Yesterday Apple launched its iPhone 5 to the usual hype and hyperbole, but this time something seems to have changed. In the past Apple could get away with issuing a polished turd with an Apple logo and the Tame Apple Press would have a collective orgasm. In the morning after, the Tame Apple Press is surprisingly quiet.

It is not hard to see why. The iPhone 5 is thinner and lighter and a bit faster, but most of the changes are in response to things done by Samsung. So we see a bigger screen but it is still a sub-720p job and the larger screen is not happy with the shedloads of existing apps. The operating system has not changed much since the iPhone 4 and there are lots of things like NFC which are still missing.

On the plus side, it places nice with the latest generation LTE and 4G technology. Tragically, the rest of the world has not really moved to that yet, although there will be moves towards that in the iPhone 5's life cycle. Siri is improved, but still will not work properly in the EU.

So why should an iPhone 4S user upgrade?

Well we can't see the point. In fact it is a moot point if an iPhone 4 or iPhone 3G user should upgrade particularly when the price difference is so great. When an iPhone 4S user thinks of upgrading they will have to be aware that their nice collection of accessories will suddenly become redundant as the new phone has different plugs. A lot of their apps will look rubbish as Apple does not allow them to use the bigger screen and just sticks them in a black lined box.

The new iPhone 5 shows that Apple is losing its touch. Once being a design and innovation leader, it is having to play catch up with the likes of Samsung. The iPhone 5 really had to be a cure for cancer to stop this slide, however it is fairly obvious, even amongst the legions of Apple fanboys out there who are rushing to defend their favourite brand, that it isn't.

No doubt we will be battered by hype and there will be those who queue to buy the thing. But I am fairly sure that people will start to say that the iPhone4S was the beginning of the end of Apple's glory days and the iPhone 5 proved that its time was over. Shareholders agree. After such an important launch Apple's share price usually rockets. However this morning they were only up one per cent. It looks like even Wall Street thinks that Apple is now as good as it is going to get, and everything else is downhill.