Carlos Tevez's Manchester City relationship in tatters after fine

The fractured relationship between Manchester City and Carlos Tevez has deteriorated further after the club fined the striker ￡1m for refusing to play against Bayern Munich and the Argentina international threatened to sue the manager, Roberto Mancini, for defamation of character.

City imposed the record four-week fine plus a two-week suspension following the completion of a lengthy disciplinary hearing that found Tevez guilty of misconduct during the 2-0 defeat in the Champions League on 27 September. The 27-year-old's non-appearance at the Allianz Arena came only six days after formally being told he would not receive ￡6m in loyalty bonuses over the course of his contract. The club are adamant Tevez will not be sold for a cut-price fee in January. Mancini also has the full support of the owner, Sheikh Mansour, and the chairman, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, should he opt not to select the former club captain during the final three years of his ￡250,000-a-week contract.

A City spokesperson said: "I can confirm that, following a phone call between Roberto and the chairman today, the club's formal position is that no offer for Carlos will be considered unless it reflects true market value."

Theoretically, Tevez could spend the next three years rotting in the reserves at City after being found guilty of five breaches of contract in Germany, unless he finds a club willing to meet his lucrative wage demands and his employer's asking price.

Tevez was informed on the Wednesday before the Bayern game that his two transfer requests, one submitted to the club in December last year and the second issued via the media in the summer, had triggered the loss of future loyalty payments worth ￡6m and that City's hardline stance is non-negotiable. He was also aware that there would be no negotiations on a new contract at City after the club had met his request to lower their asking price in order for him to rejoin Corinthians and be closer to his family in Argentina, only for the transfer to collapse.

On the Saturday before City faced Bayern, Tevez was an unused substitute in the 2-0 win over Everton as Mancini deployed Edin Dzeko and Sergio Agüero from the start and introduced Mario Balotelli, effectively relegating the Argentinian to fourth-choice striker. Tevez is said to have reacted angrily to the snub and City suspect his actions in Munich, which included not coming out with the team for the pre-match warm-up and then warming up on his own, were premeditated after the developments in the buildup to the game.

Mancini was assured in his phone call with Khaldoon that Sheikh Mansour, the man whose wealth has transformed City into title favourites, feels he and the club have been consistently disrespected by Tevez and that it will be left entirely to the manager's discretion when, or if, to select the striker again. His two-week suspension has already been served, City announced, and so Tevez is eligible for the Carling Cup fourth-round tie against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday.

The controversy, however, is likely to drag on, with Tevez's representatives considering suing Mancini over his post-match comments at the Allianz Arena. The City manager twice claimed the former Manchester United striker had refused to play against Bayern, to Sky and to the written media, as he struggled to contain his anger, but Tevez's camp claim the charge does not refer to a refusal to play.

In a statement, City listed five breaches of contract by Tevez including: "An obligation to participate in any matches in which the player is selected to play for the club when directed by a club official." They also state that Tevez was found guilty of bringing the game and City into disrepute and of causing "damage to the club". He has received a written warning as to his future conduct and, as the maximum fine allowed is two weeks' wages – the sum Tevez was fined immediately after the incident – City have written to the Professional Footballers' Association for ratification of the additional four-week fine.

The five breaches were not mentioned in a brief letter sent to Tevez by City's chief operating officer, Graham Wallace, according to his representatives. Wallace's letter, received by Tevez around 8pm on Tuesday, explains: "My decision is that, in full view, you refused to carry out an instruction given to you by Roberto Mancini and [the fitness coach] Ivan Carminati, to resume warming up with a view to playing in the match. You are thereby guilty of misconduct." Tevez's camp, therefore, insist the charge presented to the player is at odds with the statement released on City's website. He has 14 days in which to appeal.

How 100,000 pupils are branded 'special needs' by the age of 5

More than one in six children is branded 'special needs' by the age of five, according to official figures.
They show some 17 per cent of pupils in the first year of primary school were diagnosed with special educational needs during the last school year.
The vast majority of these were branded SEN by their school rather than by a team of specialists.

