Psst! New iPad to offer videoconferencing, iPhone 4’s display

Did I get your attention? Who knows what Apple will release this fall, though it typically does release a new iPod Touch each fall based on then-current iPhone model? That part of this blog’s subhead is likely to be true. My sources, by the way, are friends who were speculating on what Apple might do, based on a logical idea that Apple will move its iPhone 4 innovations into other products. But it is merely speculation, not verifiable news or even credible rumors.

But rumors seem to rule. Case in point: This week, hundreds of websites and local TV news stations ran a Bloomberg report claiming Apple will release a version of the iPhone 4 in January 2011 that runs on Verizon Wireless’ CDMA network, quoting anonymous sources. Other reports cite a Chinese manufacturer claiming Apple has placed orders for CDMA parts.

InfoWorld.com chose not to run a story of its own on these rumors, given the Verizon rumor has popped up every few months since 2008, each time proving to be false. For example, this April, Bloomberg also quoted an analyst saying Apple may have a Verizon-capable iPhone in 2010. I’m sure the analyst said that, but why did Bloomberg choose to give it credibility? At InfoWorld, we’ve had enough of the speculation masqerading as news, but apparently the blogosphere and, presumably, its readers have not.

I don’t know if Apple will release a Verizon-compatible iPhone this winter. I do know that Apple originally signed a five-year exclusive deal with AT&T in the United States that will expire in 2012 unless the two companies have negotiated a change to that deal (if so, they’re not saying). The early 2011 timeframe is suspect.

I also know that Apple has not produced a CDMA phone for any carrier, choosing instead to use the GSM-based radio frequencies that are standard in almost all of the rest of the world; producing a CDMA version for just the United States seems unlikely. Though GSM devices vastly outnumber CDMA units (3 billion to 522 million, respectively) worldwide, the two networks can coexist, as they do in the United States and Canada.

There’s no technical reason Apple couldn’t create a CDMA version of the iPhone, and in markets like the United States where the population is split fairly evenly between GSM and CDMA users, it could make financial sense. Personally, I’d love it if the iPhone were available on Verizon, the carrier I happen to use. Given my past experience with AT&T, I’m very reluctant to switch back, which is the main reason I don’t have an iPhone — and I’m not alone.

But you won’t read any of this context in this week’s rash of blogs and “news” stories all citing that single Bloomberg report. In fact, you probably think that the Verizon iPhone is a done deal. Certainly, several friends told me of the “news” in the past couple days, not realizing it was unverified.

Many of the current round of stories neglect to mention the fact the sources are anonymous, simply citing Bloomberg as the source. In their naïveté (or lack of concern for the truth), these sites and TV stations assume that just because Bloomberg is a well-known business news service, the story must be true — except that doesn’t mean a thing. For example, the august New York Times reported in April 2009 that a Verizon iPhone was in the works. It didn’t happen. The equally august Wall Street Journal reported in March 2010 that a Verizon iPhone looked to be imminent. Those anonymous sources sure get it wrong.

The bottom line is that the blogosphere is full of rumors masquerading as news, and respectable organizations have joined the rumor rat race — an unfortunate side effect of the Web’s immediacy. I’d have no problem if the stories were labeled upfront as speculation or rumors; then we’d all know to take them with a big grain of salt, but many don’t do that.

As for the next-generation iPad and iPod Touch, or for a possible Verizon-compatible iPhone, we’ll all know what’s real when Apple decides to tell us — or if it manages to lose a preproduction model as it did with the iPhone 4. But not before then.

This article, “Psst! New iPad to offer videoconferencing, iPhone 4’s display,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more of Gruman et al.’s Mobile Edge blog and follow the latest developments in mobile computing at InfoWorld.com.