"I love apple, and I consider it a privilege of a lifetime...."and so began Tim Cook's first product introduction. "Apple has enormous momentum..." he continued and rolled off the remarkable numbers that their retail stores have garnered, including welcoming 100,000 people in one week in China (vs. one month when they opened LA).
And Tim continued with the accolades from consumers and media alike:
OS Lion: the reviews have been incredible: "best computer operating system out there..." NYT with over 6 million downloads to date.
#1 desktop and laptop in the US. The mac outgrew the PC market by almost 6 times last year. Now approaching 60 million users around the world.
#1 music store in the world. 16 billion songs downloaded
The #1 smartphone in the world. iPhone 4 has sold over half of the total iPhones sold since they've been introduced.
#1 top selling tablet in the world. Three out of four tablets sold are iPads. "Consumers don't want tablets, they want iPads" All Things Digital he cited.
And then we saw it...the *new* iPhone 4S...."Playing up the remarkable graphics of the new A5 chip first seen on the iPad, the team built some terrific excitement. The new atennae allows for 2x download speed...."
And more than anything, there's our new friend Siri, the voice activated "humble assistant" that is now integrated into the phone. A remarkable addition to the tools and the new iOS5, truly ground breaking artificial inteligence. Siri not only understands the words you say, but the meaning of those words. A masterful feat for sure.
But as a true Apple devotee, I am disappointed that Apple did not manage expectations against the introduction of the better, bigger, different phone they're known for. Sadly, there was no iPhone 5 today. While the addition of CDMA and GSM into one phone will appeal to a wide swath of people, the fact that Jonathan Ive was absent today let down millions who were anticipating a new redesign.
Sure, we can say that if we'd looked thru the message, and believed half the rumors, and measured the timing (only new designs every two years) we'd have come to the logical conclusion. But as appealing as logic is to us, and as sexy as the design continues to be for the beautiful iPhone 4 (yes, I own one), Apple missed the boat today. The brand let us down, in the most elegant, let's be friends kind of way.
Tim Cook and his team need to get in front of the messaging on Wednesday and explain exactly why this iteration was delayed. The world expects it, or the mac world at least (and some may say the stock world as well, since the stock dropped on this announcement, although its done that before).
Yes, we'll love the iPhone 4S, yes some will upgrade from the 4 (as they did from 3G to 3GS before her), but to many others we'll be left with baited breath adrift in disappointment...hoping things get back on track for a June 2012 iPhone 5 announcement. Apple, I hope you're listening, after all no one likes the feeling of once bitten, twice shy.
Pre-orders start October 7th, and on sale October 14th with the fastest global rollout ever...considering it's late, why not? Oh and yeah, there's the Sprint thing too...welcome aboard.
Watch the full (long) announcement here: VIDEO
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