Style loft Limited

Top 5 mistakes when hiring a freelance developer

Style Loft Limited — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:20:25 +0000

1. Underestimate the complexity John isn’t a developer, all he knows is his idea and how much money he has to fund it. He expects the freelancer that he finds,that advertise and bid on jobs on a number of different websites will tell him if what he wants is unreasonable. After all why would a freelancer agree to a price too low? ( Unless they just want your money and run? )

Freelancers are incentivized to make assumptions that reduce their costs to match your price. That could put you in a position where you have to keep asking for enhancements and changes until you end up with what you want. The freelancer gets to keep coming back for more.

2. John goes to the freelancer site and writes up a brief description. But he has left a lot of room for interpretation. (Things often get lost in translation). The freelancer responds, makes a bunch of cost cutting assumptions and then agrees to do the work. Here comes the second mistake. The specific requirements are not actually documented or organised in any way to reduce the number of assumptions that the freelancer can actually make. The freelancer is not a bad guy. He just assumes that if John did not specify then John does not care. John did not know how much he really needed to specify to get what he envisaged. We know today that buyers do not have the background to predict the assumptions a freelancer makes.

John feels pretty good about the freelancer since he has positive reviews on the website where he has found him. The freelancer seems like the right person so John hires him and makes his third mistake.

3. John did not check to see if his business needs actually matched the freelancers experience. The freelancers skill set might not be where John needs it to be. But John does not have the background. Sure the freelancer has reviews but how similar were the freelancers previous projects compared to Johns? Does John even know if what the freelancer did before is the best solution for John’s needs? The freelancer may have a solution, but is it the best and most cost effective or is it just the solution that the freelancer knows how to do? At this point John makes his next mistake…. Since John did not get advice on the complexity of the project,

4. John did not document his requirements, does not know if the freelancer is even qualified, it only makes sense that John did not set an agreed deadline with benchmarks along the way. The freelancer was not exactly motivated to draw John’s attention to issues such as the work turning out to be more complicated than first thought and other such problems. A missed deadline or benchmark would have given John the heads up. Cutting a long story short…The freelancer delivered what he agreed to. It is juts not what John wanted. It took longer than John anticipated and ended up costing more money. The freelancer assumed that John would communicate effectively what was needed. Now John is frazzled, he writes a good review anyway because he believes the freelancer did his best and it would be unfair to cause the guy any further problems getting work in. The freelancer just did not get what John actually wanted. As if all that was not bad enough, John then made his final mistake.

5. John tried to do too much the first time around. Even though John’s vision was complete, he needed to break that up into small phases that were not complete but had something he could test. This way he could test the communication between he and the freelancer, test the quality of the work, familiarize himself with the process, and cut his losses if things got out of hand.

Other common mistakes and errors we have heard, first hand.

We often come across clients with half developed software, code that has been produced that is not stable or corrupt. In the first instance these clients have usually outsourced abroad or they have hired a freelancer do the work. We have even had cases of freelancers that have advertised on People Per Hour then collected the deposit and have never been seen again. In the long run it has cost some of our clients a lot more money using a freelancer and then a company to rescue the situation. Why not deal with a company from day one? they are a registered business and if anything was to happen at least you knew who they were, where they are based, check on companies house for their registered address. People seem to think that freelancers are the answer to everything? They think they are cheaper and better value for money. This is not the case. We work on a per project basis and not an hourly rate, that way if it does run over we have to foot the outstanding development time. You know where you stand from day one, you get better productivity because it is in our interest to get the job done as professionally and as quick as possible, without mistakes and allowing time for bug testing.

Now I am not saying that all freelancers are thieves and just in it for a quick book, I know a number of very professional freelancers who earn a good living from referral business and don’t have a need to find work for themselves as it always comes to them. I guess that is like Style Loft. We have never advertised and yet we have developed over 100 applications for mobile devices and Facebook.

Freelancers are not for everyone and unfortunately there are some freelancers out there that will take your money and run. We are not saying you must use a company but what we are saying is be very careful and document everything. Also get phone numbers including landlines, address and back that up with a form of picture ID. Cover all bases because development is not cheap and you could stand to loose an awful lot of money.