This has raised fears that some schools diagnose difficult or slow pupils as having special needs to mask poor levels of achievement when the real cause is defective teaching.
Pupils with SEN also attract more funding for schools.
The Department for Education figures, released yesterday, are likely to reignite concerns that schools are wrongly identifying children as having SEN.

They show 98,755 five-year-olds in state primary schools were diagnosed with special needs. Of these, only 6,045 have statements of SEN showing they have been formally assessed as needing extra help. The remaining 92,710 – 16 per cent of their school year – do not have a statement.
Almost half of these were branded SEN by their school for having 'speech, language and communication needs'.
A further 18.6 per cent were said to have SEN because of 'behavioural, emotional and social difficulties'.

Only 1.7 per cent had hearing impairments, 1.2 per cent visual impairments and 3.8 per cent physical impairments.
Of the astonishing number without statements, the vast majority – around 60,000 –  are boys, while around 30,000  are girls.
Overall, one in five boys aged five is classed as having SEN and almost one in nine girls.
Boys are also nearly three times more likely than girls to have statements of SEN at secondary school. Last year a damning report found tens of thousands of pupils in England may be being wrongly diagnosed.

Education expert Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, said the percentage of five-year-olds labelled SEN is too high.
He said: 'Compelling international evidence suggests fewer than one in ten children have genuine special education needs.
'So the claim that more than one in six five-year-olds should be SEN in England simply does not add up.
'Thousands or tens of thousands of these children are likely to have been wrongly labelled.
'There are perverse incentives to label children special needs. It is often an excuse for poor performance or a way to attract more funding. Schools can now brand a child "special needs" on the grounds they have communication problems, when the reality is that they just need a little extra help.
'To give up on children when they are so young, just five, is not in the best interests of the child.'
The DfE report shows, overall, more than a fifth of pupils in England – around 1.67million – have special education needs, an increase from 1.52million in 2006.
Meanwhile, the number of pupils with formal SEN statements has fallen from 236,730 in 2006 to 224,210 in 2011.
Of those with statements this year, the most common types of SEN were autistic spectrum disorder and moderate learning difficulties.
The report also showed that young people with SEN are more than three times more likely to be out of school, work or training than their peers.
More than a third of 19-year-olds with a statement of SEN are  'NEET' – not in education, employment or training.

The Fuzzy Math of 9-9-9

Back in the ’90s, Steve Forbes ran for president with the promise of tax returns that would fit on a postcard. Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan revels in the same simplicity: a 9 percent flat tax, a 9 percent national sales tax, and a 9 percent corporate tax. No deductions. No taxes on investment income.
There’s something to be said for simplicity and elegance. This is why the flat tax, fair taxes, and consumption taxes are always part of the debate around campaign time. It’s hard not to look at all the hours and dollars spent by individuals and businesses in preparation for April 15 and see them as a massive waste. But the reason Americans keep choosing waste and complexity over elegance becomes clear when you look at the winners and losers in these scenarios.

The big losers under 9-9-9 are the 47 percent of Americans who, because of the effects of the recession, didn’t make enough money to have a federal-income-tax liability last year. Their income taxes would go up to 9 percent.

The winners, meanwhile, live in Greenwich, Conn. Today, a hedge-fund manager who takes home 20 percent of his firm’s profits pays a 15 percent capital-gains tax. Under Cain, that hedgie pays nothing.
The sales tax favors richer Americans, too. It takes money to save money, after all. Poorer people have to spend a greater percentage of their incomes, and anything spent is taxed. According to Gallup, self-reported consumer spending is just over $23,000 a year. Cain’s 9-9-9 adds $2,000 to that bill.
A 9 percent flat corporate tax seems like a huge cut on the surface. But a company like GE is probably happier right now with the current 35 percent statutory tax rate. That’s because the enormous losses from its GE Capital unit during the financial crisis sheltered the company from paying any federal income taxes at all during a highly profitable 2010.

