Why The IPhone 5 Won’t Live Up To The Hype

Why The IPhone 5 Won’t Live Up To The Hype, Apple’s new smartphone could be hard for older networks to support, and its rivals are improving. 3 Reasons the iPhone 5 Won’t Live Up to the Hype, Apple (AAPL) is in trouble.

Its reputation took a hit last month after the company reported just 21 percent year-over-year profit growth on $35 billion in revenue, and its stock price is only up $100 or so per share since March. CEO Tim Cook took over for company founder Steve Jobs in August 2011 and has yet to release any generation-defining technology or redefine the average person’s relationship with software in his 12 months on the job. Clearly, something is amiss in Cupertino.

All kidding aside, Wall Street has truly been concerned about Apple’s performance lately. Not because the world’s largest corporation is no longer raking in the cash, but because it isn’t growing as fast or as consistently as it once did. Fortunately, Apple’s latest version of the iPhone, the long awaited iPhone 5, is waiting in the wings, ready to ride in and save the company’s revenues all over again. And it couldn’t be coming at a better time. Apple’s financials fell short of expectations in the third quarter of 2012, due largely to a drop in iPhone sales (which Cook himself blamed on all of the breathless hype surrounding the soon-to-be-released iPhone 5) and more than a few analysts are starting to wonder how long the company’s stratospheric growth trend can last.

But can the iPhone 5, which some analysts are predicting will sell as many as 250 million units, live up to the hype surrounding its release? Is there any way the actual product will justify all of the praise being heaped on it? (And remember, most Apple watchers expected the iPhone 5 to launch a year ago, when the 4S made its debut, so there have been almost 12 months of build up.) Of course not; here are a few warning signs.