Apple’s launch ‘gaffe’: Popstar ‘accidentally’ leaks iPhone 5 pics

Apple’s hype machine is at it again. 

In what seems like a rerun of its previous ‘blunders’, cyberspace is being inundated with mock-ups, app tests, specs details and ‘accidental’ leaks of images of the iPhone 5, as a prelude to its imminent launch this month. 

The keynote address announcing the launch of the new iPhone, as many believe it will be called, is expected to be held on September 12, with September 21 being rumoured to be the date when Apple’s new device should be available in stores. 

If that is indeed the case, then the timing of the ‘leaks’ is just about right. Like in previous years, Apple’s water-tight security of its new devices tends to be breached about two weeks or so prior to their official unveiling. This, believe Apple-watchers, generates enough hype for its products to ensure a big-bang launch. 

Of course, Apple products have, almost always, lived up to the hype and, therefore, have been hot-sellers through and through, but a number of analysts credit the Cupertino-based tech giant’s marketing efforts for a sizeable part of its success. 

The latest chink in the hitherto well-guarded iPhone 5 fortress occurred over the weekend when Jimmy Lin, a Taiwanese-born popstar who is extremely popular in China, accidentally stated in his Weibo update that the new iPhone will indeed be longer than its previous iteration, and also posted images of the new iPhone as well, suggesting that Apple has offered him its latest smartphone ahead of the official launch. 

“It has been confirmed today that the iPhone 5 will indeed become longer [translated],” Jimmy Lin, who goes by the online moniker of dreamerjimmy on Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter and Facebook combined, stated on his Weibo update on Saturday, September 1. 

“It uses the same iPad aluminium alloy and a 4-inch screen, which has become thinner so it feels almost the same in hand [translated],” Lin said in Weibo, with a photo collection of the suspected new iPhone. 

Lin added that the headphone jack also has been placed at bottom of the handset, and as reported, the iPhone 5 will use a smaller 19-pin connector instead of current 30 pin connector.

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