“The iPhone 4S is what cruise control looks like,” Omar El Akkad reports for The Globe and Mail. “After a decade in the fast lane, Apple showcased a new smartphone, a new CEO, and a tacit admission that it can’t produce revolutionary products at the drop of a hat.”
“All eyes were on the world’s most valuable technology company on Tuesday as Apple revealed the newest iteration of the iPhone, which comes out in the United States, Canada and several other countries on Oct. 14,” El Akkad reports. “But while many fans and analysts were expecting the iPhone 5 – a faster, slimmer, entirely redesigned smartphone that would once again leave competitors in the dust – they instead got the iPhone 4S, a gadget very similar to the current model in design, but with a few new features and a brawnier processor under the hood.”
El Akkad reports, “‘Unfortunately for Apple, this is happening at a time when competitors are aggressively bringing new products to market with superior user experience in the form of wider and better screens, intuitive [user interfaces], and more integrated apps,’ said David McQueen, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. ‘As a result, iPhone 4S could be the first disappointing device since the launch of the brand.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Please name one of these mythical devices that offer a “superior user experience” to Apple’s iPhone 4S with iOS 5 and iCloud. David McQueen is either an idiot or paid to spread anti-Apple FUD or both.
El Akkad reports, “Ultimately, it’s unlikely that a less-than-revolutionary product launch is going to persuade many Apple customers to switch to a different phone. In the short term, Mr. Cook’s wizardry as CFO likely ensures a long run of profitability for Apple, even if its hardware offerings stop improving by leaps and bounds. But the reaction to the iPhone 4S launch raises two important questions: How long before consumers start demanding the next industry-shaking iProduct, and can Mr. Cook deliver it?”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Sigh. This is what results from improperly managing out-of-control expectations. It creates openings that competitors, their PR firms, and their willing accomplices in the media can and will attempt to drive big fat trucks though. By not tamping down the “iPhone 5” hype properly, Apple set themselves up for a flood of this sort of FUDtastic crap.