While many of you were disappointed with the introduction of the Apple iPhone 4S, the major analysts were taking a more measured approach. The general consensus is that these analysts weren’t blown away by what Apple unveiled but they expect it to sell well.
JMP Securities analyst Alex Gauna was the most lukewarm, as he said “We couldn’t help but come away with the impression that the advances, launch forum and presentations lacked much of the panache seen in the past. This could heighten investor anxieties around how the company will operate without visionary leader Steve Jobs at the helm as well as leave the door open for Android to continue gaining worldwide market share at a faster pace.”
It is interesting to wonder if the reaction to the device would have been any different if Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone 4S. Before he left as CEO, Jobs was known to have a “reality distortion field” which could seemingly elevate any Apple product. I think much of that is bull though, as Jobs himself has led some super boring keynotes himself with products that never went anywhere – remember the iPod HiFi or even Ping?
Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty acknowledges that the rumors may have hurt Apple today, as the added delay in the introduction let speculation run wild. Huberty said, “We are buyers on any sell-off post today’s iPhone announcement: Investor expectations were high heading into the event and Apple did not meet some of them, e.g., multiple new phones. However, the market tends to forget that software is what differentiates Apple from the competition, and that was the case again today with iOS 5, which featured Siri intelligent assistant and iCloud content management.”
Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said this announcement reminds him of the iPhone 4 announcement: not many were sure of its success but it went on to be the most popular iPhone of all time. Wu said, “Overall, there may be mild disappointment as many were expecting an “iPhone 5″ with a slightly larger touchscreen and slimmer form factor. But the reality is that iPhone 4S improves on the already top-selling iPhone 4 with a dual-core processor, much better graphics, more powerful camera, longer battery life, 4G speeds, and Siri voice recognition. The initial negative reaction to iPhone 4S reminds us of the launch of iPhone 4. We want to remind people that very few (if any) predicted the iPhone 4 would be successful.”
So, what do you think?