Elmer-Dewitt reports, “BMO Capital’s Keith Bachman [wrote in a note to clients], ‘We believe FaceTime (video calling) is a game changer and must-have feature that could provide huge upgrade potential, since FaceTime only works on the new iPhone 4.’ Susquehanna’s Jeffrey Fidacaro:’ Video, video, video — Apple leaps ahead of the competition. In our view, Apple’s strategic focus on improving display, both rendering and resolution, along with video capture has been a key competitive advantage for the iPhone. Now, Apple takes another step ahead of the smartphone competition by also adding native video calling capability.'”
Elmer-Dewitt reports, “Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore: ‘Apple announced iPhone customers on AT&T will be allowed to upgrade 6 months early. We do not view this as benevolence but as a calculated move to lock-in customers with two year contracts prior to losing exclusivity. In addition, we believe AT&T’s entry data plan price cut from $30 (unlimited) to $15 (restricts downloads to 200MB) will drive incremental iPhone demand (lowering the user’s TCO). In aggregate, we believe the combination of the attractive form factor / functionality of the iPhone 4 and early upgrade option will drive robust iPhone 4 unit shipments.'”
Full article, with more analysts’ opinions, here.