There's only around three hours to go now until Apple tells the world about its new iPhone device. So here's a round-up of the latest rumours:

Assistant app and voice technology

The rumours about Apple developing a new kind of voice technology have been circulating for years now.

Yes, boring old voice recognition has been around for a long time, but the new iPhone's rumoured built-in Assistant application could really shake things up. According to Digital Trends, Apple's recent acquisition of Siri could bring fully integrated voice control to the device unlike anything we've ever seen before.

The interesting thing about Assistant is it's set to be integrated into all aspects of the new device and its apps, so it's not just about shouting "MUM" at your phone so it slowly calls your mum, it's about using your voice to do everything, seamlessly, regardless of how much people make fun of your accent.

Big plans with Facebook

We're already hoping that Facebook will launch its official iPad application tonight, but we can also expect an updated iPhone app and possibly even more systemwide Facebook integration.

Three new phones

We discussed rumours of a budget Apple handset yesterday, but Cult of Mac is standing by its prediction that three handsets will be announced tonight, an updated iPhone 4, an iPhone 5 AND a budget iPhone N90A.

iCloud services

Apple could be planning on launching its full suite of iCloud services tonight alongside the official announcement of iOS5.

A HUGE screen

There have been all kinds of rumours, mock ups and leaked case designs over the past few months, but the general consensus is currently that if Apple launches a new iPhone 5, it could be a little slimmer and more tapered. However, Digital Trends has just published case specifications from manufacturer Hard Candy which suggest the new device could well have a large 4.44 inch screen. We're not sure how likely this is, but the brand has put more than 50,000 of these cases into production...

More plans for the iPhone 3GS and iPod range

Although most people will be focusing on the updated iPhone 4 and the shiny new iPhone 5 tonight, there's a chance Apple will start introducing the iPhone 3GS without a contract or as an unlocked device. There's also a chance the iPod Touch and iPod Nano devices will be getting a revamp, but we're not sure whether that'll be mentioned tonight.

Some interesting stuff from poling company YouGov which has been asking consumers what they think about Tablet PCs. To be fair you can probably guess its main conclusions that 1, The iPad is the tablet most people want. 2, That £250 is the price point at which sales of tablet PC will go stratospheric and 3, The iPad's only serious rival is likely to be the kindle Fire.

"Apple is far and away the current UK market leader in terms of brand awareness, preference and price," says Russell Feldman, Associate Director for Technology and Telecoms Consulting at YouGov. "But the introduction of the Kindle Fire, with its compelling features and even more attractive price, will make it very hard indeed for other players to compete. The Kindle Fire benefits not only on price and specifications, but also in the value and trust consumers have in the Amazon brand. What's more it has the potential to be a major game-changer given the depth of Amazon's downloadable content as well as its burgeoning application store - something that has underpinned consumers' loyalty to Apple over other tablets running an Android OS."

The research doesn't deliver any good news for Apple's rival brands like Samsung, Motorola and Acer. Apparently "72% of "hot prospects" (respondents who are keen to get a tablet) will consider purchasing an iPad2 with a further 61% expecting to get one. However, the next most popular tablets are the out of date iPad1 at 14% followed by the original Samsung Galaxy Tab at 7%. Other competitors fared even worse, with just 3% of "hot prospects" expecting to get a HTC, 3% a BlackBerry and just 1% favouring an Acer."

Feldman added "This is the mountain Android-based tablets need to climb, but by launching a rival ecosystem at an extremely competitive price, Amazon is likely to make a rapid approach to the summit, at the expense not necessarily of Apple, but of its rival Android stable mates."

We're just a day away from Apple's highly anticipated iPhone announcement and the rumours are coming in thick and fast.

There's already been a lot of speculation about the announcement of TWO handsets, the fancy iPhone 5 everyone is secretly crossing their fingers for, as well as an updated iPhone 4 device (see the handset photo above). Many have been suggesting the iPhone 4 reincarnation will be better and faster, but there are also rumours that it will be Apple's first budget offering.