Hand in hand with 9-9-9 is the elimination of Social Security in favor of private accounts, along the lines of what Cain calls the “Chilean model.” In Chile, workers are required to set aside 10 percent of their salaries for investment in individual retirement accounts that are managed by private companies.

But this would amount to a tax increase for most Americans. While the total contribution to Social Security under current law is 10.4 percent on up to $106,000 in wages, the reality is that only self-employed workers pay that much. Employees pay just 4.2 percent currently, and 6.2 percent most years.

Also, Chile’s system doesn’t work quite as advertised, as the government now supplements private accounts with “solidarity pensions” funded from the general tax revenue.

Other countries in the region that have tried the Chilean model, like Argentina and Peru, have since changed their laws to allow citizens to go back to the old public pension systems. Not that we’ll have to worry about that in the U.S.: Social Security is too popular for Cain to muck with, as even the twice-elected George W. Bush learned.

Israel does not stand alone

The claim of Israel’s isolation, echoed by Democratic and Republican leaders alike, is gaining status as fact. “Israel finds itself increasingly isolated, beleaguered, and besieged,” John Heilemann wrote recently in New York magazine. The Economist reported that “Israel’s isolation has .?.?. been underlined by the deterioration of its relations with Turkey and Egypt.” New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “isolating his country,” while Thomas Friedman described Israel as “adrift at sea alone.”

But is Israel really more isolated now than in the past?
Isolation, of course, is not automatically symptomatic of bad policies. Britain was isolated fighting the Nazis at the start of World War II. Union forces were isolated early in the Civil War, as was the Continental Army at Valley Forge. “It is better to be alone than in bad company,” wrote the young George Washington. That maxim is especially apt for the Middle East today, where one of the least-isolated states, backed by both Iran and Iraq and effectively immune to United Nations sanctions, is Syria.

Israel, in fact, is significantly less isolated than at many times in its history. Before the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel faced a belligerent Egypt and Jordan and a hostile Soviet bloc, Greece, India and China — all without strategic ties with the United States. Today, Israel has peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan; excellent relations with the nations of Eastern Europe as well as Greece, India and China; and an unbreakable alliance with America. Many democracies, including Canada, Italy and the Czech Republic, stand staunchly with us. Israel has more legations abroad than ever before and recently joined the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which comprises the most globally integrated countries. Indeed, Egypt and Germany mediated the upcoming release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held hostage by Hamas for five years.

Israel is not responsible for the upheavals in the Arab world or for the lack of freedom that triggered them. Israelis did not elect Turkey’s Islamic-minded government or urge Syria’s army to fire on its citizens. Conversely, no change in Israeli policies can alter the historic processes transforming the region. Still, some commentators claim that, by refusing to freeze settlement construction on the West Bank and insisting on defensible borders and security guarantees, Israel isolates itself.

The settlements are not the core of the conflict. Arabs attacked us for 50 years before the first settlements were built. Netanyahu froze new construction in the settlements for an unprecedented 10 months, and still the Palestinians refused to negotiate. Settlements are not the reason that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed a unity pact with Hamas in May, or why, in his address to the U.N. General Assembly last month, Abbas denied the Jews’ 4,000-year connection to our homeland. As Abbas wrote in the New York Times in May, the Palestinian attempt to declare a state without making peace with Israel was about “internationalization of the conflict .?.?. to pursue claims against Israel” in the United Nations, not about settlements.

As for borders and security, Israel’s position reflects the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza. After uprooting all our settlements, we received not peace but thousands of Hamas rockets fired at our civilians. In Lebanon, a U.N. peace force watched while Hezbollah amassed an arsenal of 50,000 missiles. Israel’s need for defensible borders and for a long-term Israeli army presence to prevent arms smuggling into any Palestinian state is, for us, a life-and-death issue. Moreover, in a rapidly changing Middle East, we need assurances of our ability to defend ourselves if the Palestinians who support peace are overthrown by those opposed to it.

