New Apple Rumors: iPad 3 In March, iPhone 5 In June, And iTV Release In 2013?

Every week the numerous blogs covering the machinations of the Apple empire float tons of unconfirmed rumors, futuristic speculation and questionably-sourced reports on what the company might be unveiling in the near or distant future. Let's take a look back at what the Mac blogs were excited about during the week of January 29 - February 4. Check out our last edition of Apple rumors here, and for all the latest follow me on Twitter.

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Comments

[bl8245]

05:41 AM on 02/08/2012

iS IT TRUE THAT THE I-PAD 2 DOES NOT HAVE A TELEPHONE CAPABILITY? SAY IT AIN'T SO.

[Mr Ware]

07:46 PM on 02/06/2012

Pretty soon, we will be filling up our cars at Apple gas stations!!!

[samuraifrog37]

10:27 PM on 02/06/2012

Don't buy their products.

[Uhgg]

05:26 PM on 02/06/2012

A American manufacturing plant would be the best rumor

[DanInAustin]

05:43 PM on 02/06/2012

Maybe, maybe not. For that to be economically feasible, there would need to be a worldwide shakeup in the production and availability of raw materials. There could well be negative consequences as well as positive.

[LA2000]

10:40 PM on 02/06/2012

Somebody is going to have to explain how Apple can accumulate nearly $100 billion dollars in cash holdings but somehow can't afford to produce a single item in the United States.

This is not an issue of "economic feasibility."

The entire market cap of Ford and GM COMBINED is less than the $97 billion Apple holds in cash, and yet they still manage to manufacture a chunk of their goods in the US with union workers.

[samuraifrog37]

10:26 PM on 02/06/2012

Price would go through the roof.... Wait till China has a real working class....that day will come. The world will have to find millions of other slaves to exploit.

[1Truthseeker]

02:46 PM on 02/06/2012

America made "Apple" possible and successful. Yet the Greed of this corporation is egregious just as is HP and Microsoft. The American consumer who made each of these corporations profitable and big is being booted for the profit margin. This is disgusting. They outsource not only their manufacturing but much of their high tech engineering work and what they don't outsource they replace American engineers with imported engineers on work visas. Why is the American consumer so willing to let the working people of America get screwed and exploited just for a good price. Are these consumers saying they would support slave labor in the US just to get a good price?

Excellent expose how prevalent this practice is and how unjust it is to the individuals who invest time and money in higher education only to be exploited in turn.
http://www.salon.com/2012/02/06/obamas_high_tech_labor_lies/

If these corporations don't intend to honor the very people that made their success posssible then it is time to march on Congress and demand an end to these work visas and stiff penalties on all outsourcing of jobs. Every working individual in America is deserving of a living wage that is commensurate with the time and money they invested in honing skills and knowledge for implementation in our economy.

[Ed Baker]

02:57 PM on 02/06/2012

Apple delivers a product in which consumers find value for money. They are in business for the benefit of their shareholders, like every corporation.

[jdoeremi]

03:22 PM on 02/06/2012

Ain't gonna happen. For a single cause, the average number of lobbyists per congressman is 5 lobbyists against ZERO lobbyist for the taxpayers. Average salary of each lobbyist is $500,000. Special interests spend billions to make sure the taxpayers' interests don't win. A congressman cannot win re-election without raising money and the primary (and easiest) source of fundraising is money from lobbyists of special interests. By the way, many elected officials call the lobbyists to help them raise money. Contrary to popular belief, it's not the other way around. Moreover, there are so many of us that have an cocaine-like addiction to Apple products that boycotting Apple will not be easy. I drank the kool-aid too.

[Devin Campbell]

02:37 PM on 02/06/2012

Apple will redefine the TV experience. 12 months later Google and Microsoft will emulate it. Apple haters will then begin to talk about how Apple products are so unimaginative and limited, just like we see with all of the Droid fanboys out there.

[Ed Baker]

02:57 PM on 02/06/2012

Google's TV product is horrible. Their telephones are clunky and seem as though they are a product of the USSR.

[Devin Campbell]

03:02 PM on 02/06/2012

I was THAT close to buying a google TV before I had an intervntion

[derickma]

03:01 PM on 02/07/2012

and they also exploit slave labour! .. at least the person who made my phone is probably still alive in Korea ..can you say the same for your apple products.?

[Devin Campbell]

03:43 PM on 02/07/2012

Yep, I'm with you that our labor outsourcing/trade policies are a joke. But if you think you can navigate the anti-labor abuse product chain, like a saint, you're deluding yourself. Congratulations on your phone, pat yourself on the back.

[Charismatron]

12:35 PM on 02/06/2012

The criticism Apple faces for producing its products abroad is hilarious: every corporation does it, and North American buyers already complain about spending too much on electronics. Who really believes people are willing to spend a heckuvalot MORE for Apple--or any other corporation's--devices just to have them made in North America?