For those people that also post jobs for freelance developers a small word of advice, you will never in a month of Sundays find anyone that is good enough to develop a mobile app on a shoestring budget………In the app world you really do get what you pay for and if you want an app that makes you stand out from the ever increasing crowd on the app store, do it right and use the right people and the right company because in the long wrong it will be worth it tenfold!

www.ischoolbook.co.uk launches today, Get your child involved!

Style Loft Limited — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:28:33 +0000

Style Loft develop mobile applications.

We have just launched www.ischoolbook.co.uk to coincide with the release of Apples iBook where hundreds of thousands of books can be downloaded.
www.ischoolbook.co.uk is a competition for schools to enter, there is no age range and all schools can earn valuable funds from www.ischoolbook.co.uk

We are looking for 10 short stories from each school that will be published into an iPad book that can be downloaded worldwide.
The 10 short stories will be written by children and the 10 best stories from each school will then be professionally illustrated by our team of professional designers.

Revenue from each book that is downloaded will be paid to the school on a monthly basis for as long as the book is on sale.
These books are different because they are interactive. They can include voice overs from the children that write them and illustrations will be done based on images or text that the children come up with for their story.
They can be as fun or exciting as the children want them to be. You will also have the front cover of the overall book branded with your school logo and all winners will be named in the book.

For further information please visit www.ischoolbook.co.uk

How to Promote and Advertise Your Mobile App

Style Loft Limited — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:10:10 +0000

If you have an iPad app, you need to advertise to make sure people know about it. And, just like the traditional world, the ad opportunities are endless. Effectively determining where and how to advertise your app can be tricky if you don’t stop and consider a few key elements. Effective app advertising requires three key areas of focus: brand, buzz and balanced opportunity.

Brand. In the app world, your brand is immediately leveled. Even if your company has the strongest brand name around, in the app world, you face a different world; a new world where a virtual game, that people spend real money on, suddenly has more cache than yours. You need to build an “app brand.” Building an app brand consists of two elements:

Reaching out to your traditional brand followers to let them know you now have a presence as an app.
Creating a personality around your app’s brand and introducing it, for the very first time, to many people who have never heard of you.

Most companies are only focusing on No. 1 – this is a mistake. It is a short-term win, but a long-term loss. The key to success is to invest in both and go way out of your safe zone to find ways to build a brand with a completely new audience.

Buzz. If there is no buzz, there is no engagement and revenue. While many people look to their brand-building efforts to build buzz, the critical key here is to build a consumer audience that is buzzing. This means spending time on the standard locations like Facebook and Twitter, but also hitting the device user forums hard, in addition to any review sites you can find. If you are not spending time or money here, you are missing out. In app buzz building worlds, the blogger and vlogger community may just have hit their sweet spot in earning influence.

Balanced opportunity. This is where your app efforts could fall flat on your face. If you think traditionally here you might just be digging a hole for yourself. Gone are the simple days of selecting sites that match your target audience to advertise on. Gone are the days where email marketing lists have an impact. In the world of app advertisement, you could be throwing your ad dollars away if you don’t consider this one key point.

If you are looking to reach someone who is on a smartphone or a tablet while they are on the smartphone or tablet, do not try to interrupt what they are doing.

That statement may sound silly, but it’s true. Unless you are simply executing a brand campaign, consider what app’s you advertise in and around and how engaged the person is with the app. While you may think your app is perfectly aligned with people who stay at XYZ hotel, you might want to think twice before advertising your app in theirs. Why? Because if you are in the XYZ hotel app you are doing something. You are checking on a reservation, making a reservation, or changing a reservation. This means you will not want to drop what you are doing because you see a shiny object. As an advertiser, seek out those apps that your target audience engages with when they have free time. For example, the weather app. Of course people go there to check the weather, but then they are happy to leave. It’s a perfect time to head to your app.

Creating a strategy that takes advantage of the culture we are building in an app-driven society will propel you light years ahead. It’s not the same as we have gotten used to in online advertising, or our traditional efforts, but it does open up a whole new world of opportunity. Taking time to put effort into your strategy now will pay dividends in the future.

– Jeanniey Mullen, ClickZ

This article originally published at ClickZ here.

Gove: Time To Overhaul ‘Boring’ IT Lessons

Style Loft Limited — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:19:10 +0000

The teaching of computer science in schools is to be radically overhauled because it leaves students “bored out of their minds”, the Education Secretary has announced.

Information and communications technology (ICT) lesson will be scrapped from September and replaced by compulsory lessons in computer science.

