Apple on Tuesday sent out invites for an October 4 iPhone event at the company's headquarters in Cupertino.
"Let's talk iPhone," the invite reads, suggesting that the press gathering will indeed discuss the next-generation Apple smartphone.
The event starts at 10am Pacific time, and will likely feature Tim Cook's first appearance as CEO. PCMag will be there, so stay tuned for all the details.
Rumors about an October 4 event got started last week, when All Things D, citing sources familiar with Apple's plans, reported the date. The blogosphere soon realized, however, that San Francisco's Moscone Center, where Apple has held larger launch events in the past, was booked by Oracle. Surely the auditorium on Apple's Cupertino campus, which only seats about 250 people, was too small a venue for the iPhone 5 launch, they speculated. Where else might it be held? ATD later said that despite potential space restrictions, Apple's campus would indeed be where the next iPhone would be unveiled.
Apple is breaking with tradition this year, releasing its next-gen iPhone in October instead of June or July, but if past releases are any indication, we can probably expect the new iPhone to hit store shelves about two weeks or so after the event.
Last year, for example, Apple announced the iPhone 4 on June 7 at its Worldwide Developer Conference and it was released on June 24. In 2009, the iPhone 3GS also made its debut at WWDC on June 8, and was released on June 19. The iPhone 3G took a bit longer to show up in stores; it was announced on June 9 and released on July 11.
The original iPhone was a special occasion; Apple held a press event in January 2007 to unveil its first smartphone, but buyers didn't get their hands on it until June 29.
Losing track of all the Apple iPhone 5 rumors? For more, see last week's top rumors, as well as those from the week before. Also check out What the iPhone 5 Might Look Like and Six Amazing Phone Technologies We Want in iPhone 5, as well as the 8 Likely iPhone 5 Rumors, and 2 Wild Ones slideshow below.