★ Weighing in on iPhone 4S

Marco Arment:

Would as many people be disappointed if Apple had released the same device but called it the iPhone 5?

MG Siegler:

I think having the iPhone on three carriers in the U.S. is ultimately going to be a very good thing for consumers. Instead of taking features away and raising prices as AT&T and Verizon have been doing for years, they may be forced to actually compete with incentives for users

Mat Honan:

What was I hoping for that I didn’t get? A new form factor, for starters. Design matters. And Apple has always been a design-oriented company. When it pushed back the iPhone 4S rollout to the Fall, it just increased expectations that there might be a great new look coming along. Instead, it’s essentially identical to last year’s model.

Shawn Blanc:

The free iPhone 3GS is the next step in Apple’s fight for even more of the marketshare. It will be very interesting to see how these three iPhones perform against one another between now and the next year’s iPhone.

Lots of great points. When it comes to naming, 4S is appropriate given there were few noticeable design changes beyond a different antenna placement (matching that of the Verizon iPhone). For most, the iPhone 4S is the iPhone 4 when viewed by the naked eye. That’s why it’s not iPhone 5 but it doesn’t mean that what’s inside isn’t all new.

For me, I’m torn on carrier choice. I have absolutely no idea which carrier I’ll be going with.