Apple Set to Kick Off Year Of Innovation With 'Historic' iPhone Event (LIVE BLOG)

Apple CEO Tim Cook, who has been promising for months that the company will announce amazing new products starting this fall, is set to take the stage today at a company event where he’s expected to introduce new models of the iPhone.

“We believe this will prove to be a historic event for Apple as  we expect the company to begin segmenting the iPhone portfolio for the first time ever with a lower priced iPhone, the iPhone 5C,” said Brian White, an analyst with Cantor Fitzgerald. “We believe today’s event will prove to be part of a larger string of events over the next year as Apple enters a year of innovation.”

Apple and Cook, who celebrated his two-year anniversary as CEO last month, have been criticized by investors for the slow pace of product rollouts over the past year. Rivals including Google and Samsung have been churning out new iPhones and tablets as they work to chip away at Apple’s market position in its biggest markets. Together, the iPhone and iPad account for more than 70 percent of Apple’s sales. Analysts expect Cook to update the iPad mini and Apple TV in coming months to fend off competitors. More important, Apple watchers are looking for the company to step into new product categories, with a wearable computing device called the iWatch and a smartTV, to tap new markets that will fuel its sales.

Today, Cook is expected to  unveil sleeker, colorful new versions of the iPhone (the so-called iPhone 5S). He’s also expected to add a low-cost iPhone for cost-conscious buyers — especially those in emerging markets where there’s burgeoning demand —and finally announce a deal to sell the iPhone through China Mobile, the world’s biggest mobile carrier with some 700 million subscribers. He’s expected to be joined on stage by software chief Craig Federighi, who has been overseeing the development of the new iOS 7 mobile operating system along with design chief Jony Ive. Apple also said in June at its Worldwide Developers Conference that will launch a streaming radio service called iTunes Radio this fall, as well as release a new version of the Mac operating system software called Mavericks.

I will be live blogging the event, which starts at 10 a.m. California time. Refresh this page to see updates.
Source: http://www.forbes.com