iPhone 5: Apple’s latest strike in war of the smartphones
SAN FRANCISCO: Apple’s new iPhone goes on sale tomorrow with a bigger screen and 4G wireless technology, as the company seeks to safeguard its position as a market leader.
The iPhone 5 fulfilled many of the expectations laid out by gadget geeks and technology analysts ahead of its unveiling yesterday.
However, there were few surprises to give Apple shares – already near record highs – another major kick. Shares ended the day up 1.4 percent at $669.79 (R5 800).
The consumer electronics giant that popularised tablet computing with the iPad in 2010 has given no hints on whether it plans a smaller version to match cheaper tablets from the likes of Google or Amazon.
“We would really like to see the iPad Mini in the product offering for the all-important holiday quarter. They still have time,” said Channing Smith, co-manager of the Capital Fund.
The latest iPhone comes as Apple faces competition beyond current key competitors Samsung and Google.
Late entrant Microsoft is now trying to push its Windows Phone 8 operating system as an alternative to Apple and Android, the most-used smartphone operating system in the world.
Analysts have forecast sales of 10 million to 12 million of the new iPhones in this month alone.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook started the event in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Centre, but it was marketing chief Phil Schiller who introduced the iPhone 5 and took the audience through its features.
The iPhone 5 sports a 4-inch “retina” display, can surf a highspeed 4G LTE wireless network, and is 20 percent lighter than the previous iPhone 4S.
The phone is due to hit 100 countries by year’s end in the fastest international roll-out for an iPhone so far. The stakes are high, with the iPhone accounting for nearly half of Apple’s revenue.
It has sold more than 243 million iPhones since 2007.
But Samsung leads the smartphone market with a 32.6 percent share followed by Apple with 17 percent, according to market research firm IDC.
The iPhone 5 will be available for pre-order tomorrow at $199.
It will pack three microphones – enhancing built-in voice assistant Siri – and an 8 megapixel camera. One popular enhancement was improved battery endurance – the iPhone 5 can support eight hours of 4G web browsing, the company said.
While Apple played catch-up on many of the new phone’s features –Samsung and Google’s Motorola already have larger and 4G-ready phones – analysts say the device’s attraction is the way its software and hardware work in tandem.
“Where they are pushing the envelope, and where they remain the one to beat, is on the experience those features bring to the consumer,” said Carolina Milanesi, Gartner Research analyst. “While other vendors continue to focus just on the hardware – delivering the speeds and feeds and bigger batteries – Apple focuses on pulling the operating system, the hardware and what you can consume.”
Upgrades to the software include voice navigation for driving as well as “Passbook” for storing electronic boarding passes and sports tickets. – Reuters