In a speech to the BETT educational technology trade fair, Michael Gove said: “Imagine the dramatic change which could be possible in just a few years, once we remove the roadblock of the existing ICT curriculum.

“Instead of children bored out of their minds being taught how to use Word and Excel by bored teachers, we could have 11-year-olds able to write simple 2D computer animations using an MIT tool called Scratch.

“By 16, they could have an understanding of formal logic previously covered only in university courses and be writing their own Apps for smartphones.”

From September, schools will be given the freedom to use cutting-edge teaching resources designed with input from leading employers and academics such as Microsoft, Google and Cambridge University.

The Government also wants to see universities and businesses create a new high-quality Computer Science GCSE and develop curriculums drawing on web-based content.

Teachers will then be allowed to choose a tailor-made curriculum suited to their school.
The announcement follows pressure from businesses critical of a shortage of computer-literate school-leavers. Ofsted has also criticised ICT teaching as patchy.

Stressing that ICT will remain compulsory at every stage of the curriculum, Mr Gove will warn that inadequate grounding in computing is damaging the UK’s economic prospects.

He ssaid: “As the chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, recently lamented, we in England have allowed our education system to ignore our great heritage and we are paying the price for it.

“Our school system has not prepared children for this new world. Millions have left school over the past decade without even the basics they need for a decent job.

“And the current curriculum cannot prepare British students to work at the very forefront of technological change.”

A consultation on the plans will be launched next week, and IBM and Microsoft are already working on a pilot GCSE curriculum.

Bill Mitchell of the British Computing Society said: “It is tremendous that Michael Gove is personally endorsing the importance of teaching computer science in schools.”

But Prof Steve Furber, the chair of a Royal Society report on computing in schools, warned non-specialist teachers may find the changes confusing.

“We look forward to hearing more about how the government intends to support non-specialist teachers who make up the majority of the workforce in delivering an excellent ICT education without official guidance on lesson content,” he added.

Interesting, Style Loft are working with some schools in Bradford starting in February teaching young people aged 13-17 how to develop mobile apps.

Today Only-The Great Big Apple Sale

Style Loft Limited — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 09:19:06 +0000

It is not often Apple will discount any of its products but today’s the day that we are all in for a treat,

Some great discounts are on offer today so what are you waiting for? get shopping…..

Apple begins game subscriptions and streaming

Style Loft Limited — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 09:48:55 +0000

Big Fish offering OnLive-like service for $6.99 per month; iPad only

Apple has launched a new iPad games service where users don’t pay for individual games, but instead buy a subscription of a range of titles.

Washington developer Big Fish Games is providing an ‘all-you-can-eat’ service – where subscribers can access dozens of its titles – for $6.99 a month.

Users won’t be able to download the games as part of the service. Apple is allowing Big Fish to stream game data to the user in a manner similar to cloud gaming. The nature of the streaming means that Big Fish can shut off the service as soon as subscriptions end, whereas games would be far more difficult to remotely delete or block if already downloaded.

Yet the streaming means that the iPad will need to be persistently connected to Wi-Fi.

Paul Thelen, founder of Big Fish, said “this is the first time that the technology has matched the business model”.

Big Fish offering OnLive-like service for $6.99 per month; iPad only

Apple has launched a new iPad games service where users don’t pay for individual games, but instead buy a subscription of a range of titles.

Washington developer Big Fish Games is providing an ‘all-you-can-eat’ service – where subscribers can access dozens of its titles – for $6.99 a month.

Yet the streaming means that the iPad will need to be persistently connected to Wi-Fi.

Paul Thelen, founder of Big Fish, told Bloomberg that “this is the first time that the technology has matched the business model”.

He said the service “took longer than usual to be approved by Apple”.

“They needed to be convinced there’s a reason to charge customers every month.”

Article courtesy of http://www.develop-online.net

Android & iOS game sales ‘surpass DS & PSP’

Style Loft Limited — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:23:11 +0000

Market share dwindling for Nintendo and Sony’s older hardware

Games released on Apple and Google’s mobile operating systems are expected to make $1.9 billion in combined revenues across the US this year, new data suggests.

If 2011 estimates put together by analyst group Flurry are accurate, it would mean that smartphone games now bring in more revenue than DS and PSP games combined.

