Apple's iPhone 5 is no revolution

 © Image: 2012 AFP / Kimihiro HOSHINO

When will the iPhone 5? The answer to this question seems clear        n Wednesday. But what does the iPhone 5? Probably nothing radically new. Still, the Android competition will have to fight hard.

 The stock market reflects exuberant expectations: Last Friday, Apple reached a new high of paper. The anticipation for the sequel to the new iPhone, Apple will introduce this week at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, could hardly be greater.
 iPhone 5, the successor to the iPhone 4S is expected to be called. The 4S was not a radical break with the past: Externally identical to its predecessor, it had a faster processor and also the voice control software Siri. Although it exceeded analysts' expectations and sold in record numbers, but many remained behind also a slight feeling of disappointment. Too much you can do in Apple's groundbreaking.
 "What is decisive in this new introduction, estimates that the new extras and the new design is a significant improvement, not just a little like the iPhone 4S," wrote analysts at Barclays.

 Trust the rumors and previous findings, the new iPhone may not make the big leap, which many investors and customers expect from Apple. The housing is supposed to be thinner, the screen for larger, but still less than that of Samsung Galaxy S III or the latest Motorola Razr model.
 Rapidly browse the web you will be with the iPhone 5 can thanks to an improved processor and 4G capability certainly. On the device with the latest LTE standard is the same mobile technology is used as the new iPad model and most other current smartphone models. Many news of the new mobile operating system, but were already presented at the developers' conference in June, about the integration with Facebook and your own 3D maps software.
 "If they have not yet kept a secret, it all looks not very revolutionary," said analyst Walter Piecyk of BTIG the Financial Times. "It is unclear whether LTE alone will drive the sales actually expected the moment yes virtually every mobile phone if just the screen is extended by half an inch -..? Whether this is enough to rekindle the enthusiasm"

 Tough competition

 The competition for the new iPhone is harder than ever. Many new devices come to market, while the market penetration of smartphones in the U.S., according to analysts' calculations, over 50 percent.
 "In December 2009, the number of smartphone users in the U.S. 39 million. Today there are around 115 million", Horace Dediu of Asymco analyst wrote last week. "Nevertheless, there is still the other half of mobile phone users in order to switch to move onto your smartphone."
 Last week presented the Nokia Lumia 920, to be able to load the new smartphone model, unique design, improved navigation and photo software and the new way to the phone wirelessly. But because the Finnish company named no price and no sale date for the device, the market punished it off.
 The Lumia is considered the flagship of the new Windows Phone 8 operating system from Microsoft. The telecom companies hope to be that the model is a viable alternative to the existing duopoly of Apple and Android phones could be. IHS Screen Digest predicts that Windows Phone will grow by 140 percent in 2013, but further behind ranks third will.

 Greatest threat by Google

 Thus, the greater danger to the iPhone is currently the most from the U.S. Internet giant Google, the developer of the Android operating system. According to IHS Google's Android smartphones will decide this year well ahead of Apple's iOS operating system: 550 million active Android smartphones are expected to be over 250 million iPhones.
 Google last week unveiled its first new smartphone since its acquisition by Motorola. The Droid Razr Maxx HD features an extra-large screen and a battery life that allegedly reached with 32 hours no other smartphones.
 That Nokia and Motorola now bring new devices to market, and also the rival HTC follow suit later this month, is no accident. For phone manufacturers, competition decides increasingly in the Christmas season. This is even more true as many smartphone customers enter into agreements with two-year term that will expire around Christmas. Leading the Android pack, the chasing the success of the iPhone, Samsung. The South Koreans have in the first 100 days since launch sold 20 million Galaxy S III.
 Apple is still unbeaten in advertising. According to Kantar Media, the advertising budget was for the iPhone in the U.S. last year to 251 million dollars - almost twice as much as Nokia, Samsung and Google have spent together to promote their mobile devices.
 This brand power could in conjunction with Apple's iTunes and App Stores digital kiosks to ensure that the iPhone even sets up new sales records when it has to offer no major technical innovations.

 Most analysts believe that will be sold in the final quarter of 2012 between 40 and 50 million iPhones. This would in any case far more than the 37 million that were sold in the last three months of 2011. (Ftd.de)