The iPhone 5 News Blog

Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White’s claims that his trip to Asia recently netted him a few iPhone 5 insights, including a unibody form factor and late summer release date. Read why I think the first rumor sounds plausible, but the second one makes little sense to me.

As a rule, we should take analysts’ prediction with as many grains of salt as we do tech rumor blogs, as many of them use their clout as analysts to gin up the market on speculation of wild, fantastical rumors. Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White, however, offered up a few new rumor tidbits about the iPhone 5 that are worth delving into, whether they turn out to be credible or not.

On his recent visit to Asia, Mr. white claims to have picked up some clues about the iPhone 5′s features and release date. His claim that the iPhone 5 will sport a 4-inch screen and 4G LTE aren’t really eyebrow-raising prognostications, since a 4-inch+ display and 4G seem to be foregone conclusions for the next iPhone. More interesting, however, are his comments about the iPhone 5′s form factor.

According to Business Insider, the iPhone 5 will sport “a new, sleek look that we believe will require a Unibody case. This new, sleek look will be the most important reason that consumers decide to upgrade to the iPhone 5.” This quote is a bit confusing: is BI saying that the iPhone 5′s form factor will be unibody, or that its sleek form factor will require a unibody case? Other tech publications have interpreted this quote differently. For example, ZDNET’s  Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, commenting on the iPhone 5 unibody quote, said, “I’m also not sure what to make of the unibody suggestion. It’s worth remembering that the original iPhone, the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS were unibody construction in a sense (although not machined out of a single aluminum block). Apple can do some amazing things with aluminum but putting the antennas back inside the iPhone would leave less room inside for components (and the battery),” indicating that he thinks we’re talking about a single-piece chassis for the iPhone 5.

It’s worth mentioning that unibody construction is not an alien design element for Cupertino: we’ve seen them deploy it with the MacBooks. There were also faint rumors of a future iPhone being cut from a single piece of metal, though the notion of it being “cut” might be inaccurate, with Apple opting for the use of LiquidMetal to mold a metal unibody iPhone 5 form factor instead. LiquidMetal did make headlines on the day of the iPad 3′s launch by saying it was shipping a large shipment of its alloy for something mysterious, which briefly made investors think that the New iPad would be made of LiquidMetal.

Suffice it to say, a true unibody construction is not out of the question for the iPhone 5.

What seems less likely to me personally, however, is White’s belief that the iPhone 5 is slated for an august/September release date. You’ll recall that throughout the 2011 summer, we were told over and over again that the iPhone 5 would be released in august, then September. It never seemed like a reasonable possibility then, and it still doesn’t, since august is a particularly bad month of any product launch, due to the large number of people going on summer vacations in the northern hemisphere. To me, the iPhone 5 will be released either in June or in the fall, like the 4S — a late summer release just doesn’t seem viable.

BI envisions the late-summer iPhone 5 release date this way: “Our sense is that some suppliers will begin production of certain components during the month of June, however, this does not necessarily mean the iPhone 5 will launch in June or even July.” while BI is going on sense, it would appear that components are already in production, notably from Samsung and Texas Instruments. And if the iPhone 5 is to utilize the A5X processor in the New iPad, then those are already into mainstream production. If key components like the display, power management chip, and processor are already in production, it remains to be seen why BI would think that it will not be until June that we see production ramp up for the iPhone 5, as it will not take three months for Apple to amass the raw components they need to begin assembly.

In the end, it appears that what is driving BI and other tech blogs’ belief in a iPhone 5 release that is later rather than sooner is this assumption: “In our view, a August/September launch may make more sense given the iPhone 4S was just launched in October 2011.” There is a tendency to believe that whatever Apple does immediately sets a new pattern. I am still of the belief that 2011 was an irregular year for the iPhone release, and not necessarily a paradigm shift.

Finally, it’s worth noting that the BI article has this to say near the end of the article: “We believe the iPhone 5 ramp for the December quarter could be extraordinary, dwarfing previous launches and driving the stock closer to our $1,001 price target.” This quote shows how tech analyst hype does indeed build into Wall Street, with these new predictions looking to drive up speculation on Apple stock.

By Michael Nace

Thanks to continued rumors of a June iPhone 5 release date,consumers are once again stuck on whether to buy an iPhone 4S now or risk waiting for the iPhone 5 once again.

In case you didn’t hear, Apple shares just recently leap over $500 a share, thanks mostly to the boisterous sales of the iPhone 4S, which continue to remain brisk since its release in the late fall of 2011. After a very brief sales lull is 4S sales after Christmas, Apple’s newest iPhone iteration is back atop the sales charts again for what looks to be yet another amazing quarter.

Just to give you a sense of how the iPhone has propelled Apple’s success, consider what App Advice has to say: “Just eight years ago, in early 2004, the stock was trading for around $12. After that low, it’s been almost all positive for the company. And in just the last five years, Apple shares are up a mind-boggling 500 percent. Compare that to the general NASDAQ index, which is only up around 20 percent over the same time period.” Considering that the iPhone debuted in 2007, Apple’s landmark smartphone has played a major role, no doubt.

And yet, in spite of brisk sales and huge earnings, prospective iPhone users are now at a crossroads: with the iPhone 5 release date rumored to be closer than originally expected, many are rethinking purchasing the iPhone 4S and betting on the June-released iPhone 5 instead.

You may recall that this conundrum occupied the confused, beleaguered minds of iPhone users last year as well, with nearly all passionate legacy iPhone 3 and 3GS users questioning whether they should wait for the iPhone 5, or go ahead and upgrade to the iPhone 4. This subset of iPhone users are perhaps the most disgruntled of all, since they found themselves waiting, waiting, waiting for the iPhone 5 release date, which at first was supposed to be at the 2011 WWDC in June, then in August, then in early September. When it finally arrived in early October, it wasn’t even the iPhone 5, but rather the refreshed iPhone 4S. And many iPhone 3 and 3GS bought it, in an attempt to inadequately satisfy their desire for a new iPhone.

Now, with the iPhone 5 release date rumored for June, those people (are you one of them?) wish that they had at least invested in the cheaper iPhone 4, or otherwise waited just a bit longer. And legacy iPhone 4 users now find themselves in the same position in 2012: their iPhone is old, they’ve been hearing about the iPhone 5 since August of 2010, and now the rumor mill is boldly proclaiming a June release date, should they hold off on the iPhone 4S and just wait a little bit longer?

Apple is clearly concerned with this prospect, as they have obviously been keeping an eye on the rumor mill and are realizing that it could shift sales away from the iPhone 4S in the months leading up to June’s WWDC. As a result, a new round of iPhone 4S advertisements have hit the airwaves, perhaps in response to the concern that 4S sales could go limp without reaffirming that it is currently the flagship iPhone device. News Sizzle comments: “some analysts are now suggesting that a newly launched ad-campaign for the iPhone 4S marks the final push by Apple to help clear remaining inventory, ahead of an official iPhone 5 release date to be announced in the early summer months.”

These new commercials could indeed compel consumers to purchase the iPhone 4S. Though with the prospect of a larger screen, new form factor, A6 chip, improved Siri, a new iOS, and a host of other rumored upgrades, it will get increasingly difficult for Apple to keep the iPhone 4S sales steady as June approaches.

By Michael Nace

For years now, 4G LTE has been heralded as the “next generation” of mobile community. Analysts now believe that the iPhone 5 will indeed be LTE, and its sales and popularity will make 4G LTE the new standard for smartphones.

We’ll know for sure in a couple of months once the iPad 3 is released, but it looks highly probable that 4G LTE is finally coming to the iPhone 5 this year. Last week, Bloomberg reported last week that the iPad 3 is now in production and will indeed feature LTE. And by extension, if the iPad 3 gets LTE, so too will this year’s iPhone.

You may recall that an interesting survey was conducted not long after the iPhone 4S was released that highlighted what iPhone users saw lacking in the 4S. We did a post about it that is worth taking a second look at. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the lack of a larger screen that irked iPhone enthusiasts, but rather the lack of LTE. In this way, it would appear that the mobile computing community is more or less ready for 4G LTE to become the new standard.

The U.S. mobile networks seems to agree: Verizon and Sprint have invested copious amounts of resources into getting their 4G LTE network infrastructure up to snuff, with the sense that 2012 is going to be the technology’s breakout year. AT&T has perhaps been a bit less high-profile with its own LTE investitures, but given the company’s product-leading persona, there is no doubt that all three of the big three iPhone carriers in the U.S. will be ready to go with a true 4G network, once the iPhone 5 is released.

Now all we need is for the iPhone 5 to be LTE.

And according to new reports, the popularity of the iPhone 5, together with it featuring LTE, will effectively put 4G LTE on the map as the new standard in mobile communications. According to Appleinsider, “LTE smartphones could represent as much as 5 percent of global shipments this year, reaching between 25 million and 30 million units. It noted that while LTE devices are currently a small portion of cell phone sales, that is expected to change in the second half of the year, when Apple is rumored to join the fray.”

In other words, once Apple rolls out an LTE iPhone 5 and sells heaps of millions of them, LTE is going to become an exponentially increasing slice of the smartphone pie.

