Piper: Apple has 'little room for surprise' at WWDC 2010
Two lost prototype iPhones, presumed to represent the fourth-generation handset that will be be announced by Steve Jobs at the Worldwide Developers Conference, have taken away the element of surprise for Apple, one prominent analyst believes.
Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray said Wednesday that Apple has "little room for surprise" at WWDC, set to kick off on June 7. He believes the hardware maker will introduce a new fourth-generation iPhone with a front-facing camera for video conferencing, better battery life, an improved rear camera, thinner design and longer battery life. But he said people shouldn't hold their breath for a major surprise, like a model compatible with the Verizon network in the U.S.
"We believe that it is unlikely that the next generation iPhone will be available at Verizon (or Sprint) at launch; rather, it is more likely that it remains exclusively available at AT&T in the U.S. at launch," Munster wrote.
Apple may also replace the $99 iPhone 3G with the iPhone 3GS or a new device at the $99 price point, he said. And the company could give an update on iPad sales, or provide a "limited demo" of Mac OS X 10.7.
"The Mac OS has not seen the same level of innovation as iPhone software in recent years," Munster said. "With the next version of Mac OS X, we expect Apple to bring some of the same innovation to the Mac platform. Multi-touch technology, for example could be a key feature of Mac OS 10.7."
But the scheduled sessions for WWDC 2010 indicate that this year's conference will focus on iPhone OS 4, which could suggest that an advanced preview of the next version of Mac OS X 10.7 will not happen.
"Bottom line: WWDC will likely be in-line with expectations, and a non-event for the stock," Munster wrote, "but the new iPhone will likely drive unit sales beyond Street expectations, providing a positive catalyst for shares of AAPL in the coming months."
Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray said Wednesday that Apple has "little room for surprise" at WWDC, set to kick off on June 7. He believes the hardware maker will introduce a new fourth-generation iPhone with a front-facing camera for video conferencing, better battery life, an improved rear camera, thinner design and longer battery life. But he said people shouldn't hold their breath for a major surprise, like a model compatible with the Verizon network in the U.S.
"We believe that it is unlikely that the next generation iPhone will be available at Verizon (or Sprint) at launch; rather, it is more likely that it remains exclusively available at AT&T in the U.S. at launch," Munster wrote.
Apple may also replace the $99 iPhone 3G with the iPhone 3GS or a new device at the $99 price point, he said. And the company could give an update on iPad sales, or provide a "limited demo" of Mac OS X 10.7.
"The Mac OS has not seen the same level of innovation as iPhone software in recent years," Munster said. "With the next version of Mac OS X, we expect Apple to bring some of the same innovation to the Mac platform. Multi-touch technology, for example could be a key feature of Mac OS 10.7."
But the scheduled sessions for WWDC 2010 indicate that this year's conference will focus on iPhone OS 4, which could suggest that an advanced preview of the next version of Mac OS X 10.7 will not happen.
"Bottom line: WWDC will likely be in-line with expectations, and a non-event for the stock," Munster wrote, "but the new iPhone will likely drive unit sales beyond Street expectations, providing a positive catalyst for shares of AAPL in the coming months."
Comments
[1] The screen will be a major selling point and Apple will make a big deal about it. Despite all the leaks we've yet to see how the OS and apps will look on that high dpi (possibly IPS) screen.
[2] Safari 5 will usher in new features (I hope), including almost full support for the draft HTML 5 spec, a faster JS engine, process isolation (webkit 2), a brand new UI and a plugin architecture.
And of course just because iPhone OS 4 is in beta, that doesn't mean Apple hasn't got some new Apps internally that it is planning to bundle with the new system.
There are always surprises.
A Verizon iPhone at WWDC is doubtful, but what happened to the low-hanging fruit of T-Mobile support? If Apple really intends to go carrier agnostic, that seems like the best way to start.
Little room for surprise doesn't necessary make WWDC a non-event or the supposed iPhone HD unimportant since many of the new features are significant. The hardware may be set, but Apple could still do interesting things on how that hardware is made use of in software, which is generally there domain anyways. Maybe there could be Haptic feedback as a final hardware feature?
A Verizon iPhone at WWDC is doubtful, but what happened to the low-hanging fruit of T-Mobile support? If Apple really intends to go carrier agnostic, that seems like the best way to start.
Except Apple is already carrier agnostic in almost every territory they sell in. So they wouldn't really be starting anything.
There's new developer features in the next XCode, hey, it is WWDC after all.
There are things besides iPhones in Apple's product line-up.
We have only seen what we expected....
Now all we do is wait for "one more thing"...
Can I say 'phuque" PJ?
Thanks
The new iphone will blow the socks off the competition.
I believe that PJ is trying to drive the stock down - same old games...
???
Has there been a more consistent or rabid AAPL bull that PJ?
Personally I think that if there is any surprises possible out there, it will be in the cloud based iTunes type stuff. Knowing Apple thought, that will more likely be next year. I cant even begin to imagine the contractual nightmares that such a service would present, but we have 8 apple devices in our family and it would sure be nice to be able to have more flexibility about the media we have purchased.
As it stands, Steve is like a jockey flogging his horse as it passes the third turn "faster damn you, they are almost out of the starting gate!".
The other horses:
Windows Mobile [major problems internal at MS]
Nexus One [Didn't google just shut down their online store?]
Palm WebOS , oops HP Web OS...
Motorola Droid [well, the Incredible is out of the starting gate and rounding turn one, a pretty good competitor to the Apple 3G]
Nokia - a strong player in the international market, but still struggling to match the iPhone 'cool'.
Microsoft Kin - Now free in a box of Frosted Flakes!
HTC Android devices [Like the droid, a competitor, but a bit behind]
Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray said Wednesday that Apple has "little room for surprise" at WWDC, set to kick off on June 7. ...
"Bottom line: WWDC will likely be in-line with expectations, and a non-event for the stock," Munster wrote, "but the new iPhone will likely drive unit sales beyond Street expectations, providing a positive catalyst for shares of AAPL in the coming months."
..those are the silver linings right there..
Yup, if Steve Jobs do introduce the new iPhone like the same one we already knew from the leaked prototypes, then yeah it's a no surprise. And this is likely what will happen..
But Steve Jobs is, well he is Steve Jobs, and his words against those who have doubt in the WWDC '10 event is as simple as it usually do: "You won't be disappointed."
That is his answer when a MacRumors reader named Bryan Webster emailed the Apple CEO to ask about the upcoming event.
And Munster's bottom line is a spot on, right on the money.. Everyone will still going to buy the new, but not surprising anymore cause we've knew about it, iPhone. And Apple will still going to print money as many as they can with their new iPhone.. Not a surprise, eh?
Apple announces that it's making MobileMe free and launching its own internet search engine.
YESSSS it's own search engine, I think this is the thing Apple have no choice to go in. Google choose to attack Apple, so Apple will attack Google in it's core business, I'm sure Steve Jobs dream to have that for Apple