Despite repeated Palestinian efforts to isolate us, Israel is not alone. And we have a great many friends, especially in the United States, who we know would not want to imply that Israel stands alone in a dangerous region. Prime Minister Netanyahu remains committed to resuming peace talks with the Palestinians anywhere, any time, without preconditions, while insisting on the security arrangements vital to Israel’s survival. Meanwhile, we will continue to stretch out our hand for peace to all Middle Eastern peoples. To paraphrase one of George Washington’s contemporaries — if that be isolation, make the most of it.

The writer is Israel’s ambassador to the United States.

Tevez demands an apology from Mancini

Carlos Tevez will be banished to train with Manchester City’s reserves on Thursday after returning from his two-week ban.

The Argentine star has been told told by the club that he was found to have been in breach of his contract after his alleged mutiny in Munich 16 days ago.

But Tevez has vowed to fight City all the way after refusing to accept their findings, with the 27-year-old insisting he did not defy Roberto Mancini’s orders to play in Munich.
Incredibly, he has demanded a full apology from the City coach!
Mancini, who told Tevez he was “finished” at the club following the striker’s alleged refusal to come on as a substitute against Bayern Munich, will not welcome the striker back into his first-team squad.

Wednesday’s action shows City are backing their boss against the renegade striker.

The demotion to the stiffs represents a remarkable fall from grace for the ￡250,000-a-week former City skipper, who led the club to their first trophy in 35 years last season with victory in the FA Cup.

The Argentina striker is facing a fine of ￡1.5million - six weeks’ wages - plus a month-long suspension following his alleged refusal to come off the bench in last month’s Champions League tie.

City officials met Tevez and his advisors in London on Wednesday, upon the player’s arrival back in the UK after spending part of his two-week suspension back in his native Buenos Aires.

Tevez was informed by the club, following an internal inquiry, that his actions in the Allianz Arena 16 days ago represented a breach of contract.

It has emerged that Tevez and his representatives rejected the club’s findings at the meeting.

He now faces an anxious wait to learn his fate, with an unprecedented fine and lengthy ban his likely punishment.

Once City decide what action to take against Tevez, he will have the option to appeal to the City board and, ultimately, the Premier League as part of an existing three-stage disciplinary procedure.

That could drag on for up to two months, which would take City and Tevez close to the New Year and the re-opening of the transfer window, when the striker’s sale appears inevitable, given the hard-line stance taken by Mancini.

City issued a statement which read: “The club hs now reached a stage in its investigation where it has concluded that there is a case for Carlos Tevez to answer of alleged breaches of conduct.

“Accordingly, the club has informed him he will face disciplinary proceedings and the hearing will be convened shortly. Carlos will be required to report to Roberto Mancini for training on Thursday.”

Tevez’s training-ground treatment by Mancini mirrors that of former City outcasts Craig Bellamy and Emmanuel Adebayor.

They were forced to train with the reserves after the boss decided they were not part of his plans.

Now Fox grovels to save his job: Minister's humiliating apology over 'best man' storm

