Shortly before the release of the device. Will iPhone 5 make a boom in the industry as all Apple products do?

In my opinion, it depends.

Talk of “innovation” is based almost entirely on marketing and hype. In reality there’s actually very little true innovation here.

The original iPhone is really a development of the iPod Touch platform. That was innovative in terms of packaging and use of certain technologies, but most of the technology of the iPhone and iPod Touch has some sort of “prior art” in other platforms. Just like Microsoft have before them, Apple have done a great job of convincing people that the key capabilities that make up the iPhone are all Apple inventions, when they are mostly not.

Even if you consider the iPhone to be “innovative”, subsequent models have really been incremental design/technology changes rather than any great leaps of capability: better screen, better battery life, faster processor, improved software… hardly “innovation” at play here, especially as in some cases they seem to be copying other platforms, like Android.

Apple’s ability to create a boom will depend on whether they can continue to market such a product range to people who are becoming increasingly aware that the iPhone isn’t the only game in town, isn’t actually that special or unique, and that new models aren’t always worth upgrading to.

As the product line ages, people start to accept advanced touch screen GUI phones with apps as the norm and are less easily wowed by this technology, and as the competition gets better it will be increasingly difficult for Apple to razzle-dazzle consumers.

The device will be a success but I think the days of boom are over. Analysts now predict that Android devices will lead the way. Of course they will always have a user base of die-hard iPhone users who will automatically upgrade for the sake of having what they see as the best.