It’s hard to get excited about yet another iPhone, even on the day of the company’s fall product launch.
The all-touchscreen cell phone was revolutionary when it debuted nearly 10 years ago. But, well, that was nearly 10 years ago. I still remember covering the launch from Apple’s downtown Palo Alto, Calif., store back in June 2007. A line of camped-out fanboys and fangirls stretched all the way around the block. Steve Jobs (and his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs) made an appearance. It was hard not to get caught up in the excitement. This was, after all, a phone that was unlike any other mobile device we’d seen before. And not only did it alter mainstream phone design, it also changed the way we use our devices.
Fast-forward to today, and the most exciting thing about the upcoming iPhone 7 is that it will reportedly come in two new black options: dark black and “piano” black, at least according to one analyst. And that the latest version of the device won’t include an industry-standard headphone jack. Yes, there will likely be more significant improvements, but these are iterative, not revolutionary.
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It’s no surprise, then, that Apple’s stock price has declined 1% over the past year, and that sales projections for new iPhones aren’t what they used to be. That said, Apple (AAPL) is still just as exciting of a company—and a trendsetter—as always. It just so happens that some of its recent “innovations” haven’t been on the product side.
As analyst Brian White with Drexel Hamilton pointed out earlier this week, Apple has become the “Jason Bourne of Tech.” Its recent run-ins with the FBI and the EU have given us plenty to watch and will very likely set new precedents for tech companies. It’s no shiny new object, but I’m guessing we’ll be seeing more of those too from Apple in the near future—and I’m not talking yet another iPhone.
