Apple posts video stream of iPhone 4S keynote

I think so. I didn't see him mentioned anywhere and the Chairmain of the Board and former CEO should be at the event if health permits.

Only in your dreams.
This is business, not the Oscars.

In terms of the product, its a solid upgrade to a phone that's selling extremely well. There's a time to "kill your own children" but Apple's sell-though figures and projections must indicate that now is not the time.

You there is a distinct advantage to leverage R&D investment for as long as you can without hurting your market position or feature offerings, and short of a larger screen, there's not much else a new form factor would do other than 'be different-looking" In fact, as Apple's case with Samsung points out, more and more are following the iPhone form factor.

There had been some talk of a curved glass screen, which would certainly garner Apple a lot of attention - but is its use and carry function served best by this find of design?

You also have to be sensitive to forcing your base to consider new options and accessories too frequently, as the net cost for upgrading can be far more than the phone (cases, music docks, car adapters, etc.)

The 4s removes uncertainty from the marketplace, and people who were waiting to purchase can now go ahead knowing their getting the latest phone from Apple. Competitively, Apple has obviously analyzed that whatever potential loss of clients they will experience because the 4s "was not different enough" will be substantively outweighed by overall sales growth and likely increased margins given the same form factor.

This is the phone more for new and migrating customers, and less so for existing 4 owners.

What has to settle out is how many of the neat iOS 5 features are fully available on the 4 vs the 4s - if Siri works just was well on the 4, well, its a free or nearly free feature boost for us 4 users, but not so great if Apple does hope to nudge some of us to new hardware.

My guess is an iPhone 5 will come in the June timeframe...

What was somewhat disappointing was the tenor of the event - Cook seemed unusually sluggish, and most of the other presenters also appear a little off kilter...maybe some nerves being the first event without Steve, and knowing the blogophere and rumor hype was exceeding the product they were launching...

One other point - I'm sure Apple thinks about how much money they can reasonably expect their customers to spend on their products in a given timeframe - perhaps there are some things coming in the next three to four months that will be a better fit for our upgrade budgets...