This certainly isn't the first time there's been whispers of a budget Apple handset, but considering there's been so much talk of a big launch double whammy tomorrow, it seems to be the first time most people are taking the rumour seriously.

But does Apple really need to bring a low-cost handset to the smart phone market?

A feature on The Next Web this morning suggested that a budget handset would be the only way Apple could successfully penetrate the notoriously tricky Asian markets and open up new opportunities for the brand.

However, we can't help but think a low-cost option would de-value the highly aspirational Apple brand in the long run, even if the device is still of a comparatively high quality.

Do you think a budget handset would help or hinder the famous Apple brand?

[Image via]

As people get more and more excited about Apple's iPhone announcement next week and cases begin to be shipped to stores in the US, it's time to catch up with some of the latest gossip.

We wrote a big rumour round-up yesterday, but a few different bits and pieces have been floating around since then...

1. Three different capacities

According to 9to5mac, the new iPhone is set to come in three different sizes, 64GB, 32GB and 16GB.

2. A tapered design

MacRumours has published pictures of a new Case Mate case which has a very slim and very tapered design. Although we've been expecting something that shape, the photos suggest that it's even sleeker than we expected.

3.Sooner than expected

You'd expect Apple to start selling its new phone up to a month after the announcement, but with new cases being shipped out here, there and everywhere it could be that the iPhone will be sold in a matter of days rather than weeks after the event next Tuesday 4th October.

4.. The N94 codename

Most of the rumours that have surfaced today have come about because new notes have appeared on Apple's inventory system under the codename N94. So that's what we can call the new little guy now until we find out whether it's an iPhone 4s, 5 or 345774896.

5. Black and white colours confirmed (well, 99%)

Considering how popular both black and white models of the iPhone 4 have been in the past, it makes sense that Apple would release both colours of the next device too. However, recent notes made on the inventory system CONFIRM that this will be the case.

So, not long to go now. As you all know there's a new iPhone coming on Tuesday and you can read all the gossip about it here.

It is incredible to think that the iPhone is in fact only four years old (well six if you include Apple's first attempt at a handset with Motorola, the not very-loved Rokr).

Anyhow, here then is a quick whizz through the history of the iPhone which highlights all the key changes to its design and functionality.

It seems that ever since the iPhone 4 was launched there have been all kinds of rumours about Apple's next model, which we're presuming will be called the iPhone 5.

Now an official date has been set aside for a 'big iphone announcement' making everything seem much more real (next Tuesday 4th October), we've collected together just a few of the things we're expecting to happen, but if Apple ends up unveiling a wooden phone called iWood or something, don't blame us.

Where and when will 'it' be announced?

The event, which so far has only been referred to as 'let's talk iPhone', will take place at Apple's Cupertino premises in California on Tuesday 4th October.

In London, MacRumours has revealed that the event will be streamed live to press at Apple's Covent Garden store at around 6PM.

When will I be able to get my hands on 'it'?

If the new product is unveiled on the 4th, chances are it'll be available within a matter of weeks or even days if the rumours about Apple employees not being allowed to take holiday in mid October are anything to go by.

What will it be called?

Well firstly, its name isn't set in stone, with some rumours suggesting the next model may be the 4GS instead of the 5, or possibly even both. Yes, TWO handsets.

What will it look like?

When it comes to design most of what we know so far has come from the specifications drawn out by case manufacturers, but it's hard to tell whether these are just mock ups based on pure speculation.

It's been suggested that Apple has been experimenting with curved glass to create either the front or the back of the new device. I know plenty of fans out there will be happy with more of a tapered shape at the back like the 3GS, but I do actually like the more 'blocky' feel of the iPhone 4.

As other manufacturers like HTC experiment with bigger screens, it wouldn't be surprising if Apple took the next model just a little bit bigger.

The home button has been discussed a lot in recent weeks, with many wondering whether it'll be bigger, touch sensitive or even just scrapped altogether.

Everyone went CRAZY for the white iPhone 4 models, so we can expect both black and white handsets right from the word go.

Will it work differently?

So much focus has been placed on how it'll look, everyone's forgetting that its insides are pretty important too.

