Steve Jobs behind next generation iPhone

The genius, or ghost, of Steve Jobs still drives, or haunts, Apple. At least three major news agencies have reported that the next-generation iPhone, scheduled for release later this year, will have creative ideas conceived and driven by Jobs. Bloomberg reports that Jobs was intimately involved in the design work for the next-generation iPhone pointing to the key fact that the phone will have a larger display. At least one technology website, macrumors.com, reported that Apple, based in Cupertino, California, laced orders from suppliers in Asia for screens that are bigger than the 3.5- inch size now on the smartphone. The website, quoting one person with knowledge of the project, said Apple has been working on the new device since before the current iPhone 4S model was introduced last October. A Facebook IPO that was lukewarm at best has been a dampening of what has otherwise been a hyperactive IT sector. Apple’s launch of its marquee products has kept raising the bar for all comers in the tablet market. Now, according to several technology websites, including digitimes.com, Amazon is likely to launch a 10.1-inch Kindle Fire in the third quarter of this year. Amazon apparently plans to focus its competition against Apple's iPad, with the planned 8.9-inch model was also reportedly aimed at Samsung's Galaxy Note tablets. According to a report on digitimes.com, quoting sources, Amazon is expected to ship 30-40 million tablet PCs in 2012. Amazon.com, the largest online retailer, said its library of 450,000 Kindle digital books will soon be available on Apple's iPad. The application will allow readers to shift a Kindle book back and forth between an iPad, a BlackBerry mobile phone or personal computer through its Whispersync technology, the Seattle-based retailer said. If the future of Apple is the iPhone, given the immense competition in the tablet sector, blogs are abuzz about what the future of the iPhone itself will be. The latest on technology website itechfuture.com looks at concepts that are set to define the next iPhone and the evolution of the device from Apple. From a seamless flexible display to silicon keyboards that connect by simply putting a portable gadget on the top, to using the iPhone to beam visuals on other surfaces, the options are exciting and vast. One concept called the iPhone Joker deals with a slider style smartphone where the joker slides within the outer flexible screen.