Jobs is set to give the keynote address at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, a forum he typically uses to showcase new products. Apple has updated the iPhone each summer since the device’s debut in June 2007.
As he tries to entice buyers and convince the more than 50 million current iPhone users to trade up to the latest model, Jobs, 55, has to contend with Google, which is promoting phones that use its Android software. Apple’s latest device may boast an easier-to-read screen and longer battery life -- features the iPhone will need as Android gains in popularity.
“Apple should make sure they have the best experience that exists,” said Andy Hargreaves, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities in Portland. “If they do, they’ll keep the profitable piece at the high end and can let Android take volume share in the middle and below.”
Apple also benefits from a broader range of downloadable tools, games and other applications -- about 200,000 versus about 50,000 for Android, Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York, said in a June 4 report.
After unveiling the original iPhone, Cupertino, California- based Apple released the iPhone 3G in July 2008, which added support for third-generation wireless networks. A faster, thinner version, called the iPhone 3GS, came in June 2009.
Apple fell $7.16 to $255.97 on June 4 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have gained 21 percent this year.
Lost Prototype
Speculation about what the fourth-generation iPhone will include escalated in April after an unreleased prototype, lost by an Apple engineer at a bar in March, was disassembled and photographed by technology blog Gizmodo.com.
If a version of that phone turns up on stage with Jobs today, customers can expect a model with a front-facing camera that enables video conferencing, a camera flash, a higher- resolution screen, longer battery life and a boxier design than the iPhone 3GS, according to Gizmodo’s analysis.
Sacconaghi said he’s expecting a new display with four times as many pixels as the 3GS, a better camera that shoots high-definition video and a faster processor based on Apple’s custom A4 chip that’s used in the iPad tablet computer.
The new iPhone may also include more storage than the current 16-gigabyte and 32-gigabyte models, said Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co. in Minneapolis. Shaw Wu, an analyst at Kaufman Bros., expects Apple to deliver a casing that transforms the look and feel of the device.
‘Long in the Tooth’
“The current form factor is a little long in the tooth,” said Wu, who is based in San Francisco. He recommends investors buy Apple shares and doesn’t own any himself. “It’s about time for a casing change.”
Apple declined to comment on what Jobs may announce at the developers conference, said Natalie Kerris, a company spokeswoman.
The iPhone 3GS is available in two configurations today for $199 and $299. Apple had, until recently, also been selling a model of the older iPhone 3G for $99. Buyers can no longer purchase it from Apple’s website.
Sacconaghi, Wu and Munster said they expect Apple to replace the 3G with a $99 version of the newer 3GS so the company can continue to offer a low-priced model.
Top Seller
In the past three years, the iPhone has become one of Apple’s most important products and was its top-selling gadget last quarter, raking in more sales than the Macintosh computer. The iPhone accounts for 40 percent of revenue.
Apple is being challenged by other handset makers, including HTC Corp. and Motorola Inc., which are using Google’s Android to power new devices. Android’s growth will outpace other mobile operating systems and nudge aside Apple in 2013 by number of shipments, according to researcher IDC.
Shipments of Android-based smartphones may reach 68 million by 2013, making it the second-most popular operating system after Nokia Oyj-owned Symbian, according to Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC.
Any new device will be powered by an updated version of the iPhone operating-system software. Jobs previewed the software -- called iPhone OS 4 -- in April and said it will be available this summer. The software adds more than 100 features, including multitasking, the ability to run more than one third-party program at the same time. It also supports an advertising platform called iAd, designed to give developers a new way to make money from their apps.
‘Secret Sauce’
Jobs may announce more software enhancements today to spur users of older iPhones to switch to the new model, said Katy Huberty, an analyst at Morgan Stanley in New York.
“IPhone’s secret sauce is in the software and this is where we would expect any feature surprise,” Huberty said. She rates Apple “overweight” and doesn’t own shares. “The breadth and quality of the new iPhone 4 software is even more important this year given 57 percent of U.S. iPhone customers still use 2G and 3G iPhones that aren’t upgradeable to the new OS.”
--With assistance from Olga Kharif in Portland. Editors: Lisa Wolfson, Tom Giles.
To contact the reporter on this story: Connie Guglielmo in San Francisco at cguglielmo1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net.
0 Response to "Apple’s Jobs Seen Revamping the IPhone to Stay Ahead of Google"
Post a Comment