Here are your Apple news items and rumors for Tuesday: Sprint Memo Signals
iPhone 5 Release: Its been well known for weeks now that Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S
) will support Apple s (NASDAQ: AAPL ) iPhone when the next model of the device,
thought to be called the iPhone 5, releases later this fall. While its suspected
that Apple will unveil the device sometime toward the end of September and
release it in early October, a new internal memo from Sprint makes that release
window more concrete than a rumor. According to a New York Times report, Sprint
issued the memo to employees on Friday advising a blackout period between Sept.
30 and Oct. 15. Blackout periods are stretches of time when employees arent
allowed to request vacation days. Looks like rabid Apple junkies will get their
next fix in the beginning of October after all. Survey Says: People Are Freaking
Out About iPhone 5: A Tuesday report at Apple Insider reprinted the results of a
new survey conducted by RBC Capital Markets and ChangeWave. Analyst Mike
Abramsky found that, of the 2,200 consumers surveyed from Aug. 2-10, 31% of them
were either very likely or somewhat likely to purchase the new iPhone when it
releases later this year. This is compared to when the iPhone 4 model was
released in June 2010 just 25% of respondents said it was likely they would buy
the latest model of Apples smartphone. Many current iPhone owners are likely to
buy the new model as well, as 66% of those current owners that took the survey
said they were very likely to upgrade. Surprise: The iPhone 5 is going to be a
sales success. Everyone Wants an iPhone Except for College Kids: HTC is doing
fairly well in the United States at the moment. Verizon (NYSE: VZ ) sold 260,000
HTC Thunderbolts within two weeks of the phones release in April. Not too shabby
at all. Still, the company is posting numbers nowhere near those of Apple. Not
many people are, though, so theres no reason to be bitter or unreasonable. HTC
America president Martin Fichter, however, has made a somewhat spurious claim
while speaking to Business Week (via 9 to 5 Mac ). Citing conversations with
girls living in his daughters dorm at Reed College, Fichter said he found
college students preferred non-iPhone smartphones, including HTCs Google
(NASDAQ: GOOG ) Android phones, because iPhones arent cool anymore. They are not
cool because, as one girl said, My dad has an iPhone. Whatever gets you through
the night, Mr. Fichter. As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a
position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter at
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