Why is it newsworthy that the iPhone 5 will have a camera?
It isn't. It's newsworthy that the iPhone 5 will have an 8Mpixel camera. Why? People love to gossip about secrets.
The article never says that the Sony CEO mentioned the 8 megapixel part. As far as I can tell, that's still just speculation.
Anyone want to bet that the iPhone 5 ends up not having a Sony camera in it? This reminds me of the CEO of the publishing company that blurted out about the iPad days before it was going to be released.
Maybe Stringer doesn't really want to sell Apple these parts and is hoping Apple will switch manufacturers.
They probably didn't refuse right away to protect Sony's reputation as a supplier to other companies. The OEM and components market seems very politicized.
The problem I have with this idea is that Apple made such a big deal last year about the fact that the camera on the iPhone 4 was backlit. Presumably, the company making those image sensors patented the technology, and wouldn't license it to SONY. So won't the camera be a step back for Apple? It would probably be wiser if they kept the camera they use now,(after all, they used that cheesy 2MP in the original as well as the 3G) and update once the factories are back online?
Everyone is doing backlit CMOS sensors these days. More importantly, Sony invented the technique in the first place. Thus, it is pretty likely that if Sony is doing the camera in the iPhone 5 it is still backlit.
The link to the iPhone5 seems pretty tenuous to me. Apple has cameras in virtually all of its desktop, notebook, palmtop and tablet range.