We’ll continue to take these stories for what they are: rumors. But they are interesting for a couple of reasons. Despite the recent release of the iPhone 4S and its incredibly good sales, a lot of people were still disappointed in not seeing the release of the iPhone 5.

Rumors picked up more steam this week when CNET reported on an analyst claiming that the next-generation iPhone “was the last project that Steve Jobs was intimately involved with from concept to final design”.

Now, PC Magazine is quoting Apple partner Masayoshi Son, CEO of Softbank, as saying, “I visited Apple for the announcement of the iPhone 4S [at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California]. When I was having a meeting with Tim Cook, he said, ‘Oh Masa, sorry I have to quit our meeting.’ I said, ‘Where are you going?’ He said, ‘My boss is calling me.’ That was the day of the announcement of the iPhone 4S. He said that Steve is calling me because he wants to talk about their next product. And the next day, he died.”

The publication says the speculation that the iPhone 5 will be “Jobs’ final master stroke of product innovation now seems more credible”.

As I said before, one would think he would’ve been involved with the design of the next-generation iPad (there are already iPad 3 rumors going around as well), since it’s been over 7 months since the unveiling of the iPad 2, but who knows?

As previously reported, Apple has launched its tribute site for Jobs, which features messages that have been sent to Apple in the time since his passing. The company said it has received over a million of them in that short time.

During Apple’s earnings call, CEO Tim Cook expressed his gratitude for the outpouring of support.

Here are a couple of cool, recent tributes to Jobs: