Image from machackpc.com

Steve Jobs may be officially retired but there’s no stopping the Apple juggernaut in China, especially with rumors and speculation swirling about the impending release of the next generation iPhone 5 this fall.

The exact date of the official launch is still anyone’s guess, but according to AppleInsider‘s Josh Ong Apple is gearing for a late November launch in China (the US launch is rumored to be happening some time in mid-October).

“… According to a Chinese source who spoke with the pretty reliable Japanese site Mac Otakara, the most recent datapoint I’ve heard for launch timing in Asia was a ‘late October’ date for an Asian launch, [but] I’d be surprised if the iPhone 5 made it to China by late October,” says Ong, “… It’s certainly a possibility. That would line up with earlier suggestions that China Telecom would get the iPhone in late 2011/November.”

All three carriers (China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom) will be carrying the iPhone 5, according to Ong, and it looks like China Mobile and Apple will be using the Chinese carrier’s TD-LTE technology (a new kind of 4G protocol that’s being rolled out in Asia) some time next year, although it probably won’t be rolled out with the release of the iPhone 5.

As for the phone itself, the New York Times reported last week that Apple is “just weeks away from announcing a fairly different iPhone 5″ – one that purportedly features a larger screen, thinner case, 8-megapixel camera, a “faster A5 dual core processor,” and a possible “mobile-payment feature” that works like subway swipe cards allowing users to pay for goods and services with the swipe of their phone (although there seems to be no news on how this would play out in China).

If the frenzied mobs for the launch of the iPhone 4 last year and this year’s iPad 2 launch are any indication, you can assume that Apple’s increasing iron grip on the China market will mean more crazy lines and scalpers galore at the Apple Store when the iPhone 5 is officially launched.

Watch this space for more information and news in the coming months.

In related news, Macworld Asia – a four-day showcase of Apple products, seminars, demonstrations and keynote speakers – is going down in Beijing from September 22-25 at the China National Convention Center. You can find registration information here.