iPad Live beta testing Mobile Nations 2.0 tonight at 9pm EDT! Come help!

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Leaked Best Buy Info Points To Mid-October iPhone 5 Launch

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While we’re all lazing around on a pleasant Labor Day weekend, two new leaks have hit the major gadget publications, showing that Best Buy is preparing for a major Apple release in October. Both href="http://www.bgr.com/2011/09/04/best-buy-anticipating-iphone-5-for-sprint-preorders-starting-next-month">BGR and href="http://thisismynext.com/2011/09/04/iphone-5-launch-best-buy-fixture-installation/">This Is My Next have been sent major leaks from Best Buy, both of which reveal different amounts of information.

BGR’s leak points to preorders for the iPhone 5 either starting or the phones arriving in the first week of October, and that there would be a Sprint iPhone at launch, too.

This Is My Next’s leak was also for Best Buy, which said that they would be installing a major “Apple fixture” on October 21st, which involves the managers getting there at 6AM to make sure the installation happens. Their source also pegs that all the managers will get together on October 10th to “discuss upcoming BIG release dates”.

So, let’s put two and two together. Preorders start first week of October for an October 21st iPhone 5 launch date. Set your calendars, folks!

Week in iPad for September 4, 2011

Missed a compelling piece of iPad news, a great app review, or a killer how-to? We’re not collecting absolutely everything in iPad here — you can hit up TiPb.com/iPad for that! — but we’re carefully picking what we think is the best of the last 7 days and presenting it here. For you.

And hey! — these double as show notes for our iPad Live! podcast tonight at 9pm Eastern. So join us and follow along!

Best Buy Apple fixture install may put iPhone 5 release date at October 21 [Updated]

A photograph of an internal Best Buy retail calendar screenshot may give us the best clue yet as to the launch day of the iPhone 5. The event in question is an Apple fixture installation and is scheduled for October 21st. The date in question is a Friday which would line up with other iPhone release days.

This not a normal fixture installation either according to a tipster who talked to This is my next. The request for a manager to be on hand at 6am is not the norm and is a mirror image of what happened when the iPhone 4 was launched last year. The tipster also went on to say that Best Buy managers have a meeting scheduled for October 10 to discuss upcoming releases.

TiPb recently heard that an original release date of October 14 was being moved up to October 7. Whether it’s now been moved back again, this time to October 21 we’re not certain, but because Apple doesn’t pre-announce products, they’re free to adjust the exact date up until even invitations go out and their executives take the stage.

I still expect an announcement of the iPhone 5 at the end of this month with a mid October release. Either way, I am now sick of suffering with an iPhone 4 that is out of warranty. Anyone else tired of waiting for iPhone 5 already?

UPDATE: Boy Genius also got their hands on a Best Buy screen today, this one pointing to a possible first week of October launch for iPhone 5, similar to what TiPb heard a few weeks ago. They also seem to indicate Sprint will be one of the launch carriers, which has been another of the big rumors circulating lately. All of this, again, claims to be subject to change.

[This is my Next, BGR]

Voice Control Assistant, iOS diagnostics, Find my Friends get detailed

9to5Mac‘s resident shinobi, Mark Gurman, has posted details on several upcoming — or potentially upcoming — iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad features for iOS 5), including the Nuance-powered, voice controlled Assistant, a new online iOS diagnostic service, and Find my Friends social sharing.

Assistant, likely built on Apple’s SIRI artificial intelligence acquisition, and powered by Nuance’s voice recognition engine, is now in testing. What’s more, just like Google’s Mobile app for iOS, it just might use the accelerometer and proximity sensor to activate when you bring your iPhone to your ear.

According to code strings we have found in the iOS 5 SDK, all a user will need to do is move their iPhone to their ear, speak, and the requested action will occur.

Find my Friends code seems to have existed in the outgoing MobileMe service, so whether Apple intended to deploy it earlier but is now waiting for iCloud, or whether they’ve cancelled their plans for it is uncertain.

According to the code, users will be able to select other users to “follow.” Once a user “follows” another user, they will gain access to information about the user besides their location.

Once followed, users could share Photo Streams, Video Streams (not currently available in iOS 5 betas), map location, etc.

Lastly, it looks like Apple might be getting ready to roll out an updated iOS Diagnostics service.

There has never been an easier way for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users to give service providers the information they need to troubleshoot and diagnose iOS devices effectively. Users benefit from a faster and more accurate diagnosis. The in-depth information that iOS Diagnostics retrieves can be invaluable to technician’s troubleshooting efforts.

Diagnostics could become available in the next couple months, while Assistant and Find my Friends, if it launches, feel more like features that would be introduced at the iPhone 5 event we expect sometime later this month.

[9to5Mac, x2, x3, x4]

Competitors still struggling in the shadow of the iPad

While I can’t claim for sure TiPb was the first to say there wasn’t a tablet market, just an iPad market, we’ve been talking for a long time now about how the iPad has become so dominant, so fast, it’s left very little room in mainstream hearts and wallets for competitors. The latest cases in point:

According to The Guardian, Lenovo director of consumer products, Andrew Barrow, said rival Samsung has only sold some 20,000 for the 1 million Galaxy Tab 7s they’d stuffed into channels last year. Also, due to Apple’s economies of scale and component pricing advantage, trying to undercut them with cheaper tablets “would be giving money away.” Will newer Galaxy Tabs that blur the lines between phones (5.5) and full on tablets (10.1) change anything?

PCMag says Best Buy is cutting $150 off the price tag of the BlackBerry PlayBook 64GB. Again, with iPad starting at $499 and HP’s TouchPad having been on fire sale for $99, it’s tough for small tablets to justify big price tags. Will BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 turn that around, or will RIM have to suck it up and cut costs to gain share?

Lastly, and sadly, while HP will be doing another limited run of TouchPad‘s to keep manufacturing partners happy, they don’t seem to be changing their minds about investing in webOS tablet hardware in the long run. They don’t even seem able to put out the larger capacity, different colored devices they had on the roadmap. And Derek from PreCentral.net so wanted one in white!

Is anyone besides Apple close to getting this right yet? When iPad 3 launches next spring, am I going to have anyone else even trying to tempt me away from it?

[The Guardian, PCMag, HP]

Best Buy Apple fixture install may reveal iPhone 5 release date

A photograph of an internal Best Buy retail calendar screenshot may give us the best clue yet as to the launch day of the iPhone 5. The event in question is an Apple fixture installation and is scheduled for October 21st. The date in question is a Friday which would line up with other iPhone release days!

This not a normal fixture installation either according to a tipster who talked to This is my next. The request for a manager to be on hand at 6am is not the norm and is a mirror image of what happened when the iPhone 4 was launched last year. The tipster also went on to say that Best Buy managers have a meeting scheduled for October 10 to discuss upcoming releases.

A lot of recent rumors do point to this sort of release time frame, maybe this could be an accurate date. I expect an announcement of the iPhone 5 at the end of this month with a mid October release. Either way, I am now sick of waiting and already suffering with an iPhone 4 that is out of warranty! Who is ready for an iPhone 5?

[This is my next]