Liam Fox issued a humiliating apology last night over his working relationship with a close friend.
In a desperate attempt to save his job, the embattled Defence Secretary admitted he had ‘blurred the line’ between his personal and professional life.
Despite weekend speculation that Dr Fox would be cut adrift, David Cameron took the high-risk step of backing him last night. Senior sources said the Prime Minister was ‘determined’ Dr Fox should stay in his job barring further explosive revelations.
But the Defence Secretary must still await the outcome of a report today into his dealings with self-styled ‘adviser’ Adam Werritty, his best man and former flatmate. And he faces a torrid session in the Commons, where he will report to  MPs on his recent trip to Libya.
In his statement, Dr Fox admitted his self styled ‘adviser’ Mr Werritty has financial interests in the defence industry and his frequent contacts with him could have given an impression of ‘wrongdoing’.
He also appeared to accept a potential breach of the ministerial code, which states that ministers must not only ensure no conflict arises between their public duties and private interests, but also that none ‘could reasonably be perceived to arise’.
And as new questions were asked about meetings Mr Werritty attended with Mr Fox in Dubai and Sri Lanka, the Defence Secretary conceded he had allowed his professional judgment to be clouded but insisted he had done nothing wrong.
The apology came just three days after Mr Fox had dismissed as ‘baseless’ allegations of special access for an old friend. Allies said he was determined to save his Cabinet job and is even prepared to cut links with Mr Werritty, who met him 14 times in the Ministry of Defence in just over a year.
On a day of political drama, both Dr Fox’s statement and Mr Cameron’s intervention appeared to pre-empt the findings of the inquiry into the Defence Secretary’s relationship with Mr Werritty, due on the Prime Minister’s desk today.
Dr Fox, seen as the keeper of the Thatcherite flame in the Cabinet, arrived back from Libya in the early hours of yesterday and he and the Prime Minister held crisis talks over a growing tide of allegations and innuendo. He is understood to have apologised to Mr Cameron.
Labour has accused the Defence Secretary of lying over one meeting brokered in Dubai by Mr Werritty, at which a highly sensitive telecommunications deal to allow soldiers to phone relatives and a controversial High Court battle were discussed with a Dubai businessman.
The Defence Secretary admitted last night that no civil servant was present at the meeting, and aides insisted his Labour shadow Jim Murphy must have ‘misunderstood’ if he believed Dr Fox had told him a Ministry of Defence official was there. In his statement, Dr Fox conceded his close ties to Mr Werritty might have given the ‘misleading impression’ that he was an official adviser. He insists that as soon as he became aware that his friend was handing out business cards styling himself as an adviser to him he told him to stop.
Labour’s former Armed Forces Minister Kevan Jones said Dr Fox’s statement was ‘remarkable’.
‘Just 24 hours ago Liam Fox called these allegations “baseless” and now he has apologised, but yet is denying any wrongdoing took place,’ he said.
‘The Defence Secretary simply cannot have sensitive meetings behind the back of his officials. This is incredibly serious and this response is incredible.’
One factor in Mr Cameron’s support for Dr Fox is concern that he could become a focal point for right-wing disaffection with the Coalition if he returned to the back benches.
Colleagues are privately bewildered that Dr Fox has put his career at risk for the sake of a friendship.
‘Nobody really thinks there is anything inappropriate, and the innuendo that has been put about by Labour is really quite sickening. But it’s a bit like William Hague – there’s a slight naivety about how a friendship could look to others.’
Friends said Dr Fox was determined to ride out the storm and will face questions on the affair today in the House of Commons.
‘He’s contrite, he accepts that mistakes were made,’ said one. ‘He knows he shouldn’t have allowed any impression of wrongdoing to occur or allowed people to think there was any crossover between his professional role and his friendship.
‘Obviously it’s been a very difficult few days but he is determined to carry on.’
The most damaging allegations facing Dr Fox concern a meeting in a Dubai hotel in June with Adam Werritty and three businessmen at which a sensitive telecommunications deal was discussed. One of the three was Harvey Boulter, chief executive of Porton Capital, whose subsidiary Cellcrypt wanted to sell the Ministry of Defence voice encryption technology to allow soldiers in Afghanistan to phone relatives without fear that the Taliban was listening in.
Crucially, a high-profile court case that Mr Boulter was fighting against an American firm was allegedly brought up. Dr Fox had always admitted the meeting took place, but claimed it occurred only because the businessmen happened to be on a table next to them. He also told the Shadow Defence Secretary that an MoD official was present. However, emails from Mr Werritty, which emerged yesterday, appear to show that he had been trying to arrange the meeting since at least April. In addition, Dr Fox now admits that there was no official at the meeting.

Helen Flanagan wants to quit Coronation Street because of panic attacks.

Coronation Street star Helen Flanagan is -considering quitting the soap -because of her -crippling panic attacks.

