Which iPhone is set to be released at WWDC 09?

Which brings us nicely on to:

The new iPhone will be called the iPhone Video

This is one that popped up recently, which is the sort of time that you'd expect the name to begin leaking out. And it's not just the iPhone Video that's being touted; the iPhone 3GS is also doing the rounds as well.

TechRadar's Jobs-o-meter: 10/10

Well, it's 10/10 as in the new phone will have a new name, we just don't know what it is. The iPhone 3GS sounds too un-Apple to be considered, although many believe that's what will turn up (perhaps the 'S' stands for Super, or Speed. Or Steve).

The iPhone Video (think iPod Video, Photo etc) makes a lot of Apple-y sense, but it's not like Jobs' lot to go back in time with style and naming. We've got no idea what the new iPhone will be called, truth be told, but we'd like to believe the Newton MessagePad 3000 is on the cards.

iChat will be enabled via a forward facing camera

Yes, you heard right. iChat on a mobile phone, and with a FORWARD facing camera. OK, so you read it rather than heard it, but big whoop, it's all the same right? Let's be honest, we didn't know how to dress this one up as it's probably the most famous rumour of the lot, so we tried to make it sound exciting with capitals. We failed.

TechRadar's Jobs-o-meter: 9/10

This one has real legs, and it pretty much a dead cert to happen, as it marks a logical step forward in the iPhone legacy. iChat would be easily added into from your Apple contacts already locked into you Apple profile, and you'd be quickly up and chatting.

Which leads us to the final rumour:

A special appearance

Shut your eyes and picture the scene. Oh wait, open them, you can't read this else. (If there's someone nearby, shut your eyes and get them to read it to you.)

Schiller finishes the keynote, he's shown off a new iPhone. All well and good, it's called the iPhone Prequel or something, we're all a little underwhelmed to be honest. He lifts it up, and scrolls down to SPJ. Nothing exciting there, you're thinking. We're in the same boat. Heck, we're stifling a yawn.

But then it rings. The big screen fires up. A gaunt-but-healthy looking man's face appears. 'Jobs Residence, Steve on high speaking?'

TechRadar's Jobs-o-meter: 3/10

We can see it now. Apple's stock jumps five percent on the announcement. The world goes crazy despite it not meaning that much. You know how these keynotes go down.


But, we'll be honest, it's a bit unlikely. Unless it happens, in which case we knew it would be coming the whole time.

Of course, there's always the chance that no phone will be unleashed, but hey, that's just crazy, crazy talk.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.