Many are guessing that the next iPhone device will have an A5 processor, like that in the iPad 2, which will make everything much more streamlined.

There have been lots of rumours about the iPhone 5's new and improved camera after an image (allegedly taken using the device) was found on Flickr with an 8 megapixel resolution, which would be great news for mobile photography fans.

Following Google's mobile payment launch, Google Wallet, we wouldn't be surprised to find an NFC (near field communication) technology inside the next iPhone handset, but maybe that's a bit of a leap.

So, we're expecting something a little bigger, a little slimmer, possibly curvy, with a better camera and a faster processor. Now it's just time to sit and wait...

So what the hell is Deezer? And do you need another music streaming service in your life? Well, chances are you hadn't heard of Deezer before last night when the French company announced its role as part of Facebook's music package. Deezer however has been around for a while. It was launched as a service back in 2007 in France (before Spotify) and since then has signed up more than 20 million users and 1.3 million subscribers. It actually debuted in the UK earlier in September, but will have got a massive new number of subscribers yesterday.

But what if you have Spotify already - do you need another music streaming service? Well here are the differences between the two.

1 Deezer is web-based. Spotify is client based.

The big difference is that Deezer is a web based service. So you don't have to download any software, you simply go to the website, create your account and the music - all 13 million tracks - is waiting for you.

With Spotify you have to have a computer with the client on board for it to work. The Facebook upgrade, which lets you listen to Spotify songs on the social networking sites, doesn't actually change this. If you try to listen to a song it then downloads the client on to the PC. Very cleverly it doesn't matter who has been using the Spotify client as it automatically logs you out of someone else's account and connects to yours.

I guess the browser based nature of the service might mean that Deezer can go a few places that Spotify can't as it might be able to skip through some work firewalls.

2 The free options are different

As you probably know the free Spotify service is one, ad funded and, two comes with a few restrictions on the number of times you can play a track. With Deezer things are a little different. You can access the radio channels and Smartradio, but music on demand is limited to 30 second clips rather than the whole song. To listen to whole albums etc you have to subscribe. However when we signed in this morning we were offered a few weeks of the service for free. I am not sure how long this will be available for.

3 The mobile service is different

Deezer wins on this one. Its mobile options are easier to use and more detailed than Spotify's and includes extra features such as radio and Smartradio. You can also listen to music on your mobile via Deezer (well the radio and Smartradio) without having to pay for a subscription, Spotify only offers its mobile service to its paying customers.

Other than those three biggies the services are fairly similar.

Spotify has the edge in number of track 15 million to 13 million, however I did keep finding things on Deezer that are not on Spotify. The big names are John Lennon (his catalogue was removed from Spotify a few months back) and Pink Floyd (whose albums are being rolled out on Deezer in the next few weeks). Neither service has The Beatles or Led Zeppelin.

The interfaces and general features (like social sharing of tracks) work in a similar way. Deezer looks a little more MySpacey to Spotify's iTunes influenced design. Deezer does have Soundcloud integration, which is a very nice touch. I guess Spotify will get this soon.

The subscription deals are virtually identical with both charging £4.99 for full PC service and £9.99 if you want to take tracks with you on your mobile. Slight moan about Deezer though - their service is 4.99 and 9.99 Euros which makes it even cheaper in France. Shame they couldn't have saved us Brits a few pence too.

Overall then, do you need both? Well probably not. Is one better than the other? Not really, it is too close to call. There might come a day when one of them offers a feature that will make me change my mind, but for now both services are well worth considering. Five quid a month for all that music? Bargain!

If you own an iPad it is highly likely that it is already teeming with apps. For me its Pulse for reading the latest news, Sky for watching the footy, Plane AR for seeing which flight is going where and Stick Cricket for when I want to create my own mini world Cup. I also dabble with Flipboard which appears to be becoming absolutely huge now.

However no matter how many apps I have there's one app that I keep coming back to me and that's Safari. I probably spend as much as 80% of my time on the iPad simply looking at web pages.

The Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger put it so well last year when he talked about on Radio Four about the iPad and publishing.

