iPhone 5 watch: what iOS 4.3.3 release, white iPhone 4 reveal for iP5

iOS 4.3.3 is here, but it's still a matter of hurry up and wait. It's all happening fast now leading up to the iPhone 5 release, and Apple's plans for it are becoming more clear by its actions. After an entire winter of no iOS updates and no product releases which made it feel as if Apple had simply switched the lights off, the company has re-emerged with a vengeance. Sadly for those who were counting on it, that aggression doesn't appear to include a summer iPhone 5. But here's the good news: with all the fuss Apple has been showing regarding the iPhone in the past month and a half, it's clear that Apple is stepping on the gas pedal in ways not previously seen. Maybe it's the Android threat. Perhaps it's Apple finally adjusting internally to functioning without its CEO. But after spending the winter hibernating, Apple has come out swinging – and most of its focus has been on the iPhone specifically. So what does that mean for the iPhone 5?

For one thing, the sudden spate of iOS releases (4.3, 4.3.1, 4.3.2, and now 4.3.3) in what feels like a five minute span mean that the company is, at the very least, highly motivated in the iOS department. But the real proof of Apple's iPhone aggression has come in the form of new hardware. The fact that there apparently won't be an iPhone 5 ready by summer is one way of looking at it. But the reality is that with the Verizon iPhone 4 followed by the white iPhone 4, released almost on top of each other at a time of year when Apple has never released iPhone hardware, it's clear Apple is ready to leave behind the old blueprint of releasing the new iPhone and iOS in the summer and then standing pat as far as releases for the next twelve months. Now it's all about hyper-kinetic iOS releases, pushing out new iPhone hardware year round, and laying the groundwork for what at this rate must be a stunning iPhone 5 generational leap.

And how's that, you say? Apple is turning its own tables by attempting to prop up iPhone 4 sales this late in the generation; those who buy an iPhone 4 now will be hard pressed to cough up for an iPhone 5 (at unsubsidized pricing, no less) less than half a year from now. So Apple must be so certain that the iPhone 5 is going to be a to-die-for model that it believes at least some folks will actually buy an iPhone 5 at launch even if they're still tearing the shrink-wrap off their iPhone 4. And that means Apple must really have something up its sleeve. Put another way: if the "iPhone 5″ were going to merely be a rehash of the iPhone 4 along the lines of an iPhone 4GS, Apple would have killed the white iPhone 4 and simply released said "iPhone 5″ next month. Instead, the company is buying itself the time it needs to finish whatever job it has going on behind the scenes, on what must be from-the-ground-up reimagining of the iPhone experience. The effort that Apple is publicly investing into the iPhone 4 at present is merely a sign of how confident Apple is that it can still promptly kill and bury the iPhone 4 in favor of what comes next when the time comes. Here's more on the iPhone5.