The rumor mill has been awash in plenty of outlandish predictions leading up to Apple’s special event today. Sorry to disappoint but Apple didn’t debut their illusory iWatch or flat screen TV’s. However, plenty of industry insiders accurately predicted the tech giant’s product release announcements. The three biggest stories to come out of the special event were:
- iOS 7: Apple’s newest mobile operating system will be publicly available for download on September 18th. The software has been in private beta since WWDC 2013 and has been in widespread use by the iPhone and iPad app developer community.
- iPhone 5S: The iPhone 5S is Apple’s premiere smartphone device. Unlike previous iPhone models, this device comes with Touch ID, a new fingerprint-reading technology for increased security and ease of use. The phone comes with a new and improved A7 chip that doubles processor speeds, providing a 40x increase in CPU performance and 56X faster graphics. 16 GB iPhone 5S devices can be picked up for $199 in the US with a cellular contract.
- iPhone 5C: Apple is now offering the 5C iPhone model for the lower end of the smartphone market. The 5C replaces the iPhone 5 in the product line and is produced with custom selection of colorful plastic casings. According to 9to5 Mac, “The iPhone 5c will run $99 for the 16 GB model and $199 for 32 GB with a two-year contract.”
As a Las Vegas iPhone app developer today’s product lineup announcements were not all that impressive. Android devices are competing on all levels with the iPhone and Apple’s release of a low end model probably won’t do much to help the company stave off a precipitous slide into obscurity. Apple’s pace of innovation has slowed down considerably while Google, Facebook, Samsung and others are nipping at their heels. The tech giant is showing an adversity to risk, holding back innovative product releases and therefore holding back the mobile ecosystem on a whole. Only time will tell whether baby steps will help this lumbering giant outperform the competition.