No one.

[1Truthseeker]

02:49 PM on 02/06/2012

Your full of bull and you know it. There are more important considerations then price. What about the jobs drain on America with their outsourcing and the worker displacement with their
work visa hires?

Your willing to support a system that is driving more and more people in our country into poverty. Apple can curb it's greed!
http://www.salon.com/2012/02/06/obamas_high_tech_labor_lies/

[helioszephyr]

05:03 PM on 02/06/2012

Apple directly employs 43,000 in the US, not counting the A5/6 processor plant in Texas entirely dedicated to the processor, and not including US tech firms Apple has purchased (PA semi)

What's bull is the likes of you whining about Apple, only to purchase a Sam or HTC product, a foreign brand, violating your conviction to a greater degree. That's what's driving jobs out of the US.

[Highball]

04:19 AM on 02/07/2012

But why do you apply this to Apple, and not to HP, Dell, and every other company?

[Ed Baker]

02:58 PM on 02/06/2012

They can't possibly make their things here - the infrastructure for the supply chain has been gone for decades. We have neither the facilities, nor the talent to deliver what they need.

[DanInAustin]

05:47 PM on 02/06/2012

Thank you! It's amazing how many drooling mouth-breathers scream about how we should only buy products "Made in 'Merka" whenever a story about Apple pops up. Meanwhile, they're probably shopping at Walmart.

[Teddy Rutledge]

10:50 AM on 02/06/2012

Doesn't sound like a real big change...good news for a "refurb" iPad 2 at a good price!

[Matt7twit]

10:45 AM on 02/06/2012

To the critics who single Apple out in regards to making consumer electronics overseas let me spell it out for you in simple logistics. Apple has no interest in becoming a parts manufacturer (nor do I blame them unless they plan on selling parts to other companies as well) and there are currently few American companies to buy parts from let alone that could handle the demand. In short the cost to Apple (who already employes over 40k Americans) to bring manufacturing to the US will actually be far, far greater then just paying American wages and it's much more complicated logistically then just throwing $ at it unfortunately.

[1Truthseeker]

02:52 PM on 02/06/2012

America and American workers and consumers made Apple possible and sucessful. Your full of twit!

[helioszephyr]

05:04 PM on 02/06/2012

so stop purchasing foreign brands.

[Matt7twit]

09:19 PM on 02/06/2012

I'm not saying I prefer it that way but my point is about logistics and yours is about ideals. If you know of a practical way for America to be more competitive in the global unskilled consumer electronics manufacturing market then I am all ears.

[WrongApeture]

10:05 AM on 02/06/2012

Would American workers be willing to live in dorms-like conditions and work 80hr weeks like those Chinese laborers? Would they work for less money+healthbenefits?

[1Truthseeker]

02:54 PM on 02/06/2012

No human being should be expected to want to be exploited at slave wages and the degradation of their human dignity. With out America and American labor there would be no Apple today.

[helioszephyr]

05:07 PM on 02/06/2012

To get a perspective read the following... a bit long but worth the read. You'll understand why, for the most part, manufacturing, particularly in this industry, will not return to the US.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/07/china-makes-the-world-takes/5987/

[egaeus]

08:40 AM on 02/06/2012

Get to work Apple Chinese slave labor -- Americans want more toys.

[cuoi]

09:32 AM on 02/06/2012

Diane Sawyer did an excellent piece of things made in US and if more effort was made to use these companies, jobs would increase significantly. Highlighted was a home builder/economist who uses 100% American products down tot he nails. He estimated that if manufacturers used just 5% American products, that would create a significant amount of jobs. There are not many companies manufacturing here in US, such as making nails, and if we do not act soon, these will be lost for a long time.
Here's the site that lists American manufacturers (Apple take note):
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/MadeInAmerica/made-america-resource-guide-find-american-companies/story?id=13057404#.Ty_jDV0WXOc

[kcwookie]

10:04 AM on 02/06/2012

The biggest problems are that Americans won't pay a dime more than they are now and wages for these employees won't be better than China respectfully. We can have all the low wage jobs we want as long as we accept that these employees will still qualify for governments services.

[Supermammal]

12:22 PM on 02/06/2012

Why do we need to Americans manufacture nails here when we can get them cheaper overseas or have robots make them? Why not develope sectors that we can't get from foreign work or robots? I get so tired of the liberal whine for job creation without care for business/economical impact. Did Diane Sawyer tell you the price difference in the house?

[Philclock]

02:24 PM on 02/06/2012

Got a problem with Chinese working to better their lives, where a job with wages a fraction of what your "progressive" seminar trainer mandates as a "liveable wage" is a gateway into the economy, a step out of poverty, and an opportunity to climb the ladder to the NEXT step? Or do they need to cut your union pals in for a commission?

