Analysts interpret iPhone 4 for Smartphone mkt

This is how analyst eyes react to iPhone 4. "It's becoming unreasonable for the world to expect iPhone to continually outdo itself. There was nothing earth-shattering about what we saw or heard today. All of that said, you can't think it will be anything other than a phenomenal success."

In particular, John Jackson analyst, CCS Insight noted that new service pricing plans announced by AT&T last week will mean that the new iPhone is more affordable to more consumers.

"Price for a super sexy device is going to trump everything. That (service price) adjustment will translate to a lot of volume."Apple's iPhone 4 lands as competition in the smartphone market is boiling over, with rivals like Motorola Inc and HTC designing high-powered handsets based on Google Inc's Android software.

This fourth-generation iPhone is 24 percent slimmer, packed with more than 100 new features, has a new camera system and longer battery life. The phone will be available June 24, with a price starting at $199 in the United States.

Ashok Kumar, Analyst, RODMAN & RENSHAW feels -"Most of the improvements were incremental. What it does is place Apple at hardware parity to rivals. It doesn't break new ground in terms of hardware capability.

"Unlike past events, there were no surprises here," he said, noting that investors are likely waiting for Apple to expand its distribution to other carriers before getting excited.

AT&T Inc is currently the exclusive provider but Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc, has long been rumored as the next US iPhone operator.

"The next big event is going to be Verizon. It's a guessing game whether it will be late 2010 or early 2011.

"The bottleneck continues to be the carrier negotiations and not the hardware. AT&T is still holding out, offering last minute carrots to Apple," Kumar said, referring to AT&T's offer to current iPhone users for an early upgrade to the latest phone.

Charles Golvin, analyst Forrester's view goes like this - "While the iPhone 4 isn't the leap forward that Apple paints it as, it is an exceptionally beautiful device and is a substantial upgrade that will succeed in maintaining Apple's mind and market share growth."

Daniel Ernst, from Hudson Square Research says, "We had some sense of what was in the new phone already. It appears to have matched that expectation in our view and then some. This is more evolutionary than revolutionary -- it doesn't completely change the paradigm for the iPhone.

"It looks great, I expect that we will see a line when the phone comes out.

"Expectations get so high for these product launches and announcements that a lot of times by the time it comes out it's already in the stock. They always have to walk on water in order to impress the market."