Apple prepares venue for iPhone 5 media event

Product announcements are an occasion to celebrate, and some of them are comparable to iconic music concerts that take place the world over. Every year, when Apple gets ready to showcase a product, the venue gets a lot of attention because titbits of information about the announcement are revealed during the venue preparations. Apple's announcements of iOS 5 last year and iOS 6 this year got confirmed from the banners at the venue indicating this. Another reason Apple venue preparations garner a lot of attention is that Apple is very secretive before an announcement. Though it is all but confirmed that this year Apple will launch the iPhone 5 at the September 12 media event, setting the stage for the event is still getting a lot of media attention.

A colourful set up

CNET has posted a range of images showcasing the preparations taking place at the Yerba Buena center in San Francisco, the venue where Apple is hosting its upcoming media event.

From the looks of it, Apple appears to employ a very colourful theme. While this may be just the concept or colour scheme used for the event, it could also imply that Apple is planning to showcase a product that comes in a variety of colours.

The next iPhone is expected to take centre stage at the Apple event, but it is also widely rumoured that Apple will unveil its next generation iPods too. Apple has recently launched its iPod nano portable media players in a bunch of colours and this could indicate that this will be the case too.

There is also a slim possibility that the new iPhone could come in more than two colours, but it is highly unlikely as part leaks have shown the device in only black and white colours.

Almost ready

In the weeks that have led up to the Apple event, competitors such as Samsung, Motorola and Nokia have all launched high end handsets to compete with the Apple iPhone 5.

Samsung have recently unveiled the Galaxy Note II, a smartphone with a 5.5-inch display, runs on Google’s latest Android operating system, a quad-core processor, and a range of other impressive technology that can easily compete with the best in the business.

Motorola took the wraps off a range of Razr handsets and Nokia unveiled two smartphones running on the Windows Phone 8 platform. Lumia 920, the flagship handset from Nokia, comes equipped with the brand's PureView technology that has some advancement such as optical image stabilisation.

Another major smartphone brand, HTC is also set to host an event of its own. It is expected that HTC too will display handsets running on the Windows Phone 8 OS. There is also a possibility that it may launch the HTC One X+, the specifications of which have recently surfaced.

Let us know your thoughts on the recent smartphone launches, and if you think the launch by Apple will be able to overshadow them all.