But the declining health of both PSP and DS – two systems at the end of their cycle – was as much a contributing factor than the rise of mobile phone gaming. Both companies are at the starting stages of their new hardware; Nintendo’s 3DS and Sony’s PS Vita.

Flurry, which has tracked data for the first ten months of 2011, as well as the two years prior, said iOS and Android games are set to make $1.9 billion in the US this year. Nintendo’s DS and Sony’s PSP, by comparison, are due to make $1.4 billion, down from $1.6 billion in 2010 and $2.2 billion in 2009.

Flurry claims that Nintendo’s and Sony’s share for mobile game revenue has thus dwindled from 81 per cent (2009) to 42 per cent this year. iOS and Android games have tripled their market share from roughly 20 per cent in 2009 to nearly 60 per cent in just two years.

The growth of Mobile in 2011….

Style Loft Limited — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:08:44 +0000

RIP Steve Jobs

Style Loft Limited — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:10:45 +0000

It was only right that today we posted what is probably going to be the most viewed image in the World over the next few days.

Mr Jobs died at the age of 56 on Wednesday after suffering from pancreatic cancer for seven years.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an email to Apple staff ” Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.”

Mr Jobs inspired iconic products like the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

Without Mr Jobs many business’s worldwide would not exist. Style Loft specialise in developing mobile applications mainly for Apple devices. Without Apples devices and services our business would not function or be where it is today.

We were a start up company in January 2010 and have developed apps for some of the largest names in the world. Something we could never have imagined. All the so called Apple geeks will have a special place for Steve in their hearts. He touched a number of people across the world and he inspired many people including our team at Style Loft.

Craig Marsden CEO of Style Loft today said ” it is a tragic day for the technology world. One of the greatest ever ambassadors for technology has lost his long battle against cancer but he has left the world making it an amazing innovative place because of his designs and enthusiasm and his ability to make extra special products and services. He was one man that a lot of us looked up to and I would like to thank him for the opportunity he has provided us with today. Rest in peace Steve you will be sadly missed”

Apple iPhone 4S event: as it happened yesterday

Style Loft Limited — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:05:00 +0000

Live coverage of the Apple event at which the company has announced a new iPhone model, the iPhone 4S, and set a release date for the iOS 5 operating system.

Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller introduces the new iPhone 4s Photo: GETTY

Courtesy of the Telegraph Newspaper

This page will automatically update every 90 secondsOn Off

• Apple’s ‘Let’s talk iPhone’ event has finished
• It announced the iPhone 4S, available from October 14
• Tim Cook, Apple’s new CEO, presented without Steve Jobs
• The new operating system, iOS 5, will be available from October 12
• iTunes Match launches in the US at end of the month
• iPhone 4S introduces “Siri”, a new voice control system

Latest

20.35 This live blog is now ending. Thanks for reading.

20.30 The tech blog Mashable is asking whether Apple’s policy of absolute secrecy around the iPhone 4S meant it failed to manage expectations.

For the past year, we’ve endured a near-daily slew of rumors about a device called the iPhone 5. When Apple delayed its release of a new phone until Fall 2011, it only heightened expectations. Surely, if we were to wait more than the usual year between versions of the iPhone, the result must be something spectacular. Now, at the last minute, we discover that what the company was preparing all along was the iPhone 4S — a faster, smarter, world-phone upgrade to the iPhone 4.

20.23 Carolina Milanesi of the analyst house Gartner has told the FT that beyond its unchanged looks, the iPhone 4S is a significant improvement.

There will be some people disappointed by the lack of a new design. But from a feature perspective Apple delivered on all the points that users were waiting for. They have improved the antenna design, there is a faster A5 chip and a better camera. Siri is pretty amazing if it works well with accents and different languages.

20.15 Apple has updated its home page to show off the iPhone 4S.

_{The Apple.com homepage}

20.05 Ian Fogg, an analyst at Forrester, thinks Apple’s decision to keep selling the 3GS (free on contract) and iPhone 4 (from $99 on contract) is one of the most significant points of this evening’s announcement. He also thinks some of the disappointment about the 4GS is misguided.

Massive news for iPhone market share: Apple is switching to 3 models in its portfolio. Both the 3GS and 4 remain at cheaper prices. For those that doubt the iPhone 4S, remember that cheap 3GS iPhone is still competitive and it was also the same case as its predecessor.

