The cyber world
is agog with talk that Apple, the world’s third-largest mobile phone
maker, would launch its latest version of the iconic smartphone, the
iPhone5.
Expectations are riding high as the iPhone
has been the top-selling smartphone since it was first launched in 2007.
More importantly, every new version of the phone has outsold the
previous one. Even though version 5 is expected to be launched in the US
and a number of European countries on Wednesday, it would take another
2-3 months for it to debut in India, say traders.
“There
is a high degree of anticipation around the launch, and many of us are
expecting Apple to sell about 2-3 million during the first couple of
days of the launch itself. There is bound to be bulk booking in the
North American region and Europe, typically because of bundling by some
operators,” Abhishek Chauhan, Senior Consultant, ICT Practice, Frost
& Sullivan (South Asia & Middle East), told Business Line.
“A lot is riding on the success of the latest iPhone, and
there’s no doubt that the new iPhone will indeed be successful. However,
the degree of success depends on the uptake of the product,” he said.
According to various blogs and Web sites, the new iPhone would have a
larger screen, support Near Field
Communication (technologies such as
Bluetooth), a faster processor and a better camera.
“The
most important feature would be an updated Siri (voice search), a new
and powerful processor, probably a 1 GB random access memory (RAM), and a
bigger camera among others are expected,” Rudradeep Biswas, an avid
blogger for many telecom Web sites, said.
Analysts in
Mumbai are expecting iPhone5 to be the best-selling smartphone of all
time, and prices are expected to be in the range of about Rs 45,000.
However, industry watchers believe this time there wouldn’t be an 8 GB
version
