Will the iPhone 5 be Steve Job's "This Is It?"

When Michael Jackson died more than two years ago, the controversial but infinitely talented pop star was in rehearsals for an extended concert series that was to be billed as This Is It. Of course Jackson died nearly a month before This Is It was scheduled to open at a London theater.

Filmed footage of Jackson's rehearsals for This Is It was later edited and surfaced theatrically as a film under the same name, giving us at least a partial glimpse at what this master pop magician had in store for us at the time of his death.

Like Michael Jackson, it now seems Steve Jobs also died without being able to complete the project he was currently working on. In Jobs' case that project may have been the iPhone 5.

Tech watchers and analysts had actually been anticipating the iPhone 5's release the same week the Apple founder died. However what they got instead was the iPhone 4S, a slightly improved version of the iPhone 4, but not the full-fledged redesign and upgrade many had been hoping for.

Reports currently vary as to why we got the 4S instead of the 5. Production delays have been cited as one reason with one report stating that there had been problems integrating Siri into the new iOS. Nonetheless, the 4S has been met with pretty good reviews overall. Although reports of problems with the iPhone 4S are just now beginning to emerge.

Recent reports now suggest the iPhone 5 will be released in spring or early summer of next year. The device is expected to have been completely overhauled and sport a brand new design.

But one question that many people are asking is, just how involved was the Apple founder in the production of either of these two devices? According to one Cnet analyst, there were two separate teams heading up the production of the 4S and the 5 individually. Steve Jobs was reported to have been heading up the production team for the iPhone 5.

If that rumor proves true, or even just persistent really, the iPhone 5 could be regarded in a similar light to Jackson's This Is It: The swan song of a creative innovator who departed the world suddenly and all too soon.

Alas, Poor Apple

Okay, granted feeling sorry for Apple is a relative thing, kind of like feeling sorry for superstar tennis player Andy Roddick

Oh, poor Roddick with his Sports Illustrated swimsuit model wife, multimillion dollar jet-setting lifestyle and all-American good looks. Did we lose a little game while playing tennis? Did some reporter ask you a not nice question?

Apple, like Andy Roddick, needs our sympathy about as much as a hole in the head. And while you'd have to go a long way to call either the superstar tennis player or the billion dollar computer company beleaguered, you could argue that neither is having the greatest week.

Roddick was eliminated in the first round of the China Open by South African Kevin Anderson. In a tense press conference held after match, Roddick told a Chinese reporter who asked him if he should retire, "I think you should retire," and then stormed out of the press room.

Meanwhile Apple has done a kind of bait and switch by hyping a new iPhone only to unveil a slightly enhanced version of the current model iPhone to almost universal indifference. The iPhone 4S is pretty much just like the iPhone 4 except it has a better camera, it's a little faster and can sync remotely without being connected to a computer.

Granted, these aren't bad improvements. But the tech world had been waiting with baited breath for the iPhone 5 and when they didn't get it, there was disappointment all around. Apple's stock tumbled five percent in the immediate aftermath of the 4S's release.

Of course Apple and Roddick are both suffering from what could be called champagne problems. Roddick remains a former world ranked no. 1 married to a model/actress and Apple still has a substantial edge over Microsoft as the current leader in the tech field.

Apple will continue to dominate in the gadget market and there will soon be an iPhone 5 that is likely to meet, if not exceed the public's expectation, as Apple products are wont to do. At 29 years of age, Roddick also has more than a fighting chance to bounce back from his most recent setback and can expect to compete at the top level for some time to come.