19.58 Joe Weisenthal of Business Insider is among the disappointed crowds on Twitter:

If you’re not disappointed by the iPhone 4S, well, then, you’re just not enough of a dreamer, my friend.

19.52 The markets have confirmed their disappointment. Apple shares are now trading down 3.6 per cent, at $360.78.

19.44 The show’s over. Tim Cook is “incredibly proud”. Stick around as we round up the reaction, which appears to be generally underwhelmed.

19.43 Some prices and release dates are here. There will be a 16, 32 and 64GB model, released in seven countries including Britain on October 14. Apple will be taking pre-orders from Friday. The US prices are $199, $299 and $399, with a two-year contract. The iPhone 4 will drop to $99.

19.33 Despite Apple’s protestations that the iPhone 4S is revolutionary, it looks like the markets were hoping for an iPhone 5. Apple stock is currently down more almost 2 per cent, while the Dow Jones is down 1.1 per cent.

19.31 At launch Siri will support English, French and German. Schiller says:

That is the coolest feature of the new iPhone 4S. We’ll add more languages over time and more services over time as well.

19.29 On Twitter, Jason Sweeney has a quick Siri gag for Kubrick fans:

Open the pod bay doors, Siri.

19.26 More Siri demonstrations show it converting currency, searching Wikipedia and finding restaurants on Yelp, all with only voice input from the user. It also takes dictation.

19.22 Another example. Ask Siri to “remind me to call my wife when I leave work” and it sets up a reminder to go off when you actually leave work, using your location as a trigger.

19.18 Users will summon Siri by holding down the home button. Showing the system off, Scott Forstall asks, “do I need a raincoat?” and it replies that “it sure looks like rain today”.

19.16 And here “the best thing yet”, says Schiller. It’s the rumoured new voice control functions, called Siri.

What we really want to do is talk to our device. Siri is your intelligent assistant and helps you get things done, just by asking.

19.13 AirPlay mirroring will allow users to stream anything from their iPhone’s screen to Apple TV.

19.13 Here’s Phil Schiller and the new iPhone 4S. It probably looks familiar.

19.10 The new camera means the iPhone 4S will be capable of capturing video in 1080p HD, and improvement on the current 720p.

19.08 We’re onto the new camera. It’s an 8MP, CMOS sensor. Nokia and others have been using such technology in their smartphones for a while.

19.05 As rumoured, the new device is compatible with both GSM and CDMA networks. This is good news mostly for Apple, as it will no longer have to manufacture two versions. British owners should get a wider choice of netwoks when roaming in the US, though.

19.03 Schiller returns to say iPhone 4S can switch between antennas even while you’re on a call, to ensure better call quality. He also claims its mobile broadband speed is equivalent to that of a 4G network, which seems far-fetched.

When it comes to real world performance, the iPhone 4S is just as fast [as 4G phones]

18.59 Now Mike Capps, president of Epic Games in on stage, talking about games on the iPhone 4S. He is showing off Infinity Blade 2.

18.57 Phil Schiller‘s thoughts on the iPhone 4S not looking any different:

But don’t be deceived because inside it is all new.

18.55 Drum roll please: the new iPhone is here and its called: the iPhone 4S. Looks the same as the 4.

18.54 Apple has cut the price of its iPod touch. The 8GB version is now down to $199.

18.52 Technology writer Andy Ihnatko tweets the following thoughts on iTunes Match:

iTunes Match really amounts to an amnesty program for piracy. That’s a good thing.

18.49 Now Phil Schiller, Apple’s marketing chief, takes to the stage to talk about the iPod range. No mention of the Classic so far.

Shane Richmond says:

The updated iPod Nano has new clocks, for people who like to wear it as a watch.There’s also a Mickey Mouse watch for the iPod Nano. (audience applauds)

18.46 iTunes Match will ship in the US at the end of October. Eddie Cue says:

iTunes Match ships at the end of the month in the US and we’re working very hard to make it available everywhere before the end of the year.

18.45 Here is Scott Forstall showing off the new greeting cards app from earlier – pictures just in:

18.43 The new app lets people set location sharing to be temporary and end automatically – for instance at the end of a day trip with friends. Parents can also restrict kids from turning off Find My Friends and also control who they share their location with.

18.41 Eddie Cue launches another new app:

Today we’re announcing a new app called Find My Friends.So now, when I’m in Disneyland for example, I can see where my family is.

