The first big launch post Steve Jobs did not go over too well for Shareholders, Wall Street, customers or the media. In fact the only people who enjoyed the event was Sprint customers. They now have an iPhone to call their own. Some would even argue the S in iPhone S stands for Sprint.
Wall Street was not excited by the new device. The stock took a quick hit yesterday and has gone down for a while. The stock is down about 10% over the last two weeks but is back up today. After taking a night to think about it seems the Street is alright with the new device. The addition of Sprint will add to the footprint that Apple already has.
For those that think that Sprint is the only winner might want to take the time to read the fine print. The iPhone 4S for AT&T has high-speed packet access also known as HSPA. It’s like WiMax that Sprint has now and is calling 4G. However that is inaccurate only LTE is 4G although WiMax speeds can reach top speeds of 14.4 megabits per second. It’s not 4G it’s more like 3.5G. The Verizon and Sprint iPhones are on CDMA and stuck on 3G speeds.
So Apple was able to in a sense keep exclusivity for AT&T but yet expand to Sprint. That might be what some investors are just realizing today. Sprint for its part has not moved up in the market at all. The iPhone might have come to late to help them out.
How did new CEO Tim Cook do on his first big show? As expected. He was to the point and dry. There was no charisma on stage and the applause that came was far and weak at all points. It seem almost fitting that it was “just” an iPhone 4S and not a iPhone 5 that came out. Now can the media really hammer Mr. Cook? No, he did just fine. It’s just that the phone was not what people expected nor was it Steve up there. Let the rumors for iPad 3 start.
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