[1Truthseeker]

03:01 PM on 02/06/2012

Every human being on earth has a god given right to a living wage!

[kkehoe5]

07:13 AM on 02/06/2012

I love my iPad but having a dedicated weekly article about Apple rumors is just giving them free advertisment. Unless of course they are paying HP and the rest of the tech blogs to mention their name once a week by contract?

[kcwookie]

10:05 AM on 02/06/2012

It's news. If HP had a dedicated weekly article to RIMs Playbook, that would be advertising.

[helioszephyr]

05:08 PM on 02/06/2012

Stop "clicking" on the articles... it's the only thing that drives HP, or any publication, as the frequency of topics. More clicks, more advert revenue.

[bill scheitzach]

06:09 AM on 02/06/2012

So what this means is that these techie bloggers are doing the journalistic equivalent of carpetbombing the internet, realizing that one of their "predictions/updates" will, sooner or later, eventually come true. Then they can point back to that specific post and say "see what I told you back then?"

[TomCinIllinois]

04:35 AM on 02/06/2012

When is Apple going to replace the MacBooks? They have upgraded the processors, but the entire design is getting long in the tooth.

[kcwookie]

10:07 AM on 02/06/2012

I'm sure they will. They will not have an optical drive, but will have better battery life and come in at the same price points. They will be released by May at the latest.

[TomCinIllinois]

01:04 PM on 02/06/2012

No optical drive is a given. It's the iCloud and iTunesfor everything. I have to believe they will be cheaper.

[Highball]

04:24 AM on 02/07/2012

Well, they basically have the Air and the Pro now. And I don't see too many people complaining about the design of either.

I mean, there will be new Pros eventually, no optical drive, a lot changed on the insides. But I can't see too much really changing much with the look of the MB Pro.

[jlab]

02:44 AM on 02/06/2012

http://timnovate.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/apple-no-obligation-to-solve-americas-problems

From the article:

"In the 1981-86 period I was one of the U.S. government’s top trade negotiators, especially with Japan. At that time, Apple was trying to crack the Japanese market for personal computers and getting nowhere. Steve Jobs and other Apple executives had the funny notion that the U.S. government had an obligation to help them and asked me and other negotiators at the Commerce Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to help them get on the shelf in Japan. We did all we could and in doing so came to learn that virtually everything Apple had for sale, from the memory chips to the cute pointer mouse, had had its origins in some program wholly or partially supported by U.S. government money.”

Perhaps Apple has slightly modified JFK’s dictum to read: “Ask not what we should do for our country, ask only what our country can do to fatten our own profits”.

[1Truthseeker]

03:05 PM on 02/06/2012

That is one dictum that Apple has mastered: "Ask not what you can do for your country but what your country can do for your profit margin while you off shore your profits and lobby for a tax holiday." Apple has perfected being an outstanding corporate welfare queen!

[helioszephyr]

05:14 PM on 02/06/2012

How is that different from any other brand in this industry? Most everything had its roots in ARPA/SRI, mostly driven by Engelbart and Kay... or Bell Labs even earlier. The whole industry benefited from it.

The Korean government, to this day backs its major corps (including Samsung) if it feels a they, as a country, will have an advantage in the global markets. So does China and to a lesser degree Japan. Typically, the US gov does not, unless it's a gov project.

Exception to that is oil... you and I are subsidizing the oil industry to ensure their margins an keeping prices low (relative term here) at the pump.

[jlab]

02:43 AM on 02/06/2012

I always disclose that I am part of the problem, since I write these comments on a shiny iMac.

That said, one of the most shocking facts I found out by reading recent NYT articles about Apple manufacturing, was that a 1500$ computer would cost roughly 50$ to manufacture in the US, and roughly 30$ in China. A margin of 1450 was OBVIOUSLY too shabby.

[TomCinIllinois]

04:27 AM on 02/06/2012

I think you have to define what you mean by "manufacture." I think you mean assemble from Asian hard drives, microprocessors, RAM, motherboards, displays, etc.

[jlab]

04:45 AM on 02/06/2012

Would be a start, wouldn't it?

[kcwookie]

10:13 AM on 02/06/2012

So you are saying that Apple should subsidize American workers to the tune of $20 per unit? Won't happen. If Americans want jobs and higher wages, they have to be willing to pay more.

That being said, the Mac I'm on was assembled in the USA.

[Ed Baker]

03:03 PM on 02/06/2012

It must be VERY old.

[1Truthseeker]

03:08 PM on 02/06/2012

Apple owes its success to American workers and our government. Paying American workers a living wage is the least that Apple could do, being that they have become a fat corporate welfare queen on the US tax dollar while offshoring their profits and lobbying for a tax holiday! Apple is a traitor!