18.39 Eddie Cue, Apple’s iTunes chief, now on stage to talk about iCloud – Apple’s long-awaited cloud music service.

18.37 There we go – the first big announcement - iOS 5 available from October 12.

18.34 Shane Richmond wants the iOS 5 release date and tweets:

This is pretty much the stuff we had at WWDC. Just waiting for that release date. When is iOS 5 coming, Scott?

18.32 Now onto iOS 5 announcements.

18.30 The new ‘Cards’ app will notify you when your card is delivered to its destination.

18.28 Apple is moving into Moonpig’s space and launching a new greetings card app – unsuprisingly called: Cards.However, it is US only for the moment. Apple will both print and mail cards. Scott Forstall explains:

Cards is an app that lets you create and mail beautiful cards, right from your iPhone or iPod touch.

18.27 Here’s Tim Cook, Apple’s new chief, presenting on stage a few minutes ago:

18.24 Tim Cook hands over to Apple’s Scott Forstall who is going to tell everyone about iOs, Apple’s operating system:

There are 140,000 iPad apps…1 billion apps downloaded a month… $3 billion paid to developers

18.21 Shane Richmond, The Telegraph’s head of technology tweets:

Five per cent of the world mobile phone market is iPhone, says Cook. “It’s an enormous opportunity for Apple”

18.19 iPad is now being used on a large scale as an educational aid. Tim Cook says:

Every state in the US is either planning or deploying iPad in schools

18.18 Tim Cook is teasing the crowd and moved on to the iPad, saying more is coming up on the iPhone.

18.16 Next up: iPhone – the long awaited part of the annoucement. Tim Cook says:

Over half the total number of iPhones sold are iPhone 4 s – it’s the best-selling handset in the world
18.14 Now onto music and iTunes. Tim Cook reveals:

More than 300 million iPods sold around the world in 10 years. It took Sony 30 years to sell 200,000 cassette walkmans…More than half of new iPod sales – 45m in the last year – are going to people who are buying their first iPod. This is a very important business for us

18.12 Tim Cook talking about the New MacBook air running “wicked fast”. MacBook Pro and iMac are now #1 best-selling notebook and desktop in the US.

Our customers love it and our competitors have been trying to copy it.

18.10 Tim Cook now talking about expansion and Mac Lion:

We now have six stores in China and we’re going to do lots more…Mac Lion has had incredible reviews.

18.08 Here is the leaked photo of the new iPhone. As you can see it looks pretty similar to iPhone 4:

18.05 Tim Cook looks calm, confident and relaxed. He is wearing a dark shirt, with black t-shirt underneath, not too unlike Steve Jobs’s trademark understated look. He is speaking without any sign of nerves and is talking about new Apple store openings in China and Hong Kong.

18.03 And we are off, New Apple CEO Tim Cook has taken to the stage:

This is my first product launch since being named CEO. I’m sure you didn’t know that.

18.00 Shane Richmond, The Telegraph’s head of technology, is at the live streaming event now in Apple’s Covent Garden shop:

“A few bemused people outside, wondering what’s going on as the press and special guests are ushered through a cordon and into the Covent Garden Apple store. The windows are blacked-out so nobody can see in.”

17.53 9to5Mac says it has obtained pictures of the new phone by playing with URLs. It looks just the iPhone 4, and will reportedly be called the iPhone 4S, not the iPhone 5.

Need more proof that Apple’s next iPhone allegedly dubbed the iPhone 4S will sport the same design as the current-generation iPhone 4? Well, a pair of images just appeared on Apple’s website, representing the black and white iPhone 4S models.

17.46 The Times’s technology reporter, Murad Ahmed, tweets:

I’m in Apple’s Covent Garden store ready for the iPhone event- vast amount of italian journalists here it seems

17.44 TechCrunch spots Apple’s Japanese site has leaked the new iPhone’s launch date and confirmed it as October 14.

17.42 Tim Stevens, Engadget’s Editor in Chief, who is the ‘Let’s talk iPhone’ event in Cupertino, tweets:

Getting a little crowded here in line. Excitement building. This is going to be fun.

