Apple unveils refreshed iPhone 4S

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4 October 2011 Last updated at 23:38 GMT Rory Cellan-Jones looks at Apple's new iPhone 4S

Apple has unveiled the latest iteration in its iPhone range, but there was no sign of the widely rumoured iPhone 5.

The iPhone 4S, as the model will be known, boasts an improved camera and significantly extended battery life.

It will run the latest iOS5 operating system, which is set for release on 12 October.

The event was the first major announcement for new boss Tim Cook who took over from Steve Jobs in August.

The iPhone 4S, which will go on sale on 14 October, will be available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models - in both black and white.

It has the same look and feel as the existing iPhone 4 which was launched 15 months ago.

However, Apple said that updates to iOS meant the phone would boast some "200 new features".

Continue reading the main story Shares in Apple fell by almost 5% within minutes of the eagerly anticipated launch, with analysts saying that investors and Apple fans had expected the latest version to be a more radical improvement over its predecessor.

However, the company's shares later regained most of their losses to close down just 0.6%, albeit underperforming the NASDAQ index as a whole.

Voice control

Among the additions is an "intelligent assistant" that allows users to ask questions aloud and receive detailed answers back.

Siri, which began life as a third-party app, was purchased by Apple in 2010 but has yet to appear within its software.

Luke Peters, editor of gadget magazine T3, said that the software announcements would do just enough to keep Apple fans interested in the face of strong challenges from rival smartphone manufacturers.

Continue reading the main story

You could sense a great wave of disappointment rolling through the Apple community.

Why rush out and buy the new, new thing if it looks just like that old phone that's been around for more than a year?

"Some people were looking for a brand new phone and they haven't got that today, so some will be disappointed," he told BBC News.

"But with the update to iOS5 and Siri that could be enough to sway people to make the investment."

Disappointment

Other industry watchers were less charitable about the iPhone refresh, and the non-appearance of the iPhone 5.

Gareth Beavis, phones editor at TechRadar said that the new hardware would leave many people underwhelmed.

"It was quite disappointing. I think there is going to be a lot of anger from users expecting something big bold and quite exciting after a long time of waiting from the iPhone 4.

"People will buy this in their droves, but Apple has missed a trick by just releasing the exact same phone again with marginally upgraded specs."

Details of the new phone were unveiled by Apple's Philip Schiller

For Apple's new chief executive, the event was as much about making a statement about his leadership as it was new products.

Tim Cook had previously acted as interim boss, looking after the company while Steve Jobs was on sick leave.

Unlike his charismatic predecessor, Mr Cook left the biggest announcement of Tuesday's event to a colleague - marketing boss Phil Schiller.

"Maybe he wants to bring other people to the forefront by letting others speak on his behalf," said Gregory Roekens, chief technology officer at PR firm Wunderman.

"But in terms of style, it was underwhelming. People were expecting iPhone 5, but instead it's almost fixing the weaknesses the previous phones had.

"It will be interesting to see how people react to that."

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After Steve Jobs, what now for Apple?

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The tributes are flowing in to commemorate the life of visionary Steve Jobs. But already, some of the focus is turning to what comes next for the company he founded, Apple.

Jobs died Wednesday at age 56. Though the cause of death has not been made public, he had been fighting a well-publicized battle against pancreatic cancer since 2004.

In the early 1990s, when Jobs returned to the company he founded after an unceremonious ouster years earlier, the company was an also-ran in the technology space. Microsoft was the most important technology firm in the world, and Google didn't even exist yet.

Today, Apple employs almost 50,000 people globally. Annual sales are expected to exceed $100 billion this year. The market capitalization of Apple stock is in excess of $350 billion — making it the second-most valuable company in the United States, after oil conglomerate Exxon.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, shown unveilling the iPhone 4S this week. When Steve Jobs stepped down on Aug. 24, he handpicked Cook as his successor. Analysts will be closely watching the company's results on Oct. 18. Robert Galbraith/Reuters "It's like the end of the innovators," said Scott Robbins, 34, who described himself as an Apple fan of 20 years and who rushed to an Apple Store in San Francisco when he heard the news on Wednesday night. He was one of the thousands of people who are mourning Jobs's passing around the world.

The company took a similar tone in a statement posted on the Apple website.

"Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being," the statement read. "Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."

If Apple's spirit and foundation is gone, what will become of the company?

When he stepped down on August 24, Jobs handed the reins to his handpicked successor. Apple CEO Tim Cook is generally credited with being an excellent manager and savvy strategist.

On the creative front, there are concerns that Jobs's shoes are impossible to fill. While he was undoubtedly the visionary behind all of Apple's biggest successes, Jobs was not renown for his consensus building. And in retrospect, his most influential decisions had far less than unanimous support within the company.

'Apple without Steve Jobs is nothing'—Analyst Trip Chowdhry

"The best tech companies are not democracies. They are dictatorships," was how Dana Blankenhorn put it on the influential investment website Seeking Alpha Thursday. "What Apple needs is a new visionary, with a new vision. Until it finds that it will be just another tech company."

During times of uncertainty, decisive leadership is needed. Cook may possess the right stuff, but he hasn't had an opportunity to demonstrate it yet. The only significant event thus far of the Cook era has been the release of the latest iPhone iteration earlier this week.

The unveiling of what turned out to be the iPhone 4S – not the iPhone 5 people were expecting – underscores how the company is in some ways a victim of its own successes.

The product boasts a number of major upgrades of features that will no doubt be well received. But anticipation for the device were so high that in many ways the company had nowhere to go but down.

Investors had evidently been preparing themselves for news of Jobs' death. Every time Jobs had a health scare in the past, the stock would immediately tank, before recovering to trade higher than where it was within a few weeks.

But as trading opened on Thursday, Apple stock moved little. It was briefly down by less than 1 per cent, but in the afternoon the stock was relatively unchanged at $377.60 on the Nasdaq.

Jobs, who died Wednesday, saw Apple grow into a giant that employs almost 50,000 people globally. Its annual sales are expected to exceed $100 billion this year. Beck Diefenbach/Reuters

"While expectations for Jobs' involvement as chairman were likely small … he was still potentially available as an adviser and leader in the background," Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Ittai Kidron wrote in a note to clients Thursday. "This intangible is no longer available, and we expect it will weigh on the shares over the next few days."

Thus far, the early returns on the Cook era are largely positive. The stock is worth more today than it was the day he was named CEO, and that's during a six-week stretch when equities have fallen precipitously.

The company is scheduled to post its latest earnings results on Oct. 18. Analysts are expecting another record quarter. But the numbers will be even more closely scrutinized than usual, because of Jobs' departure.

"Apple is Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs is Apple, and Steve Jobs is innovation," Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry said recently. "You can teach people how to be operationally efficient, you can hire consultants to tell you how to do that, but God creates innovation … Apple without Steve Jobs is nothing."

Indeed, Apple is facing challenges on all fronts.

Despite the hype, Google-powered Android devices still outsell iPhones by a significant margin.

Nokia and others still dominate the lower-end cellphone market that most of the world still operates on. And Apple is a laggard in India, the world's second-largest cellphone market, where Waterloo-based RIM has made strides.

"Apple won't fall quickly. There will be a pullback, then a recovery, and things will appear to be going well," Blankenhorn said. "But rivals will start catching up."

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Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dies at 56

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Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has died at 56, the company announced Wednesday.

"We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today," Apple said in a brief statement.

"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."

He had stepped down from Apple in late August to deal with the effects of an unspecified illness.

Jobs had been treated earlier from pancreatic cancer. He was first diagnosed in 2004.

Jobs's storied career followed a remarkable series of twists and turns — from a meteoric rise in the late 1970s and '80s to a bleak nadir in the '90s followed by his ascent to the status of tech guru.

Described by some as arrogant, temperamental and brutally honest about employee performance, Jobs was known and respected for his business acumen and an almost mystical ability to predict where tech trends are headed.

Jobs was born on Feb. 24, 1955, to Joanne Simpson and Abdulfattah Jandali, an unwed couple who put their first-born son up for adoption. Raised by Paul and Clara Jobs, Steven Paul Jobs grew up in California and displayed a keen interest in electronics from an early age.

In high school, he met a kindred spirit in Steve Wozniak, a man who shared his passion for technology as well as practical jokes. The friendship would play a key role in the development of Apple and the career trajectory of Jobs.