I can't give a direct quote but he basically said that he loved the device and thought that The Guardian looked great on it. In an almost off the cuff comment he then added that he thought the browser version of The Guardian looked so good and worked so well that it had made the company think twice about iPad apps.

Which is why I think that the arrival of the new version of the Dolphin browser on the iPad is quite a big deal. You may have heard about the browser as it is available on many Android tablets, but the move to the iPad and iPhone will take it to another dimension.

Although the iPad version is based on Safari it offers two key advances over the native app.

1 It has a Flipboard style social network driven magazine. If you want Flipboard within a browser it isn't a bad shout.

2 It offers gesture browsing. This is very cool. You create a sign or a letter by drawing on your iPad and assign it to a URL. When you want to go there you press one button draw the symbol and you are there.

It delivers true tabbed browsing too which will only available on the iOS 5 for the iPad that is due to launch fairly shortly.

So a really neat addition to the app store.

There's a bit of a surprise over that the FT which is reporting that research organisation
Kantar Worldpanel ComTec, reckons that over a quarter of tablet PC sales are NOT iPads. I must admit I though that Apple's domination of the market would mean that it would have an even bigger slice of the tablet pie. Not so.

In second place is not some no-mark Android cheapie, but rather the Samsung's Galaxy Tab which has around 5.9% of the market.

Apparently more than 3.6m people in the UK now own a tablet, which marks a threefold increase from November 2010.

Kantar also predicts that Apple will dominate the market, but other makers will see some growth. It claims that more than half of potential tablet owners will buy an iPad over the next year, but that 28 per cent of consumers that intend to purchase a tablet in the next year are still undecided about which brand to buy.

Also unsurprising is that most tablets sold have been Wi-Fi only and not 3G. I wonder if that number will change over the coming months as networks began to heavily market 3G tablets with attractive tariffs.

Read the full report here.

Here's a curious one. As any iPod nano owners already know you can buy a neat little strap that enables you to wear your nano on your wrist. This however isn't good enough for Apple-obsessed Swiss/Italian company Pineapple. They think that the nano looks great on people's wrists, but they don't really need all that music playing functionality.

Hence Pineapple have created rather fetching watches that look a little like the nano, but do little else but tell the time. As their release cheekily points out though the watch has one feature that has eluded the nano namely that the watch is water resistant to 30 metres.

So if you want to wear a watch that looks a little like a nano but doesn't actually play any music then hop along here. They sell for around £55, are available in loads of colours and are limited stock only. And yes they sure look pretty.

Really not much to say about the latest NMA video, in which our hero takes drugs, slays Darth 'Bill Gates Vader,' performs his own liver transplant and much more. Genius.

He's the techworld's ultimate showman and here's a collection of some of his finest moments. There are technical pyrotechnics, but Steve Jobs is about a lot more than just razzle dazzle. An old cynic like me doesn't like to use the word "inspirational" too much, but he really is. And not just to computer engineers - his words apply to anyone with an idea or a creative task.

Commencement speech at Stanford 2005
Still a rallying cry for creatives and mavericks - Steve gave this moving speech to the freshmen in Stanford talking about his personal history and the upsets he overcame to make Apple.
Youtube comments include this kind of thing: "I watch this at least three times a year when I need the kick in the pants to stay on track with my dreams."

Apple WWDC '97 Steve Jobs Closing Keynote
At one hour long, this is one to watch in bits, but my god, it's worth it. Take tips about leadership, public speaking, and pulling back from a crisis.
It's a barnstorming hour where Steve answers questions from a crowd of developers at a time when Apple was at one of its lowest ebbs. He takes taunts, valid questions and comes back with honest but rousing answers. Oh and some sharp put-downs. This guy is in control. Great takeaway: "Focus is saying no".

Steve Jobs:You have to think Differently
[MacWorld Congress 1997]
Want to know why you still feel smug buying an Apple computer? This is why. The computers are different. You are different. This is how to make someone want something.
"You always had to be a little different to buy an Apple computer. You had to think differently[...] They are the creative spirits in this world"

Unveiling the first Apple Macintosh
[1984]
He only pops a floppy into a Mac, but listen to the screams, Steve is driving the audience crazy. Okay - it's first Mac - ever. But for some lessons about showmanship - watch and learn.

