Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ last product launched today

Despite being shrouded in secrecy, the iPhone 5 is expected to be launched today at an event in San Francisco. Apple has sent out an invite to the event including the number 12 (for the date). The shadow cast by the number forms the number five.

Steve Jobs, who passed away last October following a long battle with cancer, is understood to have worked closely on the design for this product. It was previously thought that the iPhone 5 would be launched in November last year, but instead Apple launched the 4S.

Under the tenure of the enigmatic Jobs, Apple enjoyed a surge in financial success, with profits increasing from $5bn in 2007 to more than $34bn by the end of 2011. Along the way the business became the most used manufacturer of smartphones in the world.

However, in January the business was overtaken by Samsung and Google’s Android as the most widely used smartphone software. Apple will be hoping that Jobs’ final product can put the business back on top.

Apple’s share price rose 1.3p, 0.2 per cent, on the New York stock exchange yesterday. In March the company announced it would pay its first dividends, for a total of $10bn, since 1995. The company was also sitting on an enormous pile of cash of around $100bn.

Last month Apple won a court case against Samsung. A US court found the South Korean company had breached a number of Apple’s patents on its iPhone and ordered Samsung to pay more than $1bn in damages to Apple.

Rumour and anticipation

Apple is notoriously private about the details of its products before a launch but is understood that the phone will have a larger screen, fitting in with the trend for more uses on a smart phone.

There have also been rumours that Apple could launch a smaller version of the iPad as well.

Every launch of an Apple product is accompanied by a surge of online speculation as to what that product will entail.

Josh Ong, gadget editor at TheNextWeb.com, said: “The hype is increasing as Apple’s products become much more mainstream. So, whereas, there was a small, loyal fan base of Mac users originally, now I think with the iPhone iPad, you have millions of people that are being reached that want to know when they can get the next new thing.

“At the same time, Apple continues to be extremely secretive, and I think that creates a forbidden fruit.”