Apple may have scored a hit with fans after its most eagerly anticipated product reveal in recent history, but the company did not go far enough to recapture the halo effect.
Its two new phones, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, will soon start becoming available internationally and should land locally before the festive season, says Word Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck.
The handsets have brought excitement back to Apple fans and will enable the company to keep market share, although investors are unlikely to go wild over the products, which are pretty much what everyone expected.
The unveil, at 7pm local time, saw the company make its long-awaited move into wearables, with its Apple Watch, as well as catch up with market leader Samsung in a shift towards larger screen sizes. Apple's line-up now includes the two new phones, one with a 4.7-inch screen, and the other at 5.5-inches, and both with Retina HD displays.
Revolutionary design
Its watch - which contrary to expectations was not named with the iconic "i" in front of the name - introduces the digital crown, which Apple says is its "most revolutionary navigation tool since the iPod click wheel and iPhone multi-touch". However, the watch will not be available until next year, and will come with a large price tag.
Apple CEO Tim Cook enthused about the new watch: "Apple introduced the world to several category-defining products, the Mac, iPod, iPhone and iPad... and once again Apple is poised to captivate the world with a revolutionary product that can enrich people's lives. It's the most personal product we've ever made.
"iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are the biggest advancements in iPhone history," commented Cook. The new devices launched alongside Apple Pay, an innovation that Apple says will "transform mobile payments with an easy, secure and private way to pay". The near-field communication technology that enables payments through devices will also work with the new watch.
Just enough
Vestact analyst Sasha Naryshkine notes the new products "were all pretty much as anticipated," and offer all fans what they would "naturally expect" in terms of display and slim design.
Goldstuck says, while the two new handsets in combination will probably give Apple its biggest sales boost in some years, all Apple has done is become "just good enough," which is disappointing by its standards. "Apple was never meant to be just good enough."
He notes the larger screens will appease fans, who will no longer have to argue that four inches is better than five inches.
In the middle of last month, the IDC noted iOS's market share dropped to 11.7%, from 13% in 2013. Apple's "iOS operating system may have reached its lowest quarterly volume for the year, if history is any indication," the research company says.
The IDC notes, for the past two years, third quarter volumes received a boost from shipments of new Apple devices towards the end of the quarter, resulting in slightly higher volumes compared to the second quarter. "Whether this happens again this year remains to be seen, especially with the anticipated arrival of large-screen iPhones."
iOS 8 is set to be made available as a free download on 17 September.
The buzz around the event saw Apple Watch and #iPhone6Plus still trending worldwide this morning, although reaction to the watch was mixed, with some questioning its use. The new handsets raised issues around how easy it would be to lug around a 5.5-inch phone, while others joked about the high price points.
Apple's launch saw its share price spike to $102.69 on news of the built-in payments system, but overall it closed down 0.38% to $97.99, and lost further ground to $97.73 after the market closed, as investors reacted to news of the watch and the handsets. Goldstuck says, however, that as the announcements were mostly as expected, the share movement can be attributed to "herd mentality".
Goldstuck notes the share price has been gaining for some time and will continue to improve, and investors will benefit from the new products in the medium-term as sales improve. According to Mike Sharman, MD of Retroviral, the Wall Street Journal noted: "It would take more than 55 million units of the Apple Watch selling at $349 to equal just 10% of the $197.4 billion Wall Street expects for Apple's fiscal 2015 revenue."
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