It is true that Android has been first to market with LTE smartphones, as the analyst in the above-quoted article notes. But he also implied what we all know intuitively: that Apple and Apple alone is the brand that the tech world expects to roll out new technologies. When he says, “While Android (is) still dominating the LTE smartphone segment, Nokia and HTC have launched LTE Windows Phone models, and Apple and RIM are expected to release comparable models running on their own platforms in the second half of 2012,” he is intimating the obvious: the iPhone 5 will be the game-changer in LTE, just as the iPad mainstreamed the tablet PC and the original iPhone pioneered the smartphone as we now know it.

The iPhone 5 Could Make 3G Smartphones Seem Obsolete Very Quickly

The impact of an LTE iPhone 5 in the mobile computing marketplace could be dramatic, with the new iPhone creating a virtual “black hole” that will quickly swallow up the 3G market and make all such devices seem like legacy hardware. Just as 3G quickly became the standard for mobile technology, so too could 4G force all manufacturers to retool for 4G LTE. By 2013, 3G might be a thing of the past.

This could mean crushingly high sales for Apple and the iPhone 5, living up to the bold sales predictions for the iPhone 5 made last year.

We often assume that new iPhone iterations look to onboard users from two iterations back. For example, the perception is that 3G and 3GS users mostly bought the iPhone 4S, while iPhone 4 users were still content to stick with their model and await the iPhone 5. There is conflicting data on this theory. But whether or not it is true, an LTE iPhone 5 could onboard a broad swath of users into 4G LTE — even many of the folks who bought into the iPhone 4S in 2011.

It would not even surprise me if Apple and the U.S. carriers make concessions to allow 4S customers to upgrade to the iPhone 5, even if it is released before the contract minimums. We can assume, after all, that 4G LTE will bring with it new revenue streams for the mobile carriers, who would be more than happy to subsidize a new iPhone and expand their revenues horizontally and residually. In this way, all current iPhone users could be nudged into abandoning their 3G iPhones for the new LTE iPhone 5.

The iPhone 5S in 2013: Count On It

Finally, a prediction: a pattern is developing, and I think we’ll see not the iPhone 6, but rather an iPhone 5S in 2013. In addition to the 3G/3GS, 4/4S pattern, I think that Apple will use two iterations — the dramatically overhauled iPhone 5 LTE and a refreshed 5S — to completely do away with its 3G smartphones and give all of the iPhone users an opportunity to get on the iPhone 5 train. The 5S will most likely be like the 4S: improved processors and software upgrades, all of which will benefit from the faster LTE. But we very well might not be discussing an iPhone 6 until the middle of 2013, with a release date sometime in — wow! — 2014.

By Michael Nace

Apple made a big splash at its iPhone 4S keynote with the introduction of Siri, the voice assistant Apple integrated into the iOS from its acquiring of Siri 18 months earlier. I remember when the Siri app first arrived and I dwell upon how little it worked for me when it was 1.0. Now that Apple was able to throw money, in both purchase and development, at Siri and has taken its time with presenting the updated version, I was excited to see what 2.0 would be like. Well, first we were told it was a beta, not a revised version. Second, it no longer would run on anything but an iPhone 4S due to the need for a hefty processor (which has since been proven wrong with the many hacks floating around the Internet.) But that commercial shown at Moscone Center definitely made it look like it was going to be the sweet deal nevertheless.

Now, I wasn’t expecting perfection from Siri when my white 32GB iPhone 4S arrived at my door step via UPS upon the day of release. No, I had used Android’s voice-to-text without much success and, again, the original Siri app wasn’t all that impressive. In short, my expectations were honestly low.

After removing the phone from its packaging and activating it on the third attempt – third time’s the charm, AT&T – I of course asked Siri if I would need an umbrella tomorrow even though it was sunny and in the 80s outside. Siri responded with the weather for the next week. My family and I then went on to ask it more of the silly questions such as what is the meaning of life and what do yo look like.

When it came time time to really test it, this is where the shine began to fade. I attempted to text my wife a short message to which it understood who my wife was but didn’t even have any of the text for the message. I tried again and then it got it. Well, most of it. The end of the message was just chopped off as if I hadn’t even said it and the last two words were incorrect. I chalked it up to a busy day for Siri as this was her/his debut.

Over the next few weeks, I used Siri in the truck, in my home, in stores, in offices. I used it in many different environments and pretty much received consistent results. Poor ones. My truck gave me the worse and I attribute that to the cabin noise since I have a large Ford F-250. My wife’s Yukon isn’t much better with its Flowise pipes so results were about the same there as well. In a quiet environment, such as my bedroom, the accuracy was improved but not by much. To gain near perfect accuracy, I found I had to be holding the phone near to my mouth, about a foot or two, angled with the mic toward me, and not to use conjunctions such as you’ll. When using this method, I obtained near 90% accuracy. But the problem with this is that it’s more like a lab than real life.

