Will there be a new iPhone at WWDC '09 or not?

Apple will kick off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8; with CEO Steve Jobs still on medical leave, Apple senior vice president of worldwide product marketing Philip Schiller will lead a team of executives keynoting event, which the company has confirmed will spotlight in-depth sessions on the new iPhone OS 3.0 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard desktop OS. Many pundits have speculated Apple will also introduce a new edition of the iPhone during WWDC, but Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster on Wednesday issued a statement contending the computing giant will instead mount a separate event later this summer to launch a family of new iPhone devices.

"We do not anticipate the launch in early June," Munster said. "We continue to expect multiple models, possibly a high-end iPhone with improved specs from the current version and a low-end version with lower capacity and fewer features along with a reduced pricing plan. Such a model could also be used in Apple's launch of the iPhone into China as soon as the end of summer ‘09."

However, Silicon Alley Insider argues there is still significant evidence to suggest Apple will debut the new iPhone at WWDC, regardless of Jobs' absence. It's been two years since Apple introduced the first iPhone, meaning the first wave of AT&T subscriber contracts will expire at the end of June--with Palm's hotly-tipped Pre device scheduled to hit retail early next month, Apple will likely want to offer a new iPhone to minimize concerns about consumer defections. Moreover, if Jobs is not healthy enough to deliver a keynote in early June, it's unreasonable to expect he will dramatically improve within the span of a few weeks--nor is it written in stone that only he can formally introduce a new iPhone. Perhaps most compelling, in the event the new iPhone includes new hardware features (e.g., a video camera or magnetometer), a developer conference would represent the ideal forum to cover the accompanying APIs.

For more on the iPhone speculation:
- read this Silicon Alley Insider article

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