Apple's iPhone 4S event seen lacking 'panache,' allowing Android to gain
The new iPhone 4S will help Apple continue to gain smartphone market share worldwide, but the updated hardware is not enough to slow the growth of Google's Android platform, one analyst believes.
Alex Gauna with JMP Securities said he feels Tuesday's iPhone 4S unveiling "lacked much of the panache seen in the past." He said the presentations given on Tuesday showed off "attractive improvements," but he believes attention will quickly turn toward a "true" fifth-generation iPhone.
Specifically, he said the lack of 4G long-term evolution data connectivity and a larger screen will allow competing Android handsets to differentiate from Apple and gain some traction in the smartphone market. He believes Apple will "want to remedy" those differentiators with an "iPhone 5."
"At its event, Apple pointed out that according to comScore, iOS represents the number one smartphone operating system in the U.S. with 43% market share; however, the trend has been for a faster adoption pace for Android-based models," he wrote in a note to investors on Wednesday. "Given Android's greater range of price points and form factors, we would expect this trend to continue."
Gauna is not as bullish on AAPL stock as most of his colleagues on Wall Street. He has maintained a "market perform" rating for the company since March.
He said iOS 5 and iCloud are unique features that will drive iPhone sales, but he doesn't feel the dual-core A5 processor found in the iPhone 4S and its 8-megapixel 1080p camera are very different from competing Android phones. He also cited his own "industry checks" as indicating that Android will gain its own natural language voice recognition capabilities in early 2012, allowing the platform to compete with Apple's Siri.
One element of the iPhone 4S that Gauna is impressed with is the quick global rollout in the works by Apple. The handset will launch in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the U.K. on Friday, Oct. 14, and will expand to 22 more countries by the end of October.
He believes quick availability of the iPhone 4S will allow Apple to reach sales of 21 million units in the company's first quarter of fiscal 2012.
Alex Gauna with JMP Securities said he feels Tuesday's iPhone 4S unveiling "lacked much of the panache seen in the past." He said the presentations given on Tuesday showed off "attractive improvements," but he believes attention will quickly turn toward a "true" fifth-generation iPhone.
Specifically, he said the lack of 4G long-term evolution data connectivity and a larger screen will allow competing Android handsets to differentiate from Apple and gain some traction in the smartphone market. He believes Apple will "want to remedy" those differentiators with an "iPhone 5."
"At its event, Apple pointed out that according to comScore, iOS represents the number one smartphone operating system in the U.S. with 43% market share; however, the trend has been for a faster adoption pace for Android-based models," he wrote in a note to investors on Wednesday. "Given Android's greater range of price points and form factors, we would expect this trend to continue."
Gauna is not as bullish on AAPL stock as most of his colleagues on Wall Street. He has maintained a "market perform" rating for the company since March.
He said iOS 5 and iCloud are unique features that will drive iPhone sales, but he doesn't feel the dual-core A5 processor found in the iPhone 4S and its 8-megapixel 1080p camera are very different from competing Android phones. He also cited his own "industry checks" as indicating that Android will gain its own natural language voice recognition capabilities in early 2012, allowing the platform to compete with Apple's Siri.
One element of the iPhone 4S that Gauna is impressed with is the quick global rollout in the works by Apple. The handset will launch in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the U.K. on Friday, Oct. 14, and will expand to 22 more countries by the end of October.
He believes quick availability of the iPhone 4S will allow Apple to reach sales of 21 million units in the company's first quarter of fiscal 2012.
Comments
Had Apple released the iPhone 4S back in June not many people I know would have complained, but to be 4 months later than usual and then show off a "S" model....... Well what did Apple expect? They screwed up plain & simple.
Still, as a 3GS owner it's good enough for me so I'll be pre ordering on Friday.
How did Apple screw this up? They made literally almost everything about the phone better but they didn't change the design, which is itself quite impressive. Not to mention that they'll probably break sales records again when pre orders start in a few days.
Exactly. I've had this argument with 2 people. They say apple didn't do something innovative. I ask what they are looking for. They couldn't give me an answer. Haters with be haters. And I'll have a phone that ALWAYS works.
I especially hate the 4G idiots. We all know 4G LTE is not fully rolled out and that phones with 4G LTE have short battery life. Apple was always going to wait for better chips and better coverage to roll this out. Yes we would all love the speed, but if the whole thing doesn't work is it worth anything.
There is my rant and I see the iPhone 4S as being a great upgrade for myself coming from an iPhone 3GS. If you have an iPhone 4, maybe not, but then again why waste money on an early upgrade in the first place.
... it's good enough ...
That is what people don't understand. So many argue about this being "the best" or that being "the best", but other than some freakazoids on internet forums, vanishingly small numbers of consumers care about the very best.
Tell me who sells more cars - Ferrari or Honda? Yeah, now tell me who sells more phones, the spec whores or Apple?
Apple knows that they do NOT have to be the best. They just need to be good enough. And the profits will roll in.
