Despite school starting up again and the election campaign revving up, September 2012 will likely be remembered as the month when Apple announced and released the iPhone 5.
But don't tell Nokia, Motorola, Amazon, Microsoft, or even Samsung that. Unless it is some sort of coincidence, all the aforementioned companies are holding their own conferences to show off their new toys before Apple gets a chance to take the spotlight. The emergence of these events is not clear, but could surely be a sign that these companies are panicking and feel the need to find any means possible to diminish Apple's attention.
On Monday, NY Times' Brian X. Chen and Nick Wingfield both commented on the fact that all the competitors "cramming product announcements into this holiday-shortened workweek" and added that "products announced after Apple's could be subject to uncomfortable comparisons or accusations of copying, if they are noticed at all."
Samsung recently unveiled the new Galaxy Note 2 phone-tablet, just months after releasing the Galaxy S3 smartphone. This writer opined that the move may have been a bit rushed, but it also demonstrated Samsung's desire to continue riding out its wave of success for as long as possible before Apple's inevitable takeover in the fall.
Sony followed Samsung's lead and announced its Xperia Tablet last week. The tablet will begin to sell on September 7 in a 16 GB version at $399, the same price as Samsung's and Apple's tablets of the same storage capacity.
But this week, other companies are taking the stand to get their licks in.
Nokia, once ruler of the phone industry, has announced a special event on Wednesday in which they will likely show off their Windows Phone 8. According to "All Things D" the phone includes "industry-first" photo abilities and comes packed with the Windows 8 operating system. Unlike the other competitors who are focusing on tablets, Nokia is really pushing their new phone. The need to push the date to Wednesday, gives them almost a week before the mysterious conference on September 12 to spread their message about why their phone would work better than Apple's next endeavor.
Motorola and Verizon have also scheduled a conference for that same day.
On Thursday September 6, Amazon gets ready to unveil its Kindle Fire 2. They are expected to show off two versions: a new one and an update of their current version. The new one is stated to include a mapping system and have an increased screen resolution of 1280x800. It will also be lighter and include more metal in its design; a feature also prevalent in Apple's iPad.
The main question however is whether any of this will ultimately matter. Surveys indicate that despite having a top-tier phone like the Galaxy S3 on the market for months, customers are only thinking about the iPhone 5. The last minute conferences seem like last ditch efforts to at least grab a small slice of the pie before it all gets eaten on September 12.
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