iPhone 4S Pre-orders Go Ballistic and Steve Jobs Authorised Biography Tops Bestseller List
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It was mixed emotions for Apple fans last week, just 1 day after the new iPhone 4S was announced, we heard that Steve Jobs had passed away.
The Apple special event keynote to unveil the iPhone 4S and new iPods last week, was a smaller and more sober affair than previous years, Tim Cook and his team did a great presentation, but it was sad not to see Steve Jobs make an appearance.
The new iPhone 4S wasn’t quite the re-designed iPhone 5 many people were hoping for, but it still packs a punch, and I’m sure it will be their best selling smartphone to date. On the outside the iPhone 4S is exactly the same as its predecessor, but inside is a whole new ballgame. The iPhone 4S gets the same A5 dual-core chip as the iPad 2, plus a high quality 8MP camera that shoots 1080p video, Siri the new Apple intelligent assistant, and of course iOS5 and iCloud.
It was the camera and Siri that excited me the most. Not only does the camera get a bump in megapixels from 5 to 8, but it gets all-new optics too, plus a larger aperture to capture more light. The A5 chip also makes the iPhone 4S camera faster, much faster than most other smartphones on the market in fact.
The demo of Siri the intelligent assistant during the keynote was totally awesome, and it’s still in Beta too! This is not a separate app either, Siri is tightly integrated into the iPhone 4S and iOS 5, and “it just works” of course! With Siri you can use your voice to speak natural language commands to your iPhone.
Siri doesn’t just understand what you say, but it understands the meaning and context too. You could ask Siri “what is the weather like today?” or, “do I need an umbrella today?”, and it will show you the forecast. Ask Siri to “wake me up tomorrow at 7am” and it will set the alarm for you, or “find me an italian restaurant in Sydney” and it will show you a list, or “give me directions to the Sydney Opera House” and it’ll show you the directions on a map. You can ask Siri to read you a text message you’ve just received, lets say it’s from a friend who wants to know if you’re free for lunch tomorrow, before you reply you can ask Siri if you have any meetings scheduled for tomorrow at 1pm, then tell Siri to reply to the text message, and schedule the lunch! Siri is also integrated with web searches, reminders, email, phone, and much more, you can even use Siri for dictation.
Speaking natural language commands to a mobile device has always seemed a bit ‘sci-fi’, but Siri is going to change all that — artificial intelligence is finally going mainstream, and into the hands of millions of people worldwide. The impact of Siri cannot be underestimated, I think it’s going to be massive.
On Thursday, the day after the keynote, I learned that Steve Jobs had died, and that was very sad news indeed. So much has been said about Steve since his passing, but this quote from President Barack Obama really sums it up for me “The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented”.
iPhone 4S pre-orders started on Friday, ready for launch on October 14, and sales are going ballistic. It looks like initial stock has already sold out, as shipping times on the Apple Store now say 1-2 weeks. Over in the US, AT&T reported that they had taken over 200,000 pre-orders in the first 12 hours! As I write this, only 2 of the 4 Australian iPhone carriers, Optus and Vodafone, are taking pre-orders.
Pre-orders of the Steve Jobs Authorised Biography have gone ballistic too, and the book is now number 1 in the Amazon best sellers list. The biography by Walter Isaacson will be released on October 24, in Kindle ebook, hardcover and audiobook. The book is based on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs, plus interviews with family, friends, colleagues, adversaries, and competitors.
Was I right or was I right — Apple announced today that iPhone 4S pre-orders have broken all previous records, and topped one million in a single day! The previous record of 600,000 for the first 24 hours was held by the iPhone 4. I think everyone is feeling the Apple love out there right now, and it’s a beautiful thing.
Did you think the iPhone 4S would be this popular? Is Siri going to affect your purchasing decision? Do you have any favourite quotes about Steve Jobs? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
iPhone 4S Pre-orders at the Apple Store 
Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography [iBooks] at the iTunes Store
