iPhone 4S, the latest generation of Apple’s smartphones will go on sale Friday in stores in the U.S. and six other countries, writes the Wall Street Journal.
Apple fans have already been waiting in queues in front of the stores for the phone launch scheduled for 8:00 am in U.S. iPhone launches Friday 4S in the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany and Japan.
4S iPhone sales could reach 4 million units on its debut
In Japan, Apple iPhone 4S is the first phone to be sold by several mobile operators. Softbank was the sole distributor on the Japanese market, until today, when it competes with KDDI.
Of Apple fans interviewed, Wall Street Journal noted a 21 year old in New York, who has canceled all his program Friday and between 5 am and 5 pm he wait be in queue to buy an iPhone 4S. “I canceled plans for lunch, but the new iPhone may reschedule all appointments for me”, said Adam Metzger.
Apple released earlier this month in San Francisco an improved version of the iPhone 4, which is faster than its predecessor and includes advanced voice control and a camera with higher resolution, but investors, analysts and fans received without enthusiasm the new gadget, first released on the stage without the charismatic Steve Jobs.
iPhone 4S will cost in the U.S. $199, $299 or $399 depending on features
The iPhone 4, launched 16 months ago, will have starting 14 October a reference price of 99 dollars, and the older iPhone 3GS, launched in 2009, will be offered free in the U.S. with certain subscriptions. iPhone is the best-selling gadget of the American company with over 120 million devices shipped to date.
Among the functions of the iPhone that have left most at awe is the Siri voice service. The new software is set on a female voice confirming the user’s voice commands. In a demonstration made by journalists from Stuff.tv, Siri gets an order to open a site. Then, it records a voice message, which she converted into text and sends it via SMS. Further, Siri is asked how is the weather and automatically displays the forecast for the city in which the owner of the phone is located. “Asked” to convert 45 British pounds in dollars, Siri responds “Let me think …” and displays the exchange rate. Stuff.tv journalists asked Siri tougher questions like “how far is the moon”. Apple’s software has an answer for this: “Let me check my sources … 386,269 km”.