iPhone 5: October 4th?

Every year it happens. We wait with bated breath for the fall, when the new iPhone arrives and makes everybody curse their old iPhones for the now dated pieces of crap that they are. But even for Apple, it’s been unusually closed-lipped this year about the new iPhone’s debut. We know one is coming, thanks to enormous numbers of leaks from Sprint, and we know Apple always refreshes its products once a year. But we didn’t have a date.

That is, until now.

Yep, October 4th is the big day. Apple, of course, is not calling this “new iPhone day”, but rather a “special media event.” You know, code for “big iPhone day!”

Sadly, by all accounts, the release window for the new hotness will not be until late October at the earliest, so even after you know what you’ll be getting, you’ll have to wait. Interest is high, however, especially since with its arrival on Sprint, the iPhone is now on every major national carrier except T-Mobile.

It also probably will be debuting much more than just the new iPhone. The iPad 3 is waiting in the wings, for example, and Apple also has its cloud services ready to go. And, of course, there may be still other products.

The final point of interest: this will be the first product rollout presided over by Apple’s new CEO, Tim Cook. Steve Jobs recently stepped away from day-to-day business at Apple for health reasons, although he’ll still be assisting with product design and working closely with the company. So Cook is out there on his own. Likely other parts of the presentation will be handled by key executives like Phil Schiller, but this is the Tim Cook show.

Break a leg, Tim. Oh, and let’s get that iPhone out sooner rather than later, OK?