Let me be clear, I did not just use the iPhone 4Ses built-in microphone or supplied wired headset. I also employed the use of third-party hands-free sets such as my Alpine IVA-W505 (my review), SuperTooth buddy (here’s that review), and the Magellan Premium Car Kit (yup, reviewed that, too.) I live in California where it has some of the most stringent laws against distracted driving so I engage technology to help me be safe and avoid unneeded fines. In reality, one would presume this is the point of Siri as we watch the jogger run along the bay with Treasure Island in the background. Siri is our assistant when our hands and eyes are busy doing other things.

What it comes down to is the best place to use Siri is not the best place to use Siri. The most common place to use Siri, chatter filled offices or noisy homes, gives you the most common errors. I also found myself flustered many times when speaking to Siri and correcting myself mid-sentence and boy did that make things even worse. From what I gather speaking to my other Siri using friends, I’m not the only one that suffers from the same tongue-tie issue. Part of it is that our brain thinks we need to sound like a robot when speaking to Siri but the other part is Siri needs to recognize human short comings and prevail as well.

I have also noted the lack of punctuation. If I speak more than a single sentence, even with proper pause, Siri doesn’t get the period. It either ends taking my dictation or makes a run-on sentence. I have discovered that I can state the needed mark, such as period or question mark, but it doesn’t always get it. If I give Siri too much, either via the Siri interface or the Mic icon on the keyboard, it will simply double beep and translate what I have said up to that point. Sometimes, it comes up completely blank! This leads me to wonder about the articles I’ve read on ZDNet and the Sun Times by Andy Ihnatko that claim they dictated the entire article to Siri. I would sure love to see a video of that because I really do not think it’s possible without much interaction with the Home or Mic button. Maybe I’m missing something but Apple is well known for it’s ease of use and Steve Jobs was found of saying, “It just works”.

What it comes down to is that Apple has advertised something that really isn’t. Sure, these keyword tips help your accuracy but note how short the sentences are.

Going back to that jogger and the way he made a meeting so natural and so easy, this is what Average Joe and Mom Consumer will see. They don’t watch keynotes. So how much higher will their expectations be than mine? Apple has done well with its products in the last decade from the iPod, iPhone, and the iPad, and I’m certain Siri is what will set the next decade for Apple, but beta or not, Siri needs to get it and get it quick.

Strong rumors of a June iPhone 5 release, together with the iPhone 4S being a form factor refresh, may have compelled iPhone 4 users to skip the 4S rush.

While early polls showed that just as many iPhone 4 users were planning to purchase the iPhone 4S iPhone 3G/3Gs users, exit polls are revealing that not nearly as many iPhone 4 users are investing in the new model, opting instead to wait for the iPhone 5. An interesting article published by the Huffington Post indicates that Blackberry and iPhone 3G/3Gs users round out the lion’s share of iPhone 4S sales: “According to a recent survey by consumer electronics site Retrevo: Blackberry users and owners of early-generation iPhones like the 3G and the 3GS, mostly. Per Retrevo’s survey of over 1,300 electronics shoppers.”

The new survey that Huffington is referencing contradicts earlier polls that indicated a surprising number of iPhone 4 users who were planning on purchasing the iPhone 4S, in spite of it featuring the same form factor and screen size of the iPhone 4. The early Retrevo study from October 12th indicated that “the study actually found almost as many iPhone 4 owners (42%) as iPhone 3G/3GS owners (44%) planning to buy an iPhone 4S,” and that ”BlackBerry owners (24%) were less interested in switching to an iPhone than we found in previous studies.”

But these initial findings are not proving to be completely accurate in the early going of iPhone 4S sales.

Still, there are elements of the Retrevo poll that hint at why iPhone 4 users — and smartphone users as a whole — may be changing their minds about the iPhone 4S. Huffington points out that, “Retrevo also surveyed its customers’ reactions to the new iPhone 4S and found that 47 percent of iPhone owners were disappointed in the new phone. The biggest reason, however, was not the lack of a new design (disappointing 21 percent of respondents), but rather the lack of 4G capability.” The disappointment over the form factor refresh and lack of 4G has resulted in an overall skepticism about the 4S that most likely would have not been the case had the iPhone 5 debuted in 2011: when asked in October, “Will you be buying the iPhone 4S?” only 24% indicated “yes,” in the survey, with 50% indicating “no” and 26% indicating “not sure.”