Helen, 21, who plays ditzy model Rosie Webster, has told bosses she wants to walk away when her contract is up in March.

She has -spoken openly about her health problems since -returning to the ITV1 show in July following a three-month break.

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But the actress, who is dating -Swansea footballer Scott -Sinclair, 22, admitted to -being broody last month after co-star Kym Marsh brought her baby daughter Polly on set.

Producer Phil Collinson will do all he can to -convince Rosie – who has been on the show for 12 years – to stay.

But an insider said: “It’s no secret Helen has been -struggling -recently.

“She’s been working hard and the stress has got to her. -Experiencing those panic -attacks has really shaken her up badly.

“She has said she doesn’t want to renew her contract. Corrie may have to face up to The Street without Rosie -Webster.”

In August we reported how Helen fled the set in tears after getting stressed out while filming a semi-naked modelling scene.

Then two weeks ago she admitted she had started experiencing panic attacks, saying: “Anyone who has ever suffered from them knows they are very scary.”

The insider said Helen’s -priorities had changed and -she wanted to spend more time with Scott.

New Valley Trend: Sharing for Profit

A growing number of Bay Area Internet start-ups are deploying a new business model that is based on an old idea: sharing.

The model is known as "collaborative consumption," under which a company gathers people who want to share or rent out their property or provide services to others online, with the company taking a cut of any transaction fee.

Since 2008, local start-ups have sprung up to allow people to share goods like cars or baby clothes, or services like putting together Ikea furniture or picking up groceries.

There are no figures on the number of companies based around the idea. But in just three years, a handful of collaborative-consumption companies have snagged lofty valuations and triggered a rush of venture capital into the concept.

The most prominent example is Airbnb Inc., a San Francisco company founded in 2008 that lets travelers rent beds in other people's homes and takes 10% of the transaction cost. Airbnb raised $112 million in July, valuing the company at $1.3 billion.

Entrepreneurs say Airbnb's success set the stage for other collaborative-consumption businesses. Among them, RelayRides Inc. allows people to rent out their own cars to others while TaskRabbit Inc. lets people offer services such as unpacking boxes or driving someone to the airport.

Sam Angus, an attorney with law firm Fenwick & West who represents start-ups including Airbnb and RelayRides, said the collaborative-consumption model has several advantages. While the companies provide technology that allows people to share their belongings or services, the start-ups typically don't have to deal with the costs of the physical goods or the labor expenses of providing the services.

"These companies are using the assets of individuals," he said.

Still, some collaborative-consumption executives acknowledge that sharing items or services can hit snags. Airbnb earlier this year faced controversy when one person who had rented out her home through the site found it ransacked afterwards.
"Collaborative consumption is built on the idea that access is more powerful than ownership and Airbnb is a prime example of this philosophy," said Emily Joffrion, an Airbnb spokeswoman. She added that Airbnb has implemented 40 "trust and safety features" to protect its users.

One new feature provides a $50,000 host guarantee that will cover theft or vandalism. The feature was applied retroactively so the woman whose home was vandalized received funds. Another feature gives hosts the ability to accept or decline a guest.

Many collaborative-consumption sites are in their early stages. RelayRides was founded in 2010 to let people share their cars with others for a fee. The San Francisco company, which installs technology in the cars that allow users to open the vehicles' doors with a membership card and charges $6.50 to $15 an hour for a rental, currently has a fleet of 150 cars and about 3,000 car borrowers.

On Wednesday, General Motors Co. said it would let subscribers of its OnStar use the navigation and communication system to loan out their vehicles using RelayRides. GM also said it was in talks to invest in the company.

Many ideas for these start-ups have come from people's own frustrations. Caroline O'Connor, a 36-year-old expectant mother, decided to start a website this year that lets people share used baby clothes after friends gave her a lot of hand-me-down clothes that she didn't think were right for her future child.