Steve Jobs burning Bill Gates
Yes, it's a catty joke, but this is a guy who believes in what he does. It reminds us of how Steve told the NY Times that he made Apple so innovative - by hiring people who wanted to make the best things in the world.

For the fuller and more enlightening version look at the whole video from the AllThingsD double interview with Bill Gates:

It only seems like yesterday that the iPad 2 arrived, but already there is plenty of talk of its successor. And if you are hanging on for iPad version three (better screen? faster processor? higher res camera?) you might have a little longer to wait.

According to DigiTimes, a shortage of Retina Displays (as seen in the iPhone 4 and expected to appear in the iPad 3) from suppliers LG and Samsung mean that the iPad 3 will now definitely appear no earlier than Spring of 2012. Also work on the new A6 chip is proceeding more slowly than expected too.

So it now sounds as if there will be no iPad 3s until at least 2012.

Big news from Apple today. It has announced the opening of a new UK Apple Store. And in keeping with its policy of choosing high profile, upmarket, prestigious locations for its stores, this new one is in, wait for it, Basingstoke.

Now Basingstoke is a lovely place with an architecturally interesting modernist town centre, but it does seem an odd place for Apple to open their latest UK store.

Where next then? Barking? Slough? Or there are a few other UK places which have recently had their town centres rearranged. Maybe Apple could help revitalise local economies by opening a store or two there. It would certainly be a shot in the arm for the local security businesses.

Anyway Berkshire Hampshire residents, the store opens on the 20th and you can find directions here.

Here's quite possibly the only song ever written to mention Basingstoke.

Apple's iPhone 5 will be able to recognise your face claims 9to5mac reporting that the iOS5 update accompanying the new phone will include facial recognition software.

Signficantly, third party apps will be able to build the facial recognition into their own apps.

Apple bought out Scandinavian firm Polar Rose and their facial recognition tech in 2010, If the iOS5 update is anything like Polar Rose's other tech, it won't just scan for the shape of your face, but will pick up how your eyes and mouth move too.

Soon it will have a beating heart and be able to love you back too..

[via Mashable]

Apple stickers end up in a lot more places than just on Apple Macs. We bring some of the weirdest places people put those free stickers you get when you make the great decision to buy an Apple product.

As ever, it's a smart marketing ploy from Mr Jobs because those stickers really do get around and it's all free advertising. Especially when they wind up covering the logo on Dell PCs..

Apple has risen so far so fast that it's not just negative tech bloggers with too much time on their hands who wonder whether it can possibly sustain the rise. And just how it's going to cope with the inevitable plateau.

Apple overtook Microsoft to become the most valuable tech company on the stock market last year. And makes profits way ahead of Google or any other tech competitor. It was the outsider that sky-rocketed to mainstream success.

We've already looked at how Apple is adjusting to the cultural changes that come from now being the dominant tech company: Is Apple losing its cool? Why the ban on live gig recording could be one step too far....

Now, still chewing the fat on Apple's frankly incredible Quarter 3 results, it's interesting to look at the financial aspects too.

The FT just have. They reckon that the picture isn't as burning bright as it might be:

"Because the good times have made the company vast by any standard (it is expected to have more than $100bn in revenue this year) the question is how much, not if, growth is going to decelerate in coming quarters. When the company reports, later on Tuesday - and for several more quarters to come - investors should be alert for any clues about how management will handle this transition from absurd to merely exceptional growth."

Apple make so much money by inventing new markets, that some financial experts have cast doubt on their ability to maintain their profits in open mature markets.

The FT again, different blog post, noted that share prices only rose a modest 5% on the back of the spectacular Q3 results.

"What Apple's products and growth show is that the company actually innovates, creating markets rather than fighting for share. That means the bosses, despite their string of successes, might themselves have only a limited view of the financial future and so have few options besides caution. The issue is not disclosure, but the nature of real technological change."