17.33 According to reputation expert, Professor Chun, Apple’s reputation is at a ‘precipice’ and faith in Cook will need to be strong if it is to continue to be a market leader:

Apple’s much anticipated release of its new iPhone 5 in Cupertino today is in a sense a double launch. The iPhone, facing growing competition from Android smart phones could use the boost, but for Apple’s new CEO, Tim Cook, the event is likely to be even more important. It is Cook’s first major sales event debut now that Apple’s founder is no longer around to impose what Silicon Valley insiders refer to as Steve Jobs’ “reality distortion field.”

Even if it lacked substantial innovation, the iPhone would continue to dominate the market, at least for the time being, but the industry and Apple’s fanatically loyal customer base are considerably less certain about what to expect from Cook. That is partly because Apple’s culture of secrecy and Jobs’ visibility have combined to make Cook relatively unknown to the public at large. The uncertainty is compounded by the fact that earlier attempts to replace Jobs proved disastrous. Until now, Jobs seems to be the only one to have had that special chemistry required for running Apple.

What makes leading Apple difficult to maintain is the fact that the company is not selling a product as much as it is a vision, the founder’s vision. Apple products are undeniably cutting edge, well built and beautiful to look at, but ultimately they are commodities that now face tough competition. Samsung is gnawing into iPhone sales by offering technically superior product for comparable price.

17.28 Mobile operators have told The Guardian’s Juliet Garside that the new iPhone will be on sale from October 14.

16.40 Technology writer Andy Ihnatko tweets:

Went out for breakfast. Waitress was, I hope, the final person to ask me “What will the iPhone 5 be like? Should I upgrade?”

16.20 Returning to the theme of voice control, here’s what Simon Kerton-Johnson, of Deloitte, has to say about the rumoured iPhone Assistant:

Today’s launch is expected to be about software rather than the device itself, in particular the widespread expectation of the introduction of an integrated Voice Assistant. This could change the way we interact with our phones and will have implications on the other players in the mobile market. If search is done through voice, rather than the use of a display, it could have a direct impact on display and click-through advertising revenues.

16.15 Here’s a photo from Cupertino, California, where Apple has its headquarters. It shows 4 Infinite Loop, the building on Apple’s campus that houses the ‘Town Hall’ where the iPhone event will take place:

15.55 Two hours to go and, according to the Apple blogs, London’s Covent Garden Apple store has been given a makeover in preparation for this evening’s event which will be streamed there live to an audience of journalists and special guests.

15.35 You know how we were speculating that Apple would kill off the iPod Classic today? Well one MP3 player has bitten the dust already but it turns out to be the Microsoft Zune. What do you mean you didn’t know Microsoft was still making the Zune?

We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players.

The Zune never made it to Britain so for those who are wondering what they’ve been missing, here’s a video comparing Microsoft’s Zune with the iPod touch:

15.20 iPhone 5 is leading the way on our poll (see below) but The Next Web says that Apple is going to announce the iPhone 4S today.

We were also told that the iPhone 5, which is rumoured to sport a teardrop design and aluminium unibody, is merely an Apple prototype for a future iPhone 5 “which won’t be available any time soon”, as the “iPhone 4S will have the same dimensions”.

15.15 There aren’t many consumer technology companies that can boast the kind of success that Apple has had over the last 10 years. Whether it’s in design, usability or in bringing an emerging technology to the mainstream, Apple has produced one hit product after another. Here’s a look at the last 10 years:

iPhone 5: 10 years of Apple gadgets

14.50 So how will Tim Cook do? Well, according to this former Apple employee, he’ll do just fine. Read the whole post for the full story but here’s what Michael Grothaus says about talking to Tim Cook:

His look, his tone, the long pause was evidence enough that he genuinely gave thought to the concern I brought up. And that’s the day I began to feel like more than just a replaceable part. I was one of the tens of thousands of integral parts of Apple and it was Tim Cook’s raw leadership ability, confidence, and subtle charisma that made me realize that.

14.30 Tim Cook is likely to take the lead role in tonight’s keynote speech and he will be watched closely to see how he compares to Steve Jobs. If you want to remind yourself, here’s Steve Jobs introducing the original iPhone, back in 2007:

14.10 ComScore’s Datamine blog has examined loyalty rates among mobile phone owners. It found that BlackBerry owners are the most loyal, with 69.9 per cent of them saying that their previous phone was also a BlackBerry. Apple is just behind, with 65.2 per cent, and the next largest figure is for HTC, with 48.1 per cent saying that they had upgraded from the same brand of handset.

