No iPhone 5 but still, some pretty smart stuff!

Err..... what was everyone expecting from the new Apple CEO Tim Cook? An amazing new device that will change the world? Perhaps, but I suspect after all was said and done, the unveiling of the iPhone 4 S, an updated version of the existing one was all that people got. No new iPhone 5, like many had been perhaps anticipating. Not all bad news, I guess if you scratched beyond the surface and the main announcement there were some encouraging signs. The new phone will have a better camera (8 megapixel), a faster operating system and wait for it, run the same chip as the iPad 2. The camera is apparently very, very cool, and according to the fellows over at Apple, the best still camera that you could own. Maybe. In a phone, has Nokia really fallen that far behind?

Apple also expanded their plans for the iCloud, which will see you able to share all the things that you would expect to share amongst all of your devices currently, photos, contacts, music and the like. Free. And then another service called iTunes Match which enables you to load your entire music collection into the cloud and then stream it, for the cost of 24.99 USD per annum, the main problem for users like ourselves would of course be the bandwidth issue.

There were new devices unveiled, but they now fall into the boring category, the iPod Touch and Nano, with prices lower on these new improved products. There was also a new operating system, ready for download a week today, for all their wireless products. And wait for it, perhaps the biggest change I have seen, Apple offering a two year contract with their mobile partners, Verizon, Sprint Nextel and AT&T with a iPhone 3GS for FREE. Telling me in a subtle way that they are happy to give the handset away, knowing that the app store and all the other services are starting to make them more money.

Another piece of software called Siri, smart enough to interact with the handset user, make notes, calls, set reminders, all by just talking to the phone. I reckon that is pretty cool, watch the video on the Apple website, titled See how Siri works. Strangely before I saw this video, on the way to work this morning, I was listening to Ray Charles and that very song!!! That stuff about, text my wife I am this or that, that is now very cool, and the stuff of movies twenty years ago. The camera, another point worth noting, takes a picture in just over a second, and you can go straight there, iPhone users will know what I am talking about.

All that matter nothing if we do not talk about what investors think about this new product? Initially the stock sank as much as five percent, disappointment that there was no new wider screen on a newer model phone. Notwithstanding that, the analyst community expect the company to sell 25 million handsets this quarter, up 3 million from the quarter past. So the quarterly run rate has been set at 100 million a year. WOW!! So, the company continues to forge ahead, the new Hong Kong store opening saw folks queuing for 60 hours for an iPad. Tell me, until that changes, what other consumer product do you know that has so much hype built around any sort of launch? And every single person who owns the device is a salesperson, I still find that. We still continue to buy the stock and should use this uncertainty as an opportunity.