Apple has landed a new retail chief who came over to Cupertino from European retail chain Dixons. The new retail chief is John Browett.

A new rumor has surfaced claiming the iPhone 5 will have strong NFC support. NFC is required use contactless payments and many other phones already support NFC.

A rumor has surfaced from unnamed sources that claim the new iPhone to be unveiled today is lacking 4G. Some of the earlier rumors have claims the iPhone 5 would be packing 4G inside.

According to some, the big topic at the iPhone event today will be iOS 5 rather than the iPhone hardware. I expect that the new iPhone will be the bigger thing of interest.

JBL has unveiled a new iPhone speaker dock called the On Tour iBT Bluetooth speaker. The speaker will charge the iPhone or iPod with a USB cable and has a mic to be used as a voice phone for about $150.

The iPhone 5 specs were recently leaked by Cincinnati Bell. The leak shows a 32GB version of the iPhone 5 going for $650 off contract packing in a 4-inch screen and 4G data speeds.

Skype for iPhone has been updated with some new features. The update brings anti-shake for video and Bluetooth support for wireless headsets and voice chatting.

Has Apple been hinting that there will be only one iPhone unveiled on October 4? That is what some think since the phone call icon on the iPhone invite shows one missed call.

Samsung is pushing for a ban on the iPhone 5 smartphone to prevent it from going on sale in Europe. Apple’s legal team is claiming that Samsung has withheld the fact that it was planning on included certain tech in phones that it had patented already.

Apple is rumored to be buying glass polishing equipment for its phone manufactures for making curved glass screens. The curved glass is said to be ready by the second half of 2012.

According to the sources pegged by Kuo, the next iPhone will be pretty much just like the existing iPhone 4. Kuo bases this on the components said to be sourced for the new iPhone. The same source also claims that the iPhone 4S is also coming and that it will use the front and back panels to the existing iPhone 4.

The only changes he predicts for the iPhone 4S is an update to 512MB of RAM and the A5 dual-core processor the iPad 2 uses. He also notes that the camera will be the same. Only time will tell what rumor is accurate.

[via SlashGear]

Rumors claim that the iPhone 5 will launch on September 12 but the iPad 2011 launch rumor has changed. The iPad 3 won’t launch this year according to the sources.

Another legitimate looking fake Apple store has been found in China. This one is two stories and apparently sells black iPhones modded to be white for $110 more.

The Square Reader app for reading credit cards with a hardware accessory has landed in the app store. The hardware reader is $9.99 and the company will give you a credit of $10 when to your account that is used against charge fees.

Insiders are claiming that the iPhone 5 will be landing in September. The tipsters also claim that the device will look much like the existing iPhone with a faster processor under the hood.

A new rumor has surfaced that Apple may be getting a video streaming service ready to go. The rumor comes from an analyst that says Apple is building data centers all around the world and such a product would be hugely profitable.

With the new engineer at Apple with experience in carbon fiber, many are thinking that Apple will be offering carbon fiber cases for the iPhone and iPods soon to bring WiFi sync to the gadgets. However, other people point out that carbon fiber blocks many wireless signals too making it questionable for improving wireless capability.

Intel purchased the Infineon Technologies chipmaking arm, or at least it will if it gets regulatory approval. Infineon is the company that makes the iPhone baseband chips putting Intel inside the iPhone.

A rumor is circulating that I can’t really believe has any accuracy, but you never know. The rumor says that Apple has a new iPhone 4 coming next month with a redesigned antenna.

SlashGear wrote:

The device pictured certainly seems to tick all of the obvious boxes tipped by pre-launch rumors. There’s the new chassis, new chrome-free finish and second slot – believed to be for a front-facing camera – on the top of the fascia.

However the headphone socket doesn’t appear to be on the bottom of the iPhone video, as shown in the last set of leaked photos, which suggests that somewhere along the line there are some fakes. According to Nowhere Else, a source at Orange France suggests that the new iPhone will come in 8, 16 and 32GB capacities and in both white and black finishes, will be 3mm smaller…

[Nowhere Else via SlashGear]

With new iPhone Video models expected this summer, in addition to the previously-announced 3.0 firmware, Carphone Warehouse appears to be gearing up for the change. A screenshot of its inventory system provided by a person known to have access to such information shows placeholders for both 16GB and 32GB iPhones in both white and black. They’re mixed in among the existing and previous iPhone models, having reportedly cropped up just hours ago.

So, which one do you like? A 32GB one in white or black? :-)

[via Apple Insider]

Engadget reports that a source has told it that iPhones have been approved by the PCS Type Review Certification Board in capacities of 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB. The 8GB and 16GB offerings are certainly no surprise, we have had those for a long time now. The 4GB is a bit of a surprise, that capacity went the way of the Dodo shortly after the original iPhone was launched.

The PCS Type Review Certification Board is the standards body responsible for certificating handsets with some carriers like AT&T.

[via PhoneMag]

[UMPCFever]

As well as the listings, there are comparison shots with existing parts for the iPhone 3G.  While there’s no telling whether the parts are legitimate, the site – China Ontrade – does have a wide range of original factory components not only for the iPhone 3G but for various cellphone brands, MacBooks and Nintendo.

Close examination of the bezel suggests that the iPhone’s speaker has been pushed further up toward the top of the handset, either because the screen now occupies more room or, perhaps more likely, to make space for a front-facing camera to be used for video calls.  There’s no sign of any OLED panels, as had been tipped for inclusion in the new iPhone Video.

[via Gizmodo]