iOS customers are using the latest operating system, compared to 7% of Android users. Once iOS ships, expect a similarly speedy take-up. iOS 6 doesn't work on everything iOS 6 supports iPhones from the 3GS onwards, the fourth generation iPod touch and the second and third generation iPad. Check our story for more on iOS 6 compatibility. Update: Apple has now pushed out iOS 6 Beta 2 to developers, available on the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 and new iPad. Why is this exciting? Because the cogs in the settings icon now spin... oh yes! Update: Version iOS 6 Beta 3 has now been released by Apple, sporting a variety of bug fixes, improved keyboard and navigation editing capabilities. YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuaDOtjil30 Update: However, developers have already managed to Jailbreak iOS 6 beta 2, so if you're someone who likes tinkering with handsets you might be able to get it running on the earlier iPhones and iPads. Previous iOS 6 rumours Here are the rumours we reported on before the WWDC 2012 announcement. What isn't certain is what will be involved in the new platform – but we've sifted through the upcoming releases to see what's likely to appear, whether you'll be getting it, and more importantly: the iOS 6 release date. iOS 6 launch If Apple doesn't release the new iOS 6 platform for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch this evening (spotted by T3), we'll be gobsmacked - and it will have wasted loads of money on all these signs. So, we can probably expect to see the 'world's most advanced mobile operating system' unveiled at WWDC... iOS 6 maps If you were a gambling type of person and had a very tech-savvy bookie, we'd recommend you pop a few dollars on Apple bringing out its own mapping application. Not only did Apple acquire the C3 3D mapping firm last year, it also snapped up Placebase and Poly9, both companies involved in the same space. Moving into the mapping space would give Apple a fantastic leg up in the location-based services that are getting more popular every year. The fact that Google is launching its own 'next dimension' of Google Maps imminently is unlikely to be a coincidence, further backing up the rumour that Apple and Google are set to dissolve their partnership on the mobile side of things. Facebook integration There are strong, strong rumblings that Facebook is going to do what Twitter did with iOS 5 – namely, become more of an integral part of the iOS 6 experience. TechCrunch is stating that integration with Zuckerberg's creation is a 'go' for the new release, but details of how far that integration will permeate through the iOS experience are still vague. What's most likely is being able to quickly share photos to Facebook from the Photo app in the same way as Twitter. Whether Apple takes the next step and enables features such as autosharing, contact integration or offline access to Facebook albums remains to be seen. Either way, it's a massive coup for Facebook as it looks to get more involved in the mobile space – perhaps this can stop the pesky rumours of a forthcoming Facebook phone. Siri coming to the iPad We were verging on the gobsmacked when the new iPad 3 didn't launch with Siri – instead we got the less-exciting Voice Dictation. However, according to 9to5Mac, the experience will be massively improved by adding in all the functionality of Siri on the iPhone 4S (minus the phone business), enabling instant search, music control and more by a simple long-press of the home button. But how will it look? According to the same sources, the app won't run in full screen, instead popping up from the bottom of the display to show you the information you requested. Which, let's face it, will quickly be setting alarms and timers and the odd voice search when you've heard certain questions evoke comedic responses from Siri. Enhanced email and Do Not Disturb OS X Mountain Lion seems to be something of an inspiration for the forthcoming release of iOS 6, with a couple of sensible features likely to be added, so says a 9to5Mac source. The first is VIP Mail, which enables you to tag the key people you talk to most (or your boss) and make sure their mail is front and centre when you pop open the Mail app. This is the same system we've seen within HTC Sense, and works very nicely, especially since you're able to group your contacts accordingly. It's also an automatic feature in Google Mail these days, so as such we'd now expect it from Apple, too. The other is Do Not Disturb - enabling you to turn off notifications when you're running full screen apps or just not wanting to be bugged on the way home. Whether it will be offered as part of apps' design or if you'll have to toggle it manually remains to be seen. iCloud Tabs In the same way that Android has live synchronisation to the Chrome Browser, Apple apparently wants to repeat the trick with iOS 6 and Mountain Lion, which will be a simple synchronised list of opened tabs between the devices. The button will be kept in the Bookmarks toolbar to give access to the relevant tabs – but whether the feature will be available for users of Safari on other non-Apple devices is still uncertain. Live icons? This is a biggie, and would be the equivalent of the notifications bar coming to iOS 5 – bringing one of the best bits of Android to the Apple mobile OS. So it makes sense that Apple could look to Windows Phone's Live Tiles and think: 'we'll have a bit of that'. We've spoken to a number of UI designers from the Android and Windows Phone camps who have criticised the way Apple's icons are pictures of information waiting to be opened, rather than the picture itself. Of course, Apple has always been about simplicity, and app icons that change too frequently might confuse some users, but the option to make some apps more widget-like would appease the legions of iOS fans who looked on with quiet envy at their friends' Android devices. iOS 6 release date The iOS 6 release date is still very much up in the air – but some sites are claiming it will be as late as autumn, which plays very much into a mooted iPhone 5 release date of October. However, it's unlikely Apple will wait that long to launch something it announces in June (especially when iPad and iPhone users will have ready-to-use devices), so expect the iOS 6 release date to be somewhere in July or August… and the chances of seeing an iPhone 5 then don't look too outlandish, either. Of course, if you're running the older Apple hardware (and by that we mean iPhone 3GS and older, plus probably the first iPad) you won't get access to the new iOS 6 if previous form is anything to go by. Update: it seems you lucky 3GS owners are getting a reprieve - here's hoping Apple has at least optimised the new platform so you're not subject to terrible slowdown.

