About that Apple invite: let’s play Kremlinologist

2011 iPad keynote (yerba Buena building)

With Apple’s September 10 keynote now officially a go, die-hard fans and watchers alike are falling over each other as they scramble to unearth the subtlest of hints from the invite graphics in their never-ending quest of deciphering the meaning of life. For the most people, yours truly included, it’s just naturally assuming those colorful dots set against the white background tip off colorized iPhones.

But isn’t that kinda too obvious? Thanks to the folks who think differently and put much more thought into it than your average person, I can figure out such stuff that would have otherwise never crossed my mind. Take, for example, Twitter user i0livier who in a series of tweets reminded us that Apple used a similar design theme two years ago.

Bear with me for just a second…

The image top of post pictures San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, as seen on March 2, 2011, when late CEO Steve Jobs took the stage to unveil Apple’s second-generation iPad.

Below is the Apple invitation that went out to select members of the press this morning.

Apple invite (September 10 2013)

Notice any similarities?

Here’s a look at it from a different angle, via Wikipedia.

2011 iPad keynote (yerba Buena building, Wikipedia 001)

And another one, via CNET.

apple-ipad-2-part-2-4927

How about the differences?

The poster nails it: the 2011 dots were textured and 2013 ones are – well – flattened.

I haven’t seen anyone make this connection yet.

“Guess what they also brought to iPad that same day – bright colors,” another tweet reads. He’s of course referring to the iPad’s Smart Covers, seen below.

iPad 2 Smart Cover (family 001)

Just an important caveat here: the well-connected Apple pundit Jim Dalrymple has nope’d September iPads. Again, there will be no iPad 5 or second-generation iPad mini next Tuesday – Apple is most definitely going to announce these at their own media event in October or possibly even later.

Another curious tidbit our poster gleaned by adding up the ‘5’s in iPhone names: the iPhone 5S + iPhone 5C = September 10, at 10am, which is when Apple’s keynote is scheduled to take place.

Screen Shot 2013-09-04 at 01.15.38

Next up, the iPad 2 keynote also saw the introduction of iOS 4.3.

Let’s add the numbers from the iOS 4.3 build designation: four plus three equals seven – as in, a seventh-generation iPhone that is the iPhone 5S.

Cool, no?

On top of his observations, I’ve managed to count ten differently colored dots on Apple’s invite: white, yellow, gold, green, light/dark blue, pink, purple, red and orange.

What gives?

iPhone 5C (Case Mate, Evleaks 003)
Case-Mate’s iPhone 5C aftermarket cases.

Can you guess how many color flavors Apple is currently offering for the Smart Covers?

Let me just admit it outright: I’m not much of a Kremlinologist. That being said, I’ve posted this not only for entertainment purposes, but for the sake of discussion as well.

Bas van der Ploeg splash image idownloadblog

Don’t be shy: see what you can conjure up or just chime in with your $0.02 in the comments below – even if predicting what Apple will or will not do is for the most part a fool’s game.

Signing off, here are a few iPhone wallpapers to brighten your day.

Image top of post is credited to MacLife.