Updated: Apple has elevated the iPhone brand again and forestalled rivals' ability to claim parity.
Now it wasn't like the iPhone was becoming a commodity device, but you could see some parity on the horizon. Even Sam Diaz got over his iPhone envy. Enter Apple CEO Steve Jobs who was having none of that talk. Jobs talked about the mix between technology and liberal arts. The emphasis is on technology as an art form.
Throughout Jobs' talk there were information nuggets that spoke to reclaiming the high-end phone market. Now Jobs did point out that Apple had heft and scale. Jobs wooed developers on many fronts. Jobs mentioned the company had twice the mobile browser share of Android; that developers had access to 150 million accounts hooked up to App Store, iTunes and iBo
But the overall performance was more nuanced. Jobs had many subtle references that indicated that the iPhone was a Mercedes or BMW and the other rivals had more common sedans.
To wit:
Sure, there are plenty of tech specs to ponder, but Apple is selling a different vibe and a higher calling. Now you can debate forever whether you buy into the Apple zeitgeist, but Jobs accomplished what he had to. Apple is about threading that liberal arts and technology needle and the company just put a little more distance between the big pack trying to hunt down the iPhone.
Will it work?
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster seems to think so. In a research note, Munster said:
While the announced features of the iPhone 4 were as expected, the reality is this phone is significantly more advanced than the next best alternative. We expect another strong product launch for Apple, resulting in Street iPhone estimates for the June quarter (around 8.7 million) moving slightly higher...The bottom line is the iPhone is taking unit and dollar share from other device categories...We believe that the innovation announced is sufficient to maintain Apple's lead in mobile for the next year.