Upfront let me say that I've been an iPhone 3G and iPhone 4 owner and user, both of them are easily the best phones I've ever used and loved, I'm also an avid Mac and iPad user both personally and professionally day after day. I skipped the iPhone 4S because it was clearly only ever going to be an incremental update and expected the 5 to offer more than it does.
iPhone 5 feels very much like the expected upgrade everyone knew was coming, and that's the problem. Where's the sparkle, the surprises, and even the passion in the presentation from the department heads? The new bigger screen frankly is almost funny, they tried very hard to make it sound bigger and more impressive by pointing out the extra web page area displayed and the extra space for reading text, but it still just felt like 'more room for 1 row of extra icons'. The feeling I always got from Apple was that they refused to give up on an idea just because it seemed impossible if they felt it was right for a product. But I just don't get that impression anymore.
The other updates are really things we would expect any phone manufacturer to offer, faster CPU and GPU, better camera resolution and a tweaked case. The shinning star of this release is iOS 6 that really does feel nice and offers many things that users will appreciate over time. But again, we already knew what was coming in the OS upgrade and regurgitating the list today was more P.R. to help fill the void of the announcement than any actual meat added to the meal. I think Apple suffered and labored over the original iPhone concepts and rewarded users with an amazing experience and inspired so many bad copy cats, but like so many companies they then started to forget that it is a continued process and you have to keep innovating even when you set the bar so high that it seems impossible to climb it.
I will add at this point that I still think the iPad is best of breed and I am using the latest version every day, and still actively developing for it. I recommend it still as the best tablet on the market.
Personally I think the iPod touch got the better end of the deal by way of upgrades today and think that will be as popular as ever, although I question the introduction of 'the loop' and I think we can almost predict the flurry of lost iPods due to trying to look cool and using it rather than a decent case.
So why did I use the title first signs of weakness?
I pose the question because I think todays announcements were more catching up with other phone manufactures compared to the original iPhone through version 4 where Apple essentially brought the usable and stylish smart phone to the World. I have to question if this is the first glimpses of life after Steve that many wondered and feared where the Apple visionaries are showing lack of imagination in favor of minor adjustments and what will inevitably be a massive money grab for the company yet again.
Interestingly, this long time iPhone user is actually taking a serious look at other phones to replace his cracked iPhone 4, it might be a bad move to switch away in the end but at least it will feel like buying a new device and not just giving an old one a new paint job.
