Tuesday 4 Oct 2011 will be remembered as the day when Tim Cook (Steve Jobs’ successor) announced the most anticipated phone of the year, the iPhone 5. The slick iPhone 4 created a huge benchmark to follow. So great was the hype behind the iPhone 4 that thousands camped overnight outside shops just to be one of the first to own it. About 1.7 million phones were sold in the first 3 days of availability.

Rumours have been spreading about the iPhone 5 since the beginning of this year. In fact, now is the best time to get an iPhone 4. The average price of a 32GB iPhone 4 on bidorbuy in January was around R7999, now it’s around R5999. Next week we expect the that price to be even lower.

What to expect from iPhone 5

Apple is famously secretive about the unveiling of their latest and greatest products and tonight will be no exception. At the time when this article was written, several hours before the official presentation, we still did not know whether it will be the iPhone 4S or the iPhone 5. So, watch this space.

Besides a better, faster and sleeker looking phone, you can reasonably expect the following:

The latest operating system IOS 5

Apple with their current IOS 4 operating system lead the way with over 300, 000 available apps. (Android have around 200, 000 and Blackberry’s RIM a modest 20, 000)

IOS 4 and Android are the leaders in Cell phone Operating Software, but IOS 5 promises to be even better. This includes notification and reminder centres, full synchronisation with iPads, iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch and hundreds and thousands of applications.

Expect a better browsing experience, better email and better calendars. The IOS software will ensure that all applications on your phone are fully integrated, conceptual and intuitive.

NewStand, for example, is an application that could eventually make newspapers and magazines obsolete

ICloud

Most important of all is the iCloud service, which enables you to store music, documents, apps and photos and then access them wirelessly on numerous devices, without needing to connect to a computer at all.

The iPhone 5 is not just a phone, it’s an entire lifestyle.

Rumours of the iPhone 6 are already flying.