The two got their feet wet in the tech world by selling so-called "Blue Boxes," devices that gave users the ability to make free long-distance calls.

After graduating from Homestead High School in Cupertino, Calif., Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Oregon in 1972. He dropped out after one semester, but remained in the area for another 18 months auditing classes like calligraphy.

In 1974, he returned to California and began working at Atari, an early video game company. He also went on a spiritual journey to India with a friend, marking the start of his interest in Eastern philosophy and religion, including Buddhism.

In 1976, Wozniak and Jobs opened Apple Computer Company. The tech giant's spectacular rise, fall and resurgence would mirror Jobs' own life.

The company's first model, Apple I, was a simple circuit board, which was sold to computer enthusiasts. Its follow-up, however, turned out to be a huge success, vaulting the company from a relative unknown into a household name. Created in 1977, the Apple II was the first-ever complete home computer, which came fully functional right out of the box. It revolutionized the emerging industry.

Many credit Apple, and also Jobs, with changing the perception of what a computer can be — from a high-tech tool used only by the business or science world to a commonplace device used by ordinary people.

Apple and the economic fortune of its co-founder continued to grow. After the company's initial public offering in 1980, Jobs was worth over $200 million US.

Following the initial success of the Apple II, the company — and Jobs — suffered a series of setbacks. The Apple III did poorly sales-wise. When IBM entered the market in 1981 with its personal computer, it put pressure on Apple, with the PC eventually grabbing a larger piece of computer sales.

Apple launched the Macintosh in 1984, the design of which was overseen by Jobs. Despite some initial success, the computer did not sell as well as expected.

During this time, many at Apple became disgruntled with Jobs's management style, especially after several of his engineers on the Macintosh project learned they were paid less than teams on other projects. Much of this came to a head in 1985, when Jobs struggled with CEO John Sculley for control of the company. Jobs attempted a boardroom coup, but it backfired. He was left with no managerial responsibility at Apple but remained chairman. He resigned from the company that same year.

Jobs's next venture was starting NeXT Computer, in which he hoped to design an advanced computer for higher education and research. Much like the computers that followed Apple II, the NeXT Cube turned out to be largely a commercial failure, despite its impressive computing power.

During this time, Jobs also came into contact with a small group of graphics experts who were keen to begin making computer-animated movies. In 1986, he bought the little-known company, Pixar, from George Lucas for $10 million US. Much like NeXT, the company was initially unsuccessful and Jobs was forced to reduce its size.

Things started to turn around for Jobs after Pixar signed a contact with Disney to create the first computer-animated feature film, Toy Story. Launched during the holiday season in 1995, the movie proved to be a blockbuster and helped propel Jobs back into economic success — and the spotlight.

Jobs found himself back at the company he helped found when NeXT was purchased by Apple in 1997 for 1.5 million shares of stock and more than $400 million US. That same year, Jobs was named interim CEO of Apple, after the company posted huge losses. He would go on to re-organize the company and once again turn it into a profit-making enterprise.

During the restructuring, many employees said they worried about meeting Apple's new boss in the elevator, for fear they would not have a job by the time the doors opened.

In 1998, Apple released the iMac, a great improvement over previous models with an aesthetically pleasing design. It was well received and helped re-establish the company's brand.

Jobs was named CEO of Apple in 2000. He jokingly referred to himself at the time as the iCEO.

Throughout the next few years, the company continued to produce a series of successful products, most notably the iPod, which would come to dominate the MP3 player market. Success and commendation would follow Apple and Jobs through the decade.

In 2007, Apple unveiled the iPhone, to great acclaim. The company followed up this success with the launch of the iPad in 2010.

In 2010, Jobs was ranked as the 42nd-richest person in the United States, with a net worth of over $6 billion US. He was also ranked 17th on a list of the world's most powerful people.

In 2004, Jobs announced that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He took a month off for treatment and recuperation.

He took another medical leave of absence between January and June of 2009, during which he underwent a liver transplant.

In an email sent to Apple employees on Jan. 17, 2011, Jobs said he was taking a third medical leave and would be putting Tim Cook in charge of day-to-day operations. In the note, Jobs said he would still be involved in major strategic decisions for the company.

A month later, Jobs was part of a group of a dozen top tech CEOs invited to a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in San Francisco, as part of his effort to focus on high-tech initiatives.

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