Apple leaks new iPod touch, iPod nano and iTunes Posted: As well as leaking the name of its upcoming handset, the iPhone 5, Apple has also managed to let slip new iPod devices. A quick search on the Apple website shows up a URL which states "Apple Introduces New iPod touch, iPod nano", and although not linked to a page of content yet, we'd expect it to go live later today. That means we could well be in for at least three new pieces of hardware at the Apple press conference, and it leaves us wondering, what else could the Cupertino firm have up its sleeve? Well, another search on the Apple site may have given us yet another nugget of information, with a new version of iTunes possibly on its way as well. The screen grab above shows a URL ending with "Apple-Unveils-New-iTunes" - so go figure. Closed for business To top it all off, and to really signal we're in the lead up to a big announcement, the Apple Store has been taken offline, presumably to allow for all the lovely new products, and their eye-watering price tags, to be added. TechRadar will be reporting live from the press conference, bringing you all the latest news on products and software as it's announced.

Analyst: iPhone 5 will blow 4S out of the water, expect 'iPod Music' service Posted: A NPD Group report released Tuesday - one day before Apple's much-hyped iPhone 5 announcement - claimed that the iPhone 5 launch won't have quite the same impact on the U.S. market that past iPhones have had. NPD analyst Stephen Baker cited slowing smartphone growth, the ubiquity of Apple and Samsung devices and the strength of Apple's current competitors as reasons why the iPhone 5 might not gobble up the U.S. handset market at quite the same rate the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. But Scott Sutherland, managing director of equity research and resident Apple expert at Wedbush Securities (a research and stock-picking firm based in Los Angeles), said that to only consider Apple's U.S. business is missing the point. He talked with TechRadar about the iPhone 5's global implications, plus what other surprises Apple has in store for the watching world Wednesday. Apple's biggest launch yet? Like Baker, Sutherland predicts that the iPhone 5 launch will be huge globally. In fact, according to Sutherland, it could be Apple's biggest launch ever. "It'll be a bigger splash than the iPhone 4S," he told TechRadar. The difference, he said, boils down to iOS 6. "[The iPhone 4S's launch] was really about [Siri]. This is a new OS coming out on it. "It's going to be enhanced speech, it's going to have their own maps, [and] it's going to be a bigger phone. It's going to be a 4G phone." Don't count Apple's competitors out, though, Sutherland warned. The burgeoning Windows Phone 8 market could open up a window for Microsoft. However, the well-documented struggles of HTC, LG and RIM, among others, he said, do allow market dominators Apple and Samsung to hold a tighter grasp on smartphone market. Photo Scott Sutherland courtesy of Wedbush Securities Global appeal While Baker predicted the iPhone 5 won't overtake the U.S. market in quite the same manner as its predecessors, Sutherland said viewing Apple through an American-only lens is erroneous. "We've got to get out of our U.S.-centric thinking when we talk about global businesses," Sutherland said. After all, Apple is a global business and smartphones are still growing rapidly worldwide. But being a global business doesn't mean the iPhone is ubiquitous everywhere, and there's plenty of room for the iPhone 5 to make a big impact around the world. "You'll go to places like India, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and you will not see many Apple phones out there," he explained. "It's very U.S.-centric thinking to think they're everywhere globally." Listen to the music The iPhone 5 is sure to be a bigger upgrade over the iPhone 4S than the 4S was over its predecessor, likely going way beyond Siri, as Sutherland points out, but does Apple have any surprises left up its sleeves? For Sutherland, the answer is unequivocally yes. "Apple typically always has a little bit of surprise when they announce a new product," Sutherland said, but that surprise isn't going to be the iPhone 5 on Sept. 12, as everyone's already been talking about it for months. Rather, Sutherland predicts that an "iPod Music" subscription radio service akin to Spotify or Pandora will be Apple's ace-in-the-hole this time. The possibility of an iPod Music radio service first popped up on Monday, and Sutherland says it makes perfect sense to announce it alongside the iPhone 5 and new iPods Wednesday. "Obviously with the iPod and the iPhone, that would be a timely thing," he said. "You don't announce that with a Mac, or you don't announce that with an Apple TV or an [iPad Mini]. "It typically is a phone or an iPod that plays your music when you're portable. I think that would make sense."

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