Today, in a highly anticipated and over-speculated event, Apple introduced a new iPhone as well as a new line of iPhones. However, more interesting than the hardware is the software.
Yes, the iPhone 4S, with its faster processor, much improved camera, and new iOS 5 operating system, looks good, but I was more impressed by the demos of the new voice recognition system.
Siri, the voice-enabled “personal assistant,” was previously released as a standalone application, but it seems much more capable now. Ask the phone any question and it will respond with an appropriate answer. The questions seemed to focus on pretty specific areas, like weather, time, stock information, calendar scheduling, and Internet searches, though it seemed to handle issues, especially scheduling, very well. The system as a whole now includes built-in dictation that works in a variety of applications and languages (English, French, and German).
I’ve seen some pretty good voice-based Internet search demos on both Android and Windows Phone before, and generally I’ve been impressed with Nuance’s Dragon Dictate solutions for the iPhone. If Apple gets this to work well enough so that people actually use it—instead of it just being a neat trick—it will be a huge step forward and likely the defining feature of the new generation of smartphones.
On the hardware, Apple’s Phil Schiller introduced the iPhone 4S, which at first glance looks a lot like the existing iPhone."Don't be fooled. Inside it is all new," he said. It comes complete with same “retina display” but also with the dual-core A5 chip Apple used in the iPad, which Schiller said makes it twice as fast, with up to seven times faster graphics. It will cost $199 for a 16GB version, $299 for 32GB, and $399 for 64GB, all with two-year carrier contracts. In addition, Apple will offer the older iPhone 3GS in an 8GB version for free with contract, plus the existing iPhone 4 in an 8GB version for $99.
As expected, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint will be the U.S. carriers, with pre-orders available October 7 and the phones on sale on October 14.
The iPhone 4S has a much improved camera that is supposed to be one-third faster, and is now based on an 8-megapixel backside-illuminated CMOS sensor. Other features include improved color, a five element lens, and what Apple calls “30 percent more sharpness.” Perhaps more importantly, it uses new image signal processing features within the A5 chip to add face detection and enhance white balance. In combination, Apple says you can take your first picture in 1.1 seconds, with 0.5 seconds between shots, much faster than other phones, specifically the Bionic. “I don't know what Droid Bionic users do between pictures,” Schiller jabbed. “Get coffee, I guess.” It can also capture 1080p video with image stabilization.
Apple also addressed the “Antennagate” issues with a new wireless two-antenna system, as well as support for HSDPA, theoretically improving download speed from 7.2 to 14.4 Mbps. (Of course, always take these speeds with a grain of salt as real world speeds are never that fast.) Just as importantly, it’s a single “world phone” with support for GSM and CDMA standards. One obvious thing missing is LTE support, although Apple said in practice, it was as fast as many LTE phones.
Other new features include AirPlay mirroring, which lets you display images on a TV using an Apple TV while still playing on the device as well.
The iPod Touch doesn’t appear all that different, although there is a new white version coming. It is getting an upgrade to iOS 5, with features like iCloud and iMessage, and will sell at $199 for the 8GB version, $299 for the 32GB version, and $399 for the 64GB version.
The new version of iOS will be available October 12, Apple’s Scott Forstall said. While the company recapped many of the new features disclosed at the company’s World Wide Developer Conference in June, I was happy to see a new notifications feature that lets you swipe down from the top of the phone to see all of your notifications. Also, the phone has deeper Twitter integration; a more immediate Camera app, and an enhanced Newstand that can automatically download in the background.
Forstall showed more new features, like iMessage, a new messaging service akin to BlackBerry Messenger that works between iOS devices; a “Reminders” app; a new “Cards” application that creates greeting cards that Apple will deliver by mail; and an improved Game Center.
Forstall said there are now a whopping 140,000 iPad applications. Customers have downloaded 18 billion applications, adding 1 billion more each month.
This is all tightly integrated with the company’s new iCloud service, which also launches October 12 and is free for the first 5GB of storage. Apple’s Eddy Cue went over the major features (most of which were disclosed earlier), including syncing of purchased content from iTunes, calendar items, documents created in Pages, and the Find My iPhone feature. A new Find My Friends feature lets you share your location with friends and family members and has parental controls. With iCloud, iTunes Match matches as much of your content as possible so you can download them without uploading to the service. Available in the U.S. at the end of October, it’ll cost $24.99 a year.
Tim Cook, Apple’s new CEO, opened the day by talking about Apple’s success in retail stores, and then shared some statistics across all of the company’s product lines. On the Mac, he said OS X Lion got to ten percent of the Mac installed base within two weeks. In comparison, it took Microsoft 20 weeks to do the same on Windows 7. (Of course, Windows has a much larger installed base including more slow-moving corporate customers plus Windows 7 was a more expensive upgrade). The Mac Book Pro and the iMac are the best selling notebook and desktop in the U.S. (Note: Apple isn’t the biggest seller of these machines, but has been gaining share nicely and offers a tighter product line.) Altogether, Apple has a 23 percent market share in U.S. retail and has an installed base of 58 million Macs.
Cook said the iPod had a 78 percent market share, and that the company has sold more than 300 million iPods, including 45 million in the 12 months ending in June. Customers have downloaded more than 16 billion songs from iTunes store.
On the iPhone, the device had sales grow 125 percent in the past year, compared with a 78 percent growth for smartphones as a category. Still Apple has only five percent of the overall phone market worldwide.
The iPad completely dominates the tablet market. Cook said the iPad accounted for 74 percent of all tablet sales in the U.S. in the second quarter. Overall, he said, Apple has sold more than 250 million iOS devices.