Wednesday, May 25, 2011, 04:30 pm

Apple's iPhone PR team reportedly inviting UK press to cover WWDC

By Daniel Eran Dilger

Representatives of Apple's iPhone public relations team are reportedly contacting British journalists in an effort to get them to attend the company's Worldwide Developer Conference keynote in early June.

According to a report by UK blog ElectricPig, Apple has been "approaching journalists from major publications" to encourage their attendance, ostensibly evidence that Apple plans to release new iPhone hardware.

The site speculates that Apple will release an interim iPhone 4S "as a stop-gap before the appearance of a true, ‘&%!*, they’ve done it again!’ game-changer next year."

However, the fact that Apple has postponed its customary March or April unveiling of its next iOS release, which has historically been followed by an actual release alongside new hardware about three months later, and instead appears poised to announce iOS 5 at WWDC in June strongly suggests that Apple will actually release the new software and new hardware to run it around September this year.

Without any current standout in smartphone competition for iPhone 4, Apple appears interested in promoting new advances in iOS 5, which is expected to include improved MobileMe services supplying a cloud locker for personal music, photos and videos as well as voice integration with user assistance services based on the acquired Siri product.

The WWDC keynote on June 6 will deliver "a preview of the future of iOS and Mac OS X," Apple suggests on its event webpage. In addition to iOS 5, the company is expected to detail more about the upcoming release of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and the Server software it now incorporates.