In other words, is their incredible technical innovation sustainable? Techies would argue not, especially given some unimpressive releases like the iPad 2. (See our feelings on the magnetic cover here). But their ability to sell products is unmatched.

And one important market open to Apple doesn't rely on inventing more swanky new products. One big outside factor in Apple's continued profitability is its growth in Asia, particularly China. Growth in sales in the US and Europe has been relatively flat, but in Asia Pacific sales are up 57%. That's huge, because China is huge.

Apple are well placed to take advantage of the market there, and growth there could fuel Apple's continued profitability, even if they don't make any game-changing announcements in the next few years.

Well, you'd hope Apple are thinking about it. Steve, 56, took medical leave last year to cope with cancer of the pancreas. Tim Cook, Chief Operating Officer, has taken over most of the leadership duties, but since so much of Apple's image and success is bound up with their combative charismatic leader, it's natural they want to start thinking about life post-Steve.

And they've been looking to pull in a big name from a rival tech company said the WSJ. An outsider could bring some energy and pr fizzle to the position that perhaps an internal candidate couldn't. But given Steve Jobs' stature, obvious replacements will only come from a tiny pool of people right at the very top.

The WSJ reported this:

Since Steve Jobs went on medical leave this winter, some members of Apple Inc.'s board have discussed CEO succession with executive recruiters and at least one head of a high-profile technology company, according to people familiar with the matter.

The conversations weren't explicitly aimed at recruiting a new chief executive and were more of an informal exploration of the company's options, said these people. The directors don't appear to have been acting on behalf of the full board, some of these people said.

Apple' back in the spotlight today after announcing phenomenal growth for

It's not just big, it's the biggest, despite being one of the most expensive phones on sale. We all know Steve and Apple have pulled off an incredible success with the iPhone but seeing the cold hard facts is still a gob-stopper.

Between April and the beginning of July this year - 20.34 million iPhones were sold.

They've overtaken Nokia as the biggest seller of smartphones at last and with almost incredibly with only one device.

Techies may scoff at the salesman tactics like bringing out a white version of the iPhone 4, but hey, look like it worked. It's not all about pleasing the gadget bloggers, it's about making your handset the most desirable one out there. And looks like they did it.

Let's hope for the sake of healthy competition that Android-makers, even Nokia and Windows manage to come up with a true rival.

Here is Apple's summary of devices sold - note that iPods have dipped. Everything else is increasing fast.

"The Company sold 20.34 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 142 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.25 million iPads during the quarter, a 183 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 3.95 million Macs during the quarter, a 14 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 7.54 million iPods, a 20 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter."

See Apple's Third Quarter Results here

Have Apple successfully patented the idea of recognising a phone number? Android phone-makers are looking legally vulnerable after Apple won a patent battle against HTC.

Apple successfully argued to a US trade panel judge that HTC phones broke several patents they had filed back in the 90s. In particular, one which protected the idea of recognising "a structure in data" (such as a phone number) and generating an action from it (such as calling the number).

Problem is, that if HTC is infringing the two patents, then all Android phones are likely infringing the patents too. Lawsuits against Samsung and Motorola could follow.

Apple was awarded a patent in 1999 which covered
the "system and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data", US patent No. 5,946,647.

The Guardian says:

"Essentially, it allows elements such as email addresses or phone numbers to be recognised so that when they are activated via a mouse or, on a smartphone, by a finger, they activate the relevant program."

In the patent application Apple gave an example of the sort of task their patent protected:

"the system may receive data that includes a phone number, highlight it for a user, and then, in response to a user's interaction with the highlighted text, offer the user the choice of making a phone call to the number"

As one commenter points out:

"How can you patent the idea of recognising a phone number and acting on it? Surely you should only be able to patent the technological solution? Apple is concentrating on stymieing competition rather out-competing it..."

Gizmodo believe the patent is too broad to stand up in court

We hope the US will revoke this appeal because it would signficantly affect competition in the high-end mobile market... And that's not good for consumers.