Apple announced that they will open five new Apple Retail Store for the iPhone 5 launch week. Thursday the new Rio Shopping store in Valladolid, Spain opens its doors. On Friday “when the iPhone 5 will be launched” three new Apple Retail Stores will open their doors including, Sindelfingen “outside of Stuttgart, Germany”, La Toison d’Or “in Dijon, France” and Valley Plaza “in Bakersfield, California”. » Apple Will Open Five New Retail Stores For iPhone 5 Launch Week

Besides the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 Apple also introduced new iPod nano’s and iPod touches and a new version of iTunes for Mac at the September 12th keynote. The new iPod nano’s are larger and thinner. They come in several different colors and the new Lightning connector.

» September 12th Keynote: iTunes 11, iPod nano and iPod touch

Apple did not broadcast the iPhone 5 keynote live so for all the people that did not see the Media Event, Apple posted a video of the event on its website. In the video you can see an introduction of the iPhone 5, the new iPod Touch, the new iPod Nano, iOS 6 and the new iTunes. The video also should be available soon on Apple’s YouTube channel and in the iTunes Store. [Podcast links: Keynotes, Keynotes in HD, Keynotes in 1080p HD]

After Tim Cook’s usual talk about how Apple is doing, Phil Schiller took the stage to introduce the next generation iPhone. And as expected it’s called iPhone 5 and it looks just like the many leaked images we’ve seen the last couple of weeks. It’s 7.6 mm thick. That’s a thickness reduction of 18%. It’s also 20% lighter at just 112 grams. The iPhone 5 has a 4 inch retina display. This is the thinnest and lightest iPhone yet.

Much more after the break.

» September 12th Keynote: iPhone 5 and iOS 6

Yesterday we showed you that Apple is decorating the front of the Yerba Buena center in preparation for their September 12th media event. If you take a look at the banner above it looks nothing more than a nice design, but one MacRumors forum visitor believes the facade show stretched iOS icons. He believes that you can see stretched versions of iOS icons including Game Center, iTunes, Music and App Store in the image and Macrumors created a shrinked down version of Apple’s banner where you can see clearly recognizable iOS icons.

Check out after the break for more information about Apple’s Yerba Buena Center banner. » Apple’s Yerba Buena Decoration Shows Stretched iOS Icons, Possibly Hinting at Taller iPhone 5

With only 4 days to go till the “iPhone 5″ Media Event, Apple started decorating the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts with its typical banners to indicate the upcoming event. MacStories took some nice photos of the Yerba Buena Center  where Apple will hold their Media Event on the 12th of September starting at 10 AM PST. Take a look after the break for more photos. » Apple Prepares Yerba Buena Center For “iPhone 5″ Media Event [photos]

9to5mac posted some photos of San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center that indicate that Apple is already preparing for its September 12th iPhone 5 media event. “While it appears that the exterior banners will be going up tomorrow (based on Cherry Pickers being prepped outside the front), Apple has already put up its logos inside of Yerba Buena.” » Apple Starts Prepping Yerba Buena Center for iPhone 5 Event Next Week