Simple as that.
Exactly. I've had this argument with 2 people. They say apple didn't do something innovative. I ask what they are looking for. They couldn't give me an answer. Haters with be haters. And I'll have a phone that ALWAYS works.
I agree with this. The only legitimate complaint I have seen is the lack of diversity in screen sizes. While that doesnt matter to me (The iPhone is in fact a little too big for me to use easily with a single hand) I can see how some would want it. Outside of that, the iPhone has extended its lead over Android (and if Siri works as good as the videos look....)
That being said, I agree with the analyst. This was a good update in a vacuum, and also a good technical/feature update. What it lacked, however, is the kind of "big bang" announcement that would have helped slow Android's momentum. A redesigned phone might have been it. However, I think what would have been more important was releasing the iPhone 4 (or even the 3GS) without contract for a low price. I think the lack of a no-contract phone is a huge issue.
The SIM free prices in the UK are £499/£599/£699. The 32GB and 64GB models cost more than the equivalent iPad 2 3G models. Buying an iPhone 4S is hard to justify for most people when the latest and greatest Android handset can be picked up for £360 and a 32GB microSD card only costs £30.
I'm still definitely going to buy one but it won't be the top model.
Then I thought about it. The 4s has EVERYTHING I wanted except for one thing, a 4" screen. World phone, improved camera, 64gb, fixed antenna, and dual core CPU.
Nothing is perfect, but overall it's a good upgrade for 3gs owners who waited out the 4
That's really interesting Alex. But how do you explain to your clients why they missed the recent run from 315 on June 20 to 420 in September ???
That is what people don't understand. So many argue about this being "the best" or that being "the best", but other than some freakazoids on internet forums, vanishingly small numbers of consumers care about the very best.
Tell me who sells more cars - Ferrari or Honda? Yeah, now tell me who sells more phones, the spec whores or Apple?
Apple knows that they do NOT have to be the best. They just need to be good enough. And the profits will roll in.
Simple as that.
You've got it backwards. Apple DOES have to be the best - and they are. They just don't have to satisfy everyone.
There's not a phone on the planet with the customer satisfaction ratings of the iPhone. Any other vendor would kill for Apple's customer retention rates. And instead of simply accepting that, Apple released an upgrade that is superior in nearly every way.
I ask what they are looking for. They couldn't give me an answer.
Different case, Larger screen, NFC chip (along with the inside upgrades they made).
And we saw how that turned out.
There does seem to be quite a bit of disappointment over this, I know that three of my friends will not be upgrading based on the announcement.
Had Apple released the iPhone 4S back in June not many people I know would have complained, but to be 4 months later than usual and then show off a "S" model....... Well what did Apple expect? They screwed up plain & simple.
Still, as a 3GS owner it's good enough for me so I'll be pre ordering on Friday.
The disappointment stems from hyped up articles in places like Appleinsider. Apple never made claims they'd be coming out with anything else. The current iPhone was pushed back because they released the Verizon iPhone in February and it didn't make sense to release a completely new model in June. Second, Sprint deal was in the works, probably, and they wanted to include the necessary hardware to include them instead of a separate model as they did with Verizon.
The iPhone 3G and 3GS models were basically incremental improvements over their predecessor. iPhone 4 marked a new form with the retina screen. So with Apple's history, did you really expect a game changing iPhone? Come on...
iPhone 5 will come next year and it'll be a game changer. That, I'm sure of...
Btw, the reaction here strongly reminds me of the reaction after the iPad 2...
And we saw how that turned out.
Think further back. The reaction is EXACTLY THE REACTION TO THE 3GS.
I remember this because I purchased a 3gs.
The disappointment stems from hyped up articles in places like Appleinsider. Apple never made claims they'd be coming out with anything else. The current iPhone was pushed back because they released the Verizon iPhone in February and it didn't make sense to release a completely new model in June. Second, Sprint deal was in the works, probably, and they wanted to include the necessary hardware to include them instead of a separate model as they did with Verizon.
The iPhone 3G and 3GS models were basically incremental improvements over their predecessor. iPhone 4 marked a new form with the retina screen. So with Apple's history, did you really expect a game changing iPhone? Come on...
iPhone 5 will come next year and it'll be a game changer. That, I'm sure of...
Not sure. Challenge is resolution issue. To keep things easy to scale up for app devs, they need to do 2x resolution at least to maintain the "retina" marketing with a larger screen. That's a LOT of horsepower to push that many pixels...
There does seem to be quite a bit of disappointment over this, I know that three of my friends will not be upgrading based on the announcement.
Had Apple released the iPhone 4S back in June not many people I know would have complained, but to be 4 months later than usual and then show off a "S" model....... Well what did Apple expect? They screwed up plain & simple.
Still, as a 3GS owner it's good enough for me so I'll be pre ordering on Friday.
Somebody said iPhone 4S.. S=Steve please come back!