Apple Inc. (AAPL) fell the most in almost five months after unveiling two iPhones that were criticized by analysts as lacking enough new features or a sufficiently low price to attract a broad range of new customers.
In a break with the past, when the company introduced one iPhone a year, Apple yesterday unveiled two new models. The iPhone 5C will cost $99 to $199 with a wireless contract and comes in five different colours. A high-end iPhone 5S with fingerprint-security features, a speedier processor and better camera will cost $199 to $399 and be available in three colours. Apple’s shares declined as much as 6 present, making it the worst performer in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
The devices underscore a shift in the $280 billion smartphone industry, as the novelty of Internet-connected handsets wears off and the gadgets share many of the same basic features. Facing increasing competition from rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) that offer mobile phones with different designs and prices, Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is following suit and expanding his company’s own line-up to court more style-conscious customers and users in Mobile Application Development markets.
“We’ve gotten through the first phase of the industry,” said Benedict Evans, a mobile-phone industry analyst at Enders Analysis. “The original vision has been built out. We’re now in a market where Apple is fighting on more equal terms.”
Repackaged IPhone
Apple’s strategy shift includes what is essentially a repackaging of last year’s iPhone 5 in a new polycarbonate casing that comes in blue, pink, green, yellow and white to become the iPhone 5C. The company isn’t pricing the 5C as cheaply as competitors’ handsets, with the phone costing $549 and higher without a two-year contract, according to Apple’s U.S. website, showing it’s unwilling to trade its industry-leading profit margins for increased market share.
The shares declined 5.4 present to $467.71 at the close in New York. Investors had expected a lower price for the iPhone 5C to appeal to more customers in emerging markets such as China, according to Brian Blair, an analyst at Wedge Partners Corp. who attended the Apple event.
“Nobody expected it to be this high,” Blair said. “They are clearly saying we aren’t willing to go downstream.”
Analysts at UBS AG, Bank of America Corp. and Credit Suisse Group AG downgraded Apple’s stock, saying the high price will limit sales in emerging markets.
Even so, Apple is boosting its pool of potential customers. Apple said it is adding Japan’s largest carrier, NTT DoCoMo Inc. (9437), and that it will have devices immediately available in China for the first time. The company is near a deal with China Mobile Ltd. (941), the world’s largest carrier, people familiar with the plans have said.
Software Overhaul
Apple also revamped its mobile software with the introduction of iOS 7, which will be available for free starting Sept. 18. The overhaul includes new sounds, picture-sharing tools and an iTunes radio feature.
At the event, the company said 700 million iOS devices would be sold by next month. Apple added that its Siri digital assistant is “massively improved” and now draws information from Twitter and Wikipedia, among other sources.
More new Apple products are anticipated this year in the run-up to the holiday shopping season. The company is planning to introduce new iPods later this year, people familiar with the plans have said.
New Series of iPhone
September 10th 2013 Apple officially introduced two new smartphones that were basically improvements over the previous flagship iPhone 5. A new flagship device iPhone 5S and a cheaper version iPhone 5C.
iPhone 5C and iOS 7 looks made for each other. iPhone application development companies are working hard to map their apps and make them compatible with new flat and colourful iOS interface. And the best part is that you can have your iOS theme colour similar to its body colour
