I generally try to avoid blogging about the mobile category, since I work in
it, but yesterday’s events cannot go uncommented upon.

I might not have been at the epicenter of iPhone hype yesterday, but I was
certainly in the blast area.

Yesterday started off as an unusual day: I didn’t get a single phone call or
email from any of my dealers until well into the afternoon.

Why? Because they were all glued to their computer monitors in their
offices, clicking *refresh* *refresh* *refresh* trying to stay on top of the
Apple presentation.

As the dust settles, my question is, did Apple overplay their hand this
time?

They love the semi-autonomous hype monster that has grown up around them,
and make no mistake; they feed that bear, and occasionally poke it with a
stick to get it riled up, doubtless for their own amusement. Apple loves
tweaking the hype monster just as much as they love cloak and dagger
theatrics surrounding prototype designs.

But this time it got out of control. Over about a month the industry and the
trade media convinced themselves via mass self-hypnosis (or psychosis, take
your pick) that there WAS going to be an iPhone 5 announced in October. And
dammit, through sheer force of will, and repeating it over and over again,
they expected that because they wanted it, it would be so.

And when there wasn’t, there was a wailing and gnashing of teeth.

That’s the thing about the hype monster: Apple loves riding the whirlwind,
but one slip and it spins out of control.

The fact is that the 4S looks to be an awesome phone packed with awesome
functionality. It’s going to be a Hero Phone, to use the mobile channel
jargon, but the market expected a Messiah Phone, and the 4S is not that.

It’s not the Messiah, it’s just a naughty phone.

Already Apple watchers are Tweeting and Blogging their way through the
stages of grief. One analyst I follow who was in the Denial Phase yesterday
put forward the conspiracy theory that due to supply chain issues Apple
pulled a last-minute change of program and yanked the iPhone 5 announcement
just hours before show. Sounds crazy, but it’s the crazy theories that have
legs.

And just like some messianic cults, when the announced Judgement Day passes
uneventfully, the faithful adjust their calendar without missing a beat.
“June!” some fanboy bloggers are now proclaiming, “The iPhone 5 will come
next June!”

We shall see.