It would be interesting to know where those 26% “not sure” respondents stand today with the iPhone 4S, what with the reported battery issues and the prospect of the iPhone 5 being released in June of 2012 at the WWDC. At the same time, it should not come as a surprise that iPhone 4 users may end up passing on the iPhone 4S and wait for the iPhone 5: it has been a pattern among iPhone users to skip an iteration before investing in a new model. For this reason, it would make sense that the majority of iPhone 4S customers would be legacy iPhone 3G/3Gs users.

It’s also easy to account for Blackberry users switching to the iPhone 4S: RIM had a tough year and appears to be in their death knell. Blackberry users are fleeing the sinking ship.

But considering that, of the 110+ million iPhone units sold since its debut, statistics show that the majority of iPhones sold are iPhone 4 models, and that the iPhone 4 is the most popular smartphone in the U.S. market, it could mean that the iPhone 4S will in the end not live up to the hefty estimates predicted by analysts regarding the iPhone 5.

By Michael Nace

Tech analysts have long bristled at the notion that Apple would ever offer a pre-paid “el cheap-o” iPhone. But the iPhone 3GS is still hanging tough for the sweet price of $0, giving iPhone hopefuls the closest thing to an “el cheap-o” iPhone model.

For months, I, along with other tech writers, scoffed at the notion that Apple would ever have three iPhone models on the market at one time, and/or that one of them would be an “el cheap-o” model. And yet, that is exactly what Apple has done. I totally called that one wrong.

Granted, Apple didn’t do it in the way that some thought they would; they didn’t release some stripped-down iPhone, or co-release two new iPhone models. Instead, they have just kept the iPhone 3GS around, dropped its price tag to $0, and now are giving prospective iPhone customers three distinct pricing options at Apple.com. BusinessWeek has a good article about it, commenting that “Apple Inc.’s iPhone 3GS model is more than two years old and shunned by gadget snobs, and yet it’s turning into one of the company’s bigger weapons against devices running Google Inc.’s Android software this holiday season.”

By doing it this way — keeping the iPhone 3GS around along with the 4 and 4S —  they have avoided the “gas pump” problem that I postulated in the Summer, suggesting that an iPhone 4, 4S, and 5 would confuse consumers, and that the 4S would be like “Plus” grade gasoline.

Instead, the iPhone 3GS occupies a unique place in the smartphone marketplace: it is not a “stripped down” iPhone, but rather a legacy device that was once a powerhouse. It is like having the opportunity to purchase a Miami Vice-style Ferrari Testarossa from the 80s that is in pristine condition. Sure, it may not at the same level as a 2011 model, but you’re still getting an exceptional sports car.

And all indications are that, in spite of some early reports that said the opposite, the iPhone 3GS is holding its own with iOS 5 . . .and even Siri!

Christian Post is is reporting that “During yesterday’s Siri port stories, it turns out the iPhone 3GS worked better with the artificial intelligence system than the iPhone 4.” The article goes on to report on the porting tests, and how the 3GS can handle Siri with few problems at all.

Some are going so far as to say that, pound for pound, the iPhone 3GS is still the best of the current three iPhones being offered, based on price to performance ratios. That’s the claim that Industry Today is making, noting that in the UK, carriers are offering as much as £150 in instant cash back when people purchase the iPhone 3GS. To be sure, it might be overstating it a bit to make such a claim, but even if you take the hyperbole out, there is a truism to the viability of the iPhone 3GS: it still holds it own in the smartphone market as an impressive smartphone that you can essentially get for free.

Will the iPhone 3GS Still Be Around Once the iPhone 5 Is Released?

Given the impressive longevity of the iPhone 3GS, could it still be available once the iPhone 5 is released? Most likely not: I can find no evidence to support the notion that the 3GS is still being produced. The reason why it is still available is simply that, when it was first released, the 3GS didn’t sell like hotcakes like the 4 and 4S have. Also, the 3GS was — and still is — available on AT&T only. And given that AT&T has already sold out of it, it is safe to assume that it probably won’t last.

But what do I know?

For all we know, Apple has warehouses full of 3GSs, and in the end, we’ll have the iPhone 5, 4S, 4, and 3GS — one big, happy family of iPhones to compete against the likes of Android and its multiple price-tiers of smartphones.

Apple’s new Siri voice assistant uses LSI and AI technologies, making it more like Google Search and less like a simple app.

If you’ve already invested in the new iPhone 4S, chances are you’re most excited about its top gadget: Siri. To be sure, Apple has touted Siri above all of the other new features on the iPhone 4S, including a much-enhanced camera array, as well as a bevy of improved hardware features that Apple has chosen to downplay into order to highlight the software side of its latest iPhone iteration. There’s no doubt that those early images of the guy jogging with his iPhone and having Siri shuffle his appointments is something right out of depictions of the future.