13.25 After a few hundred votes, iPhone 5 is winning our poll on what the new iPhone will be called. See below to add your opinion.

13.05 Going back to Michael Gartenberg’s comment from earlier, there is a lot of expectation around iCloud, particularly about whether Apple will launch the music streaming part of the service internationally. Back in June, the Telegraph’s Emma Barnett wrote the following:

The music storage part of the iCloud, due to launch in the US around September time, will not be coming to the UK until at least quarter one of 2012.

Since then, Apple has been working to get the deals done. Have things progressed more quickly than expected?

12.35 I’m guessing that the new iPhone will be called the iPhone 5 because it will be powered by an A5 processor and will run iOS 5 but there are plenty of people saying that Apple will call it the iPhone 4S, effectively designating it a faster version of the iPhone 4. What do you think? Tell me in the poll below.

What will the new iPhone be called? (Poll Closed)

iPhone 5 50.52%

iPhone 4S 44.49%

Something else 4.99%

12.20 Meanwhile, Michael Gartenberg, of Gartner, says on Twitter that today’s event is likely to be about more than hardware:

Possibly biggest news of the day long term will have to do with services not devices. But devices likely pretty cool too.

12.10 Adam Leach, an analyst with Ovum, says that Apple’s one-model approach to the mobile phone market means it has to keep pushing forward:

Adding more advanced technologies and innovation into the next generation iPhone means it will remain a high-end proposition, and indeed to get iPhone 4 users to upgrade it needs to push the envelope in this regard. However, to achieve a wider market penetration for the iPhone, Apple needs to push down the price range.

11.54 Plenty of people will be planning to sell their iPhone 4 to get hold of Apple’s new handset. Last week eBay said it expects a rush of iPhone 4 sales. However, despite the likely flood, Apple gadgets tend to hold their value well.

_{Steve Jobs unveiling the iPhone 4 in June 2010}

11.25 Last year, Apple bought a company called Siri, which produced a voice control-driven artificial intelligence system. Today, Apple is expected to unveil a ‘personal assistant’ based on Siri’s technology. Apple blog 9 to 5 Mac talked to one of Siri’s founders about what this technology can do:

Make no mistake: Apple’s ‘mainstreaming’ Artificial Intelligence in the form of a Virtual Personal Assistant is a groundbreaking event. I’d go so far as to say it is a World-Changing event. Right now a few people dabble in partial AI enabled apps like Google Voice Actions, Vlingo or Nuance Go. Siri was many iterations ahead of these technologies, or at least it was two years ago. This is REAL AI with REAL market use. If the rumors are true, Apple will enable millions upon millions of people to interact with machines with natural language.

10.50 The typical secrecy with which Apple surrounds new products means that there are plenty of questions about what Apple will announce this evening.

Unlike last year, when the iPhone 4 ended up on a gadget blog after being lost in a bar, this year Apple has… well, it still lost one in a bar but this one hasn’t ended up on a blog. So what does the new one look like? Is it wedge-shaped? Does it have curved edges? Or will it look the same as the current model, only with upgraded hardware? My guess: the new iPhone looks the same as the iPhone 4, which is why we haven’t seen any leaked parts that look different.

10.10 Apple has invited press and special guests to an event at its Cupertino headquarters this evening, UK time, where it is widely expected to announce a new iPhone. Though nothing has been confirmed, the handset is expected to be powered by a faster processor, include an improved camera and possible feature voice control. It is not yet known whether the new device will be called ‘iPhone 5′ or ‘iPhone 4S’.

Other areas of speculation include the precise form factor of the new iPhone – will it look the same as the iPhone 4 or will it be redesigned? – and whether Apple will launch a second, cheaper handset to be sold alongside it.

_{Tim Cook (left), with Steve Jobs}

Tim Cook, Apple’s new chief executive, will also be under scrutiny as he leads a keynote speech for the first time in his new role. Mr Cook took over in August when Steve Jobs resigned from the role for health reasons. Mr Jobs is now Apple’s chairman but the company has not said whether he will attend the event tonight.

10.00 BST/ 02.00 California Good morning and welcome to the coverage of Apple’s iPhone event, which begins later today. Throughout the day, we’ll be setting the background for the launch of the new iPhone, rounding up the rumours about the handset and, once the event begins, providing minute-by-minute coverage of what is likely to be the biggest technology event of the year.