Apple shares slipped on Wall Street last night as the California gadget-maker unveiled an updated version of the iPhone but not a transformative new model many had been expecting.
Apple's new chief executive Tim Cook, who replaced ailing founder Steve Jobs in August, presided over the launch of the iPhone 4S at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California.
The iPhone 4S features a speedier processor, a built-in "personal assistant" that responds to voice commands and a more powerful camera, but it was not the revamped next-generation iPhone 5 smartphone many Apple fans had hoped for.
Apple's stock price slid over 4% at one point as it became clear the company was not going to wow the world with its latest product but recovered ground to end the trading day down 0.56% at $372.50.
The iPhone 4S will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Britain on October 14 with pre-orders commencing a week earlier. The iPhone 4S will be rolled out by the end of October in 22 additional countries including Austria, Italy, Singapore, Spain, and Switzerland.
A slick new version of the iOS mobile operating system was shown off at the press event in an intimate theatre at Apple's Silicon Valley campus.
Apple also announced the October 12 launch of long-promised iCloud, which lets people store music, pictures, videos and other digital files online and access the content across Apple computers and mobile devices.
The 4S will introduce a "Siri intelligent assistant" designed to understand context so people can speak naturally when asking it questions. For example, spoken queries of "Will I need an umbrella this weekend?" and "What is the traffic like around here?" will prompt online searches for local weather forecasts or roadway conditions, according to Apple.
Siri helps make calls, send text messages or email, schedule meetings and reminders, make notes, find local businesses, and get directions. Siri will even perform mathematical calculations if asked.
Apple also added new features and pricing to its iPod Touch and iPod Nano devices in the latest improvements to a line kicked off with the introduction of the first iPod in the same Apple "Town Hall" in 2001.
The new CEO Tim Cook appeared relaxed and confident as he filled the shoes of legendary founder Jobs, who underwent an operation for pancreatic cancer in 2004 and a liver transplant in 2009. Jobs, 56, did not make an appearance at yesterday's event. He remains with Apple as chairman of the board of directors.
For an unexplained reason, Apple's website went down briefly in the wake of the press event, for a short time displaying "Access Denied" messages to people trying to reach online pages.
