Apple's Twitter account comes to life ahead of iPhone announcement

Apple's Twitter account comes to life ahead of iPhone announcement ,

Apple joined Twitter in 2011, but the company's account has been dormant ever since, with zero tweets and a standard egg avatar. The account sprang to life on Friday, though, with a new avatar, verified status, and a background photo taken from the invitations Apple sent out this week for its upcoming iPhone event.

The activation of Apple's Twitter account has given rise to speculation that the company may live-tweet its new iPhone announcement on September 7th. Apple has already launched Twitter accounts for Apple Music, Apple News, and its support service, among others, and has previously live blogged events on its website. Executives including CEO Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, and Eddy Cue are also active Twitter users, though Apple itself has never had a corporate presence on the social network.

It's not clear how Apple plans to use its newly revived Twitter handle. As of early Friday morning, the account had nearly 90,000 followers, and had yet to post a tweet.