What the iPhone 5 means to Apple's Future

I am an apple maven. I have been for a while. I own an iPad 2, iPhone 4S, iMac and MacBook. I like the hardware design, the operating system and how innovative and cutting edge the company has been - until now.

The release of the iPhone 5 disturbs me. It is apparent that the leap from no phone to the first iPhone and then subsequently to the iPhone 4 were each in their own respect historic moments. Each defined the future of apple and propelled it to become the world's largest company by market cap (depending on the day). Furthermore, the iPhone paved the way for a new breed of communication hardware.

The majority of apple's earnings are determined by iPhone sales and it appears that the iPhone 5 will continue to sell very well. It already has gotten off to an impressive start. What concerns me is the lack of technological improvement from the iPhone 4 to the 5 - in hardware design and software. Despite the current successful sales volume, this lack of improvement means to me that perhaps their competitive advantage is diminishing and the next big innovation is there for the taking - from anyone.

I believe that apple's decline won't be immediate. In my opinion, they will continue to maintain or increase market share over the course of the next 2 to 3 years - especially with the anticipated release of the new inexpensive iPad. However, this iPad is just another repackaging of an existing product - not the creation of something new and different.

The iPhone 5 was apple's moment to demonstrate that it can continue to thrive without Steve Jobs. Although I will continue to be an apple fan for now, I am unfortunately very skeptical about apple's ability to maintain its financial ranking and market cap beyond the immediate future.