Of course, there is plenty that Siri cannot do, and it hasn’t taken long for the wise guys of the tech media to point them out. Fortunately for Siri, it cannot have its feelings hurt or intelligence insulted.

Yet.

In spite of its limitations, Siri is proving to be much more than simple voice recognition software. It does exhibit an intelligence; a flexibility to understand connotation and meaning that up until this point has been non-existent in the consumer end of voice recognition (who knows what the military may have). And the way that Apple is achieving this is not via a simple app, but rather through similar technologies used by Google’s own search algorithms.

As a result, I think that, with Siri, Apple just got into the search business and will be looking to go head to head against Google Search in the decades to come.

Tom’s Hardware has a comprehensive article on all of the new hardware upgrades for the iPhone 4S (thanks to Core2 for sending it to me). You’ll be surprised to see how much hardware is actually improved, from the battery to the screen, camera, video and beyond. But what I found most interesting was their in-depth look into how Siri works. I was shocked at how similar it is to Google Search.

Writer Andrew Ku explains: “. . . we should clarify that Siri isn’t just an app. Provided you’re asking questions and not giving commands, Siri is a service that interfaces with Apple’s servers to find a response. As such, the ‘intelligence’ behind Siri may change over time as the company optimizes its code.” In other words, just as Google regularly tweaks its algorithm — this year, they have rolled out several “Panda” updates in order to provide better search results to users — so too will Apple update its own search algorithms to make Siri more intuitive when you ask it something.

Ku goes on to explain that, like Google, Siri is all about processing keywords and keyword phrases: “Whenever you ask a question, Siri checks to see if it contains a keyword. This list of keywords only takes precedence over general syntax rules when Siri doesn’t recognize the string of words as a question. A given keyword sets off a function like looking up the weather. So far, we’ve worked out that this list includes: clothing, weather, food, restaurants, hospital, and clinic.” Granted, that is still a limited list, but in fact, those six categories are key search terms for mobile users, and will provide Apple with a basis for greatly expanding its search results capabilities in the very near future.

Where Siri still lags behind Google is in extrapolating sentence syntax and structure. Whereas Google Search has the ability to adjust to various syntax typed into the search box, Siri is still somewhat rigid in how you have to talk to it in order to get sensible results. Ku explains: “Syntax matters a lot. I’ve spent the better part of a day experimenting, and Siri definitely prefers the English standard of subject/verb/object, as opposed to object/subject/verb or object/verb/subject. Basically, don’t talk like Yoda. Questions, commands, or statements that contain extra or unessential words confuse Siri.”

But this shouldn’t be seen as an oversight or clumsy limitation overlooked by the Apple developers. In fact, it is a result of a much more sophisticated process that Apple is using to fetch search results with Siri: whereas Google Search benefits from you inputting the search keywords and criteria, Siri appears to be more of a two-step process, where the front end processes whether or not the voice request is a command or request, and then routes that request either to a proprietary response mechanism or to a search algorithm.

Where Is Apple Getting Its Search Results From?

I have no doubt that Apple intends Siri to become a search standard for the tech mobile community. They will be sure to keep it proprietary and heavily patented, and go after Google as soon as they try to improve their own voice recognition to mirror what Siri is already doing. As a result, I think that Apple has just gotten into the search business without actually saying that they’ve gotten into it. While many people would have expected Apple to develop an internet-based search engine like Google or Yahoo, instead, they have essentially hidden their search engine behind Siri.

Or, maybe we can simply assume that Siri is a search engine.

But I will end this article with a question: where is Siri getting its search results from? Apple has not to my knowledge admitted to building a Google, Yahoo, or Bing-like search engine, and yet Siri behaves like a search engine when it provides keyword-based results. We know that they are not tapping directly into google, since google would have already let us know about that if it were the case. The only assumption left is that Apple has its own search engine behind the scenes.

So, Apple: when we will hear a bit more about it?

By Michael Nace

HardMac’s Lionel notes that with the launch of the original iPhone, Apple was able to surprise the entire phone industry and corner an incredible market share in just a few years. However, he observes that many are suggesting that the relatively unambitious iPhone 4S upgrade marks the end of hardware innovation on the iPhone (although he recalls that the same was said after the iPhone 3GS launch). Apple obviously didn’t try to revolutionize the device by changing its form factor radically, concentrating instead on internal upgrades including the new dual-core A5 chip — a substantial enhancement from the single-core A4 used in iPhone 4, the new 8 megapixel camera with improved lens optics and 1080p video recording resolution, — up from the iPhone 4′s 720p — and the improved “World Phone” dual antennae.

