Smartphone season is upon us once again

‘iDorks’ across the globe are counting the days until the iPhone 5 finally hits the shelves, reports Nina Strochlic

IT’S THAT time of year. A chill is coming, and the trees are losing their leaves: It’s Apple season.

Around the globe, fans of the company’s iThings are buzzing about the latest and greatest gadget from the most fervently worshiped brand in the business.

Rumours are swirling that the iPhone 5 will have updated software and a larger screen — half an inch larger, according to leaked pictures.

It won’t be a revolution, but that doesn’t matter. Even these seemingly minor tweaks have sent anticipation through the roof.

A recent survey by ChangeWave found demand for the new phone is “strikingly higher” than for previous models. According to MG Siegler, partner at tech venture- capital firm CrunchFund, Apple enthusiasts aren’t expecting a design, or even a software, overhaul, just a continuously more polished version. He expects sales of the newest iPhone to be “insane”.

Just as fans wait for hours for midnight film premieres, Apple devotees have made a ritual of iPhone-release eve, this time anticipated to be on Sept 21, with a product unveiling the week before.

Hardcore fans spend the rest of the year on online forums, meet-ups, and even a private dating site called Cupidtino (which promises to match you with “an Apple fanboy or girl”). Product releases are a chance to move that community offline.

Jim Dalrymple, editor of Apple blog the Loop, says there’s a certain energy to being part of that first group. It’s about connecting with a community and a brand — or about rubbing it in the faces of those who aren’t there. “You know you can tweet ‘I’m here’ and others are not,” he says half-jokingly, adding he plans to join the lines next month.

Self-proclaimed “iDork” Chase Drum, a 23-year-old developer of an upcoming app, will also be snapping up the iPhone 5.

“Apple has been able to create a very emotional and personal connection with their consumers,” he says, which is rare among other brands. Plus, Dalrymple points out, the way the company makes all its gadgets compatible with each other means it’s a hassle to quit Apple once you join.

A psychological test shown in BBC’s Secrets of the Superbrands supports Drum’s theory. The test found that the same areas in the brains of Apple fans were stimulated when shown images of the company’s shiny products as were stimulated in people of faith when they looked at religious imagery. Fittingly, bloggers christened the first iPhone the “Jesus phone” after observing the stampedes back in 2007.

Apple may have a devoted core of zealous super-fans, but with tens of millions of users and more coming this month, the $600bn (€475bn) firm has long outgrown its cult status.

Meanwhile, Nokia this week revealed its first smartphones to run the next version of Windows, a big step for a firm that has bet its future on an alliance with Microsoft.

Investors were disappointed, and Nokia’s stock fell sharply.

Nokia’s new flagship phone is the Lumia 920, which runs Windows Phone 8. The lenses on its camera shift to compensate for shaky hands, resulting in sharper images in low light and smoother video capture, Nokia said. It can also be charged without being plugged in; the user just places it on a wireless charging pod.

Nokia also unveiled a cheaper, mid-range phone, the Lumia 820. It doesn’t have the special camera lenses, but it sports exchangeable backs so you can switch colours.

Facing stiff competition from Apple’s iPhone and devices running on Google’s Android software, Nokia has tried to stem the decline in smartphones in part through a partnership with Microsoft announced last year. It has moved away from the Symbian operating platform and has embraced Microsoft’s Windows Phone software.

Nokia launched its first Windows phones late last year under the Lumia brand, as the first fruits of Elop’s alliance with Microsoft. Those ran Windows Phone 7 software, which is effectively being orphaned in the new version. The older phones can’t be upgraded, and won’t be able to run all applications written for Windows Phone 8.

Nokia sold 4m Lumia phones in the second quarter, a far cry from the 26m iPhones Apple sold during those three months. So far, the line hasn’t helped Nokia halt its sales decline: Its global market share shrunk from the peak of 40% in 2008 to 29% in 2011, and it is expected to dwindle further this year.

For Microsoft, the alliance with Nokia is its best chance to get into smartphones again, where it has been marginalised.

The launch of Windows Phone 8 coincides roughly with the launch of Windows 8 for PCs and tablets set for Oct 26. “Make no mistake about it — this is a year for Windows,” said Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer.

Samsung, which has succeeded Nokia as the world’s largest maker of phones, showed off a Windows 8 phone last week. An availability date was not revealed.