iPhone 4S An Early Holiday Gift For Android Partners

Well THAT was underwhelming to say the least. I'm not quite sure whether to blame Apple or the over-hyped tech media who raised the expectations, but yesterday's Apple announcement left me nonplussed in a big way. What happened? I have a few theories down the page but the main question is, "Where's the iPhone 5?" Where's a new form factor that says "we've done something new in the past 18 months"? It all just fell flat. First came a long recap of everything Apple had already revealed around iOS5, then some updates to the iPod line and then... a souped up iPhone4. Yawn.

Boxed chocolates and blind dates

We've all heard that old line, "It's what's on the inside that counts!"  I got news for you, Tim. That line only applies to boxed chocolates and blind dates! We all know it's used as consolation. When someone has a "great personality". Apple's strength has always been design and usability. Anyone caring enough about the inside specs would know that iPhone has always been sub-par with it's competitors, even feature for feature. Where Apple and iPhone have succeeded, however, is in creating an ecosystem that just works - and keeping the feeding frenzy alive. That requires more than just speed bumps and some voice control. I mean - who uses that anyway? I'm a tech freak and have used voice activated dialing on and off since the mid '90s, but it is certainly not mainstream. Google has had voice integration in Android a good while now and for Apple to be touting SIRI ( a feature of iOS5 - not iPhone4S), a dual-core A5 processor, and an 8 megapixel camera as the big news at this stage, means they are just catching up to where Android devices have been for months. With new and slimmer designs due out for the holiday shopping season, as well as a few more speed bumps by HTC, LG, Samsung and the rest, as well as screen improvements and other features, Google and its Android Army have a good chance to rake in big in the next few months.

Conspiracy theory or broader market strategy?

This just seems so unlike Apple. I hesitate to believe it has anything to do with Steve jobs leaving the building but one can't deny that a new CEO will have a new style and inherit a lot of baggage.
I have to wonder if Samsung, who is being sued by Apple in every market under the sun, could be having "difficulties" with certain components they supply to Apple for both iPhone and iPad. If, for instance, iPhone5 (which we have seen cases for) had a new, larger display and the supplier was having "difficulties" making quantities... then maybe what you do if you're Tim Cook is find a way to stuff the new components you do have into the old body together with inventory you already have. It's a good backup plan.

Raise the bar in the low end

Another aspect which Chris Taylor mentions in this Mashable post is quite simply that Tim Cook knows inventory management. He knows that Apple's iPhone volumes are tied, for the most part, to when carrier customers are renewing their subscriptions. All of those 3G and 3GS users out there are coming up on renewal time, and while an iPhone 4S may seem a let down for the hard core Apple fanboys, it just may be enough of a jump for those early adopters to upgrade. This would leave Apple a nice, new iPhone5 design to roll out at a point where the iPhone4 and late 3GS users are due to renew. Given the economic climate today that isn't a bad strategy at all and, when you think about it, makes good sense. And, more importantly, moving the 3GS down to free with a long-term carrier plan means Apple has all the opportunity in the world to pull the mat out from under Nokia, who has only been maintaining any market share by dominating the low-end developing markets. As Chris Taylor pointed out, can you imagine how many people in these markets would hop on-board with a 3GS included at no charge with a carrier plan? If I were sitting in Espo I would be very concerned.