However, Lionel thinks, the feature that will contribute most to the iPhone 4S’s success is Siri, the new personal assistant, which is not hardware-based but rather run from Apple’s servers, which he perceives to be the core dynamic of Apple’s new marketing strategy, adding services to the hardware equipment to add an extra value to the device, which also applies to iCloud, iTunes match and probably other services to be unveiled in the future.

NeoWin’s Brad also predicts that also predicts that Siri represents the future for Apple, with the iPhone 4S rollout only the start of a grand plan, not just for smartphones and touchscreen slates, but also desktop and laptop computers. Sams predicts that Apple will kill the keyboard and mouse for most tasks on all of these devices, replacing them with voice control input, and suggests that this transition is happening faster than you might think, having been underway since the day the iPad was released early last year.

Sams observes that OS X 10.7 Lion’s application launcher imports the familiar iOS icon-based layout to OS X, while its App Stores are creating a unified platform that can go anywhere and do anything, so as long as Apple says its OK, predicting that in the not so distant future direct application downloads to OS X will be gone and replaced with an iOS-style App Store-only environment

Not of course that Apple wants you to stop upgrading your Apple hardware. The Sydney Morning Herald’s Adam Turner notes, that Apple has made iCloud is an all or nothing proposition, leaving users choosing to hold off installing OS X 10.7 Lion and iOS5 out in the cold, not to mention users of older Apple hardware who would upgrade to Lion and iOS 5 if they could, but are blocked. The iOS5 upgrade doesn’t support the iPhone 2G or 3G, is reportedly not an entirely happy upgrade for 3GS iPhones, and you can’t upgrade to Lion if you’re running a pre-Intel Mac, or even some of the earliest Intel Macs.

Turner suggests that crunch time has arrived for iUsers, to wit: either be prepared hand your digital life over to iCloud or turn your back on Apple and look for other ways to sync your data – Google being an obvious choice for those looking for device-agnostic cloud services. He says that even if he was prepared to jump through Apple’s hoops this time, who’s to say he wouldn’t get burned again the next time Apple feels like introducing a new service and killing off an old one, concluding that “its time to cut the cord,” bridling at Apple’s habit of forcing users to play by its rules, and refusing to lock himself into Apple’s iWay of doing things.

And one of those things will likely be less emphasis on hardware innovation and form factor change. It’s arguable that Apple wanted to give Siri a trial run as a beta in the iPhone 4S in order to be able to offer it as a final, stable release in the iPhone 5, and have iCloud sorted out as well. Consequently, I’m still pretty confident there’ll be an iPhone 5 or iPhone 6 sometime in 2012 with a quad-core A6 CPU. The question is whether Apple will accede to demand for a form factor overhaul, with a larger display and a curved back. Not everyone is displeased that Apple chose to stick with the 3.5″ Retina display with iPhone 4S, with proponents of the latter arguing that the 4″ displays in some Android smartphones makes them uncomfortable to hold and less conveniently pocketable.

Last week in a research note cited by CNET’s Brooke Crothers, Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar predicts that the next-generation iPhone will be a complete redesign, with a slimmer profile and larger screen size but with the same dimensions as the iPhone 4S, so the screen will presumably be configured to utilize more of the phone’s front surface area rather than being radically larger. Kumar also suggests that the next iPhone is also expected to have LTE/4G support, and debut around the time of Apple’s Developer’s Conference in the summer of 2012.

 The iPhone 4S has easily become Sprint’s best-selling device in the company’s history. But will their 3G network technology be able to support all of the new device activations on the Sprint network?

After defeating the Romans with huge casualties, King Pyrrhus of Epirus famously said, ”Another victory like that and we’re done for.” Known now as a “Pyrrhic victory,” Sprint might be in for a similar fate with the iPhone 4S.

There is no doubt that Sprint’s iPhone 4S have been groundbreaking: they reported that first-day sales of the new iPhone shattered all sales records in the past. High sales reports continued into late last week, with reports indicating that Sprint had sold an astounding 4 million iPhone 4S units to date. Sprint attributes the burst of sales as coming from their unlimited data plan, which suggests that America’s third-largest mobile network is indeed attracting customers from AT&T and Verizon to their value-priced iPhone 4S option, thanks to unlimited data. In a faltering economy, the unlimited data plan is an attractive selling option, positioning Sprint to retain more of its customers and even woo back old customers who left Sprint in search of the iPhone.

But reports also indicate that Sprint’s 3G network is having a difficult time handling the influx of new iPhone 4S customers.

