Apple After Steve Jobs May Not Seem The Same

Tuesday's release of Apple's latest update of its iPhone has been overshadowed by the death the following day of its legendary founder, Steve Jobs.

Jobs, whose declining health was no secret, forcing him to limit his role at the company he co-founded, died Wednesday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

It may not have been a coincidence that the first recent product launch without Jobs at the helm – Tuesday's rollout of the iPhone 4S - fell a bit flat. Wall Street was obviously disappointed, with Apple stock selling off sharply in Tuesday's trading.

Expecting more

After weeks of rumors and hype, it was clear the technology world was expecting more than what it got this week. The technology site Fudzilla called it “an underwhelming launch.”

On the plus side, the iPhone 4S offers a more robust A5 processor, which should provide improvements in both processing speed and graphics capabilities. It also has improved optics, with an 8 megapixel camera and full HD video recording.

For sex appeal, the iPhone 4S the Siri “personal assistant,” a voice recognition app allowing users to call up information from their devices in normal conversational English, French and German. But not Spanish.

Where's the iPhone 5?

But many people were obviously also expecting the “iPhone 5,” with even more advances. For example, a phone that would run on the 4G LTE networks that providers are rolling out nationwide. A number of Android phones, for example, are already on the market with 4G capability.

The technology world, accustomed to being rocked back on it's heels with every Apple product launch, seemed oddly subdued after Tuesday's festivities in Cupertino, Calif. Maybe it was because, for the first time, the master showman in the black turtleneck wasn't on the stage, making the introduction.

Comeback kid

Jobs is being hailed around the world as the innovator of his generation. After co-founding Apple Computer in the 1970s, he was forced out in 1985 by the man he hired as CEO, John Sculley. With Apple on the ropes financially in 1997, Jobs returned to introduce one successful product after another – the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.

At the time of Job's death, Apple – which recently dropped “computer” from its name – was worth $359.4 billion, making it the world's most valuable company. It will be up to Job's successors to keep it at that lofty perch.