"Summer has come and passed.
The innocent can never last.
Wake me up when September ends."
-- "Wake Me Up When September Ends," Green Day
Apple (AAPL -0.57%) fans may have to wait four more months for the consumer tech giant to put out new smartphones. Jefferies analyst Peter Misek doesn't expect the iPhone 5S to hit the market until late August or early September. Hopeful chatter of Apple countering the favorable momentum behind Samsung's latest Galaxy S4 release with a June introduction just isn't realistic.
Misek tracks more than 400 suppliers, suggesting that he and connected others will know when Apple begins the 60- to 90-day production process. It hasn't started yet.
No one is suggesting that Apple should rush a product to market before it's ready, but even delayed iPhone releases have been buggy lately.
Apple's absence comes at a time when older iPhones are selling just as well as the new iPhone 5, suggesting that consumers were either unimpressed with last year's new model or simply thrifty to the point of turning to the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S that are available for $200 and $100 less, respectively.
Apple's lack of a magnetic device may be exaggerated this week by the hungrier competition collecting press clippings. BlackBerry's annual BlackBerry Live event kicked off today in Florida. Nokia showed off new Lumia handsets at a press event in London today, too.
BlackBerry and Nokia are clawing for market share. Apple just wants to make sure that it doesn't yield more ground to global market leader Android before it gets a chance to wow the market again.
The Green Day song goes on to wax nostalgic about seven years that have gone so fast, and that's just how old the iPhone will turn next month. If September is when Apple's ready to introduce a new phone, it won't be a surprise. The iPhone 5 was delayed until late September last year. Apple just better make sure that it comes ready to raise the bar. The competition hasn't been shy about bragging these days.
