iPhone 5

After three years of service, Apple is planning to retire the iPhone 3GS after next week's iPhone 5 announcement. This is according to a report in The Telegraph, which explains that Apple will discontinue the device and offer a reduced-price iPhone 4 with 8GB of storage instead.

iPhone 3GS stocks have been running low. 9to5Mac even received word that Apple warned its Genius Bar staff about the issue. Rumor has it that some lucky customers are getting an iPhone 4 in exchange for their broken iPhone 3GS at stores that no longer have replacements on hand.

Numerous leaks and anonymous tips have all but proven the iPhone 5 and all future Apple devices will feature a 9-pin dock connector. If true, all existing iOS cables, chargers and accessories won't work without some kind of adaptor. According to iLounge's Jeremy Horwitz, Apple plans to eliminate all third-party developers by becoming the "exclusive initial vendor" of their own branded "9-pin Connector". Apple will sell the "Dock Connector Adapters" individually for $10, or three for $29.

Horwitz claims Apple has stopped entertaining "third-party proposals for connector-equipped accessories, making some developers worried that Apple plans to muscle them out of the market for iOS related adaptors and cables.

"Some developers fear that Apple will corner the market for both the adapters and cables, much as it did with MagSafe connectors for MacBook laptops, using licensing agreements and threats of lawsuits to prevent less expensive third-party solutions from coming to market. One source notes that Apple will reap a windfall by limiting competition in this manner, generating revenues of $100 million for every 10 million Dock Connector Adapters it sells for $10. According to the source, Apple estimates that it will sell the first 10 million Adapters by the end of 2012."

After two years of misleading iPhone 5 reports the rumor mill finally got something right! Apple has just sent out invites to the highly anticipated next generation iPhone event, which will take place on next Wednesday, September 12, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts at 10:00 am. iMore and iLounge accurately predicted the September 12th date back in July. Now it's time to see if other predictions such as an iPad mini announcement, or an entire iOS refresh turn out to be true.

The most interesting thing about the invite pictured above is the shadow being cast by the number 12. Many people believed the next generation iPhone would not be called the iPhone 5 because it’s a sixth-generation device. It was assumed that Apple would drop the numerical suffix and call it the "new iPhone", just like they did with the third-generation iPad. However, the number 5 shadow pictured on the invite seems to suggest Apple will be sticking with the fan branded name "iPhone 5".

T-Mobile has begun distributing nanoSIMs to retailers eight days before the purported Apple iPhone 5 event is supposed to take place. iFun (via 9to5Mac) posted an image of the Telekom (T-Mobile) nanoSIM being distributed to European retailers.

Apple's 40 percent smaller nanoSIM card design was approved by the European Telecommunications Institute (ETSI) in June. It was originally believed Apple would not use the smaller SIMs in the iPhone 5, but months later it was confirmed that European carriers were stocking up on cards in anticipation of the new iPhone's release. Meaning Apple's next-generation iPhone should be the first device to utilize the standard.

The images we've seen so far from Apple's 3D mapping software destined for iOS 6 are nothing less than stunning. AppleInsider gives us an in-depth comparison between Apple's Flyover maps and Google Street View, which provide more insight into how the new Maps app will look on the iPhone 5.

The level of detail in cities where 3D mapping and aerial photography data exist is much better in the Apple product according to screenshots. Although Google Street View lets us see everything close up from the ground level, the aerial view provided by Apple is continuous and still allows the viewer to look down individual streets for landmarks.