Her start-up, Plumgear Inc., buys baby clothes wholesale. The site's users then have the option of purchasing these new baby clothes and returning them when their baby outgrows them, or buying baby clothes from the site that have been used by other parents for a cheaper price.

Plumgear, which launched in April, is in a pilot stage with 40 customers and has 1,000 parents on a waiting list. Ms. O'Connor said she has won some funding for the Mountain View company but declined to disclose the amount.

"We started with the thought of what would be the ideal experience for parents," said Ms. O'Connor. "The idea is not to run stuff down on Craigslist or eBay. Your time gets so precious."

Leah Busque, the 31-year-old founder of San-Francisco-based TaskRabbit, created the site to let people trade their services with neighbors. She got the idea in 2008 while she was living in Boston and, one snowy evening, wishing she could get a neighbor to help her buy food for her 100-pound yellow Labrador rather than trudge through the snow herself.

Ms. Busque's site has since created a network of 2,000 "task rabbits," or people who sell their services—with the average price of a task running about $45—through a bidding process. The company charges users a 15% transaction fee. TaskRabbit has raised $7 million in venture capital.

One task rabbit is Laura Horn, a 43-year-old graphic designer in Oakland. Through the site, she has started driving a blind woman, her seeing-eye dog and a young child to the nearby BART transit station three days a week for $10 a trip.

"I can pick and choose what I want to do and how much I want to work," said Ms. Horn, who adds that being a task rabbit also helps her "take care of people."

Challengers mean iPhone must deliver on the hype

It's hard to imagine an event more hyped than last night's announcement by Apple from its California headquarters of the new iPhone.

But the funny thing is that Apple has done none of the hyping, remaining stubbornly silent in the face of increasingly frenzied speculation, alleged leaks and gussied-up fake photos on dozens of websites, all guessing there would be a new phone with a better camera, bigger screen and faster processor.

There is undeniably massive interest in what the next iPhone will be. The current iPhone 4 was hit by a storm of criticism for having poor signal reception thanks to an antenna built into the phone's frame. This didn't stop it from going on to sell in its millions, and it is surely the most successful product the company has ever launched.

But Apple may not have things its own way forever. Remember that Apple makes a large proportion of its profits from the iPhone, and the current model was launched in June 2010.

Last night's unveiling was the first since Steve Jobs stood down for health reasons in August, leaving the new CEO, Tim Cook, to lead the phone to market. Mr Cook, 50, grew up in Alabama, near the city of Mobile, appropriately enough. He has been crucial to Apple's success in recent years by managing inventory, driving down the price of components and delivering the goods. A safe pair of hands, then, but does he have the vision thing? And could he compare with the consummate showman Jobs, with his "reality distortion field" capable of selling ice to Eskimos when it comes to presenting a product? His performance last night will be scrutinised in detail by the markets, alongside the new product.

Apple's share of the smartphone market is not what it was. While the iPhone beats any other single handset, if you measure success in terms of the operating systems that power smartphones, it's a very different story.

A Nielsen survey in July gave Apple's system, iOS, 28 per cent of the US smartphone market. Not bad, and way ahead of BlackBerry (20 per cent) and the new Windows Phone 7 system (6 per cent). But Android, the open-source software from Google, is available for anyone to use. Android has 39 per cent of the US market and growing. Even so, no individual Android maker matches Apple's 28 per cent, HTC coming closest with 20 per cent.

Apple's announcement needs to put the company out in front again. No surprise, then, that the operating system is being updated too, with its biggest changes and improvements yet.

The new version will be launched imminently and features iCloud, a system for storing software, music and videos on Apple's remote computers rather than on your home PC. In fact, the new software means you don't need a computer to make the most of it.

Last night's unveiling and the public response will prove crucial to Apple. It tends to innovate by evolving products rather than radically overhauling them, so a new phone that looks the same as the iPhone 4 could offer huge improvements in a familiar, popular, design.

Whatever the response to the iPhone 5, one thing seems likely: the rumour mill will start grinding again immediately with hype for the iPhone 6.