According to Forbes, “Several reviewers found Sprint’s data speeds to be down 300-500-kilobytes per second on both the iPhone 4S and Android models.” ITProPortal supported this report in a related article, saying, ”

In the the last days hundreds of subscribers have complained about slow data speeds, for downloads and uploads. Not only the iPhone customers are affected, but Android users as well and the entire 3G network. The Sprint community forum hosts a growing thread with more than 700 comments on the situation, where people are complaining about unusually low data speeds.”

Late last week, Sprint tried to get out in front of the bad publicity about data speeds by claiming that the iPhone 4S was not crushing their 3G network, erroneously citing a Gizmodo article that the Sprint PR department claimed proved that Sprint is actually the fastest network for the iPhone 4S. PCMag exploded Sprint’s claim, as well as Gizmodo’s study, saying: “The company may be referring to Gizmodo’s Great iPhone Speed Test, which actually doesn’t seem to be backing up Sprint’s claims. For one thing, Gizmodo is currently reporting Sprint’s average iPhone speeds to be half those of Verizon and AT&T. For another, Gizmodo seems to have mixed up 3G and Wi-Fi speeds—many of the site’s results are coming in at higher than the theoretical maximum speeds of the various networks, which means Wi-Fi results were added to the mix.”

Sprint Biding Time for a 4G iPhone 5?

You cannot fault Sprint for trying to damage control bad press that their 3G network cannot hack all of the new iPhone 4S activations. But the fact that Sprint has done little over the past year to bolster their 3G network in anticipation of the iPhone 4S — all while spending most of their resources on building up a 4G network to be launched in mid 2012 — further indicates to me that the iPhone 5 is coming sooner rather than later, and that it will be 4G.

I might just have “4G iPhone 5″ on the brain, but to me, this is another indication that Sprint is betting any future success on the combination of 4G and the iPhone. I seriously doubt that Sprint will bend over backwards to bolster their 3G network, instead focusing on giving their customers the best 4G network that they can muster once the iPhone 5 is released.

By Michael Nace

In his MondayNote blog, Jean-Louis Gassée, former head of Apple France, later appointed to Steve Jobs’s former position as head of Macintosh development by Apple CEO John Sculley after Sculley fired Jobs in 1985, observes that what many of us had expected was for Apple to introduce the iPhone 5 on October 4 with twice the processor speed; seven times the graphics oomph; a new camera with an Apple-designed lens, 8 megapixels and improved image processing; the power of the new iOS 5; iCloud, upon which the “kommentariat” would gush approvingly approvingly.

What actually happened, Gassée observes, is that we did get that very phone just described, but Apple called it 4S instead of 5. “This changes everything,” he notes. “The pundits are indignant: The iPhone 4S is a lame, evolutionary product; management’s presentation… is flat, uninspiring. This dog won’t sell. Apple has lost its mojo,” reports that 45 percent of current current iPhone users were vowing not to buy iPhone 4S and to hold out for a “real” iPhone 5, yada, yada, yada.

Well, so much for those pundits. Apple today announced it sold more than four million iPhone 4S’s in the span of just three days after the new phone’s launch Friday — the most ever for an Apple phone model and more than double the rate sold at the iPhone 4′s launch during its first three days,” says Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing Philip Schiller. In addition, more than 25 million customers upgraded to iOS 5 in the first five days following its release, and more than 20 million have signed up for iCloud. So which dog would that be that’s not selling?

Jean-Louis Gassée, who was himself responsible for development of several Macintosh products in the late 80s including the 1989 Macintosh Portable (ancestor of MacBooks) and the “wicked fast” Macintosh IIfx, observes that the obsessiveness with which Apple jealously guards its unreleased product secrets serves to trigger an escalade of fantasies among what he calls “inquisitive barbarians,” noting that for months certain regions of the blogosphere had become a gigantic echo chamber for iPhone 5 rumors ranging from the bizarre (a new teardrop design) to saner predictions such as adoption of the iPad 2′s A5 processor and a better camera. He contends that while keeping everything tightly under wraps may protect revenue, preserve flexibility, and enhance the Apple mystique, the price Apple pays for totally clamming up is that they lose control of public discourse about unannounced products, leading to unreasonable expectations being formed, and as we’ve just seen, exposing the company to the perception of a letdown.

One antidote to that he thinks would be for Apple to tell one or two trusted friends, discreetly, to euthanize the more noxious rumors, although such practice must be handled very carefully since it carries with it serious potential for insider trading.

And given that the supposed “letdown” appears to have not hurt iPhone 4S sales a whit, perhaps Apple’s obsessive secrecy policies are on the right track after all. What do you think?