While some may claim the famous Face on Mars is the result of Pareidolia, the letter S carved out of similarly colored iOS application icons on the WWDC 2011 invitations is clearly a sign of Apple announcing new iPhone hardware.We’re being sarcastic, of course.
Not that it’s not possible for an iPhone 4S to emerge today, or even an iPhone 5 for that matter, but Apple leaving an "S" in the WWDC promo materials to hint at a new product just seems a bit far fetched.
Apple is known for deliberately dropping hints and references to all kinds of stuff in the imagery used in Mac OS X and iOS.
And while we wouldn’t dismiss anything with just a few hours away from the WWDC 2011 keynote address, we wouldn’t keep our fingers crossed for any S-related announcement either.
Instead, we’d rather point out the definition of the term Pareidolia, a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus being perceived as significant.
Common examples include images and sounds such as animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon, or hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse, as Wikipedia will tell you.
Surely we don’t sound too skeptical blaming that S-shaped streak of application icons on this condition.
And if that doesn’t cut it for you, know that Apple specifically said this year’s WWDC would be all about the future of iOS and Mac OS. They even confirmed an all-new product - iCloud - as well as Steve Jobs’ presence on stage at the event.
Then again, while it would seem Apple has somewhat taken away the element of surprise intentionally, perhaps there is an offset chance that “S” we think we’re looking at in the WWDC promo might just materialize into something that rocks an A5 chip.