It’s that season again. The season when everyone rushes to announce products and ‘innovations’ before Apple drops their latest iPhone and iOS software on the market, obliterating alternative coverage for weeks. This year is tightly packed, with 7 events in roughly three weeks so far, and still time for more to pop onto the schedule.
Apple’s event is unofficially expected on September 12th, though no formal announcement has been made. A bunch of rumors and confirmations from people with good sources has made it seem likely, though. And other companies have taken notice, continuing to schedule events in order to slip in ahead of Apple’s typically high-profile keynotes.
Here’s what companies are looking to slide in ahead of Apple to grab some sort of mindshare before the iPhone, and perhaps iPad mini, destroy tech reporting for the holiday quarter.
August 29 – Samsung’s Unpacked Event
Samsung is holding an event at the end of this month to announce…something. The early word is that this could be when we see the even enormouser Galaxy Note II.
September 5th – Nokia and Microsoft’s Windows Phone Event
Nokia and Microsoft are holding an event in NYC on the same day that Nokia World starts in Helsinki Finland. The event is rumored to be the launch point for Nokia’s new Arrow and Phi handsets, in cooperation with ATT.
September 5th and 6th – Nokia World
The annual developers’ conference that Nokia holds in its homeland of Finland was moved up this year, by a lot. It was originally scheduled to run September 25-26 but has since been moved up to the 5th and 6th. The move was made way back in May, so this isn’t a response to Apple’s event date, which only really started to be rumored for the 12th late last month. But Apple’s event last year was in October, so the late September conference would still have been ‘pre-Apple’ going by that timetable.
September 5th – Google/Motorola Mobility’s On Display Event
In a plucky bit of press wrangling, the Google-owned Motorola Mobility decided to throw its hat in the ring with an invitation to an event held in NYC as well, on the same day as Nokia and Microsoft are holding their shindig. Its event will happen several hours later at 2pm. This is where we’re likely to see the Droid Razr HD, likely to be announced for Verizon exclusively as they’re co-hosting the event.
With some dubious PR wittery, Motorola tagged its invitation with the statement that it will be “the day’s main event”.
September 6th – Amazon Press Conference
Announced earlier today, the Amazon presser will likely herald its next generation of Kindle devices. Whether that will be a Kindle Fire 2, Kindle Fire 10″, Kindle Phone or just a refresh of its lineup is a mystery. A new Kindle Fire of some sort is an extremely safe bet though, as they’ll need a new tablet for the holiday season.
September 12th, maybe – Apple’s iPhone Event
This one hasn’t been officially announced, but it seems likely from the rumors and supporting comments thereof. This should be when Apple releases its iPhone, and perhaps even an iPad mini. Earlier today, John Gruber conjectured that Apple might push its music event back to October in order to give the iPhone some space before an iPod touch, iPod and perhaps iPad mini arrived on the scene. Either way, the 12th is looking like it’s going to have some Apple action attached to it, and that’s what all of these other companies are preparing their events for.
Late September, maybe – HTC Event
HTC has been rumored to be lauynching new Windows Phone 8 devices, including three already detailed, in the third week of September. This would put HTC just after the iPhone’s announcement, maybe even the same week.
Looks like we’ll have our hands full with new stuff these next few weeks. Until everyone forgets about them when Apple releases the iPhone.
Image Credit for iPhone: Nowhereelse.fr
Image Credit: Nikolay Lamm