By now you have heard there was no new
iphone 5 announcement yesterday. The "BIG" news that had rumors flying fell on a sea of disappointment. Instead of a whole new phone,
Apple is releasing the
iphone 4S, faster and more powerful than the
iphone 4, but with the same form factor. For those people waiting to buy the new
iphone 5, let's just say the waiting game is not over. There was no announcement yesterday about the release date for the
iphone 5.
The
iphone 4S is an upgrade rather than a new iphone. As disappointed as you may be, the new iphone 4S sounds like it will be a big improvement over the current iphone 4. According to an article by CBSNews, "The new iphone has an improved camera with a higher-resolution sensor. The processor is faster -- the same A5 chip found in the ipad 2 -- so the phone will be able to run smoother, more realistic action games. It's also a "world phone, " which means that Verizon iphones will be useable overseas, just as AT&T iphones already are. " In addition, Sprint will now offer the iphone as one of its feature Smartphones. This will be a major boost for Sprint, who to date has the fastest network, and the only unlimited voice/data plan available.
Apple stock fell by close of day after the announcement or lack thereof. Apple's stock fell $2. 10, or 0. 6 percent, to close Tuesday at $372. 50 after dropping earlier to $354. 24. I think that after the dust has settled and the disappointment has abated, the stocks will recuperate. Apple is still one of the strongest companies to invest in, and continue to be so. The stock has risen more than 15 percent this year, at one point hitting an all-time high of $422. 86. It has nearly quadrupled since the first iphone came out in 2007. While it is not just the iphone that has propelled Apple to the stars, the iphone is certainly a big component of that success.
So what is different in the
iphone 4S? Aside from the faster process chip, its new capability of being a "World Phone, " and the improved camera, the
iphone 4S can sync wirelessly to your computer. It comes with "Siri" voice recognition software, which can understand verbal commands and questions such as "Should I take an umbrella today? "
Siri is actually the best feature of the iphone 4S.
Apple also announced the iCloud service will be up and running on October 12th. With a $25 per year subscription you will be able to access all your music, documents and photos on any device, and iTunes Match will let you sync it to iCloud rather than your computer. The pricing for the new
iphone 4S will be $199 for a 16 gigabyte-version, $299 for 32 GB and $399 for 64 GB.
Get over it. I think once the wave of disappointment over the lack of
iphone 5 is overcome, iphone fans will be pleased with this new upgrade. For the rest of us, the Android Smartphones suit us just fine. It uses the Google Cloud, which lets you access all of your files (music, photos and documents) from anywhere. The Google voice command works well for making calls and for looking up locations on Google navigation. And best of all, the Google services are free.
Apple has yet to embrace the NFC payment
technology in its phones, but some of the Android phones have it (although the technology is still in its infancy. )#) According to a report by Gartner,
Android Smartphones have 43 percent of the US market share, while Apple's IOS only has 18 percent. Worldwide, Tim Cook, Apple's new CEO, told us yesterday that the iPhone's only have 5 percent of the world market for cell phones. So why the big fuss over whether the new
iphone is a 4S or the coveted iphone 5?
Related articles:
Customer Choice With Regard to iPhone Applications
