Host of New Features Gadgets
In 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone, which instantly became one of the most
talked-about consumer products ever. Thousands of customers lined up to be the
first to buy the phones, which featured computing and Wi-Fi capabilities, along
with a crisp, computer-like display on an innovative touch screen. Rivals,
including Google, rushed phones with similar features onto the market.
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In October 2011, the company unveiled an eagerly awaited new version of the
device, the iPhone 4S, that included a "virtual assistant," Siri, that
recognized voice commands by users to schedule appointments, dictate text
messages and conduct Web searches.
Although the new phone was virtually indistinguishable on the outside from its
predecessor, the iPhone 4, it was packed with better technical innards, including
a more advanced camera. The phone also included a more powerful chip known as
the A5, the same microprocessor that acts as the brains inside the iPad.
In June 2012, Apple introduced a new version of its mobile operating system for
iPhones and iPads that brings a host of new features, including three-dimensional
maps that let users zoom over an image of a city. The new maps software replaces
Google Maps with Apple's own mapping system.
Apple also said it reached an agreement with Facebook that more deeply weaves
the social network into Apple's devices, allowing people to share photos to
Facebook, for example, without having to open a separate Facebook app. The new
features in the operating system will become available for iPhones, iPads
and the iPod Touch when iOS 6 is released in fall 2012.
Yet the free and reduced-price iPhones were still important to the company's
business. Tero Kuittinen, a senior analyst at MGI Research, said the free iPhone
3GS gave Apple the opportunity to expand aggressively into markets where
smartphones were not as popular yet, like China and Africa.
Analyst Horace Dediu published a blog post in June 2012 with charts illustrating
a slowdown of Android's growth in the United States, citing numbers from
ComScore, the market research firm.
Also, a survey by the information technology firm Good Technology found that
iPhone usage was increasing in the workplace, while Android phones have seen a
significant dip in 2012.
Can Apple win in an intensely competitive market against rivals that are openly
licensing their software to scores of companies? It faces that challenge not
only in phones, but also in the market for tablet computers, where the
iPad is about to take on a similar set of rivals.
