Market cheers Apple iPhone 5 launch

First iPhone launch since Steve Jobs' passing hits the mark with Wall Street and analysts

Apple's share price rallied last night as the iPhone 5's coming-out party went down well with both investors and market watchers.

Although the device's features - which include a larger screen, thinner and lighter design and faster processor - caused little surprise, the market was clearly impressed as Apple's share price closed up 1.4 per cent last night.

With the iPhone generating more than half of Apple's profits, last night's big unveil in San Francisco was seen as a critical test for chief executive Tim Cook (pictured), who took the reins after Steve Jobs passed away last October.

But with Apple's share price now close to an all-time high, Cook has demonstrated that he is a steady hand on the tiller and the iPhone 5 ticked all the boxes for Richard Holway, founder of analyst TechMarketView.

"Short of a cure for all known diseases and the second coming, it is difficult to know what more they could have done," he said.

Compared with the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 5 may have a larger, 4in screen but it is also 18 per cent thinner and 20 per cent lighter. Its A6 chip is twice as fast as the A5 and it has longer battery life and a slightly better camera.

Critically - given Everything Everywhere's imminent launch of 4G in the UK - it is also the first iPhone capable of 4G.

Some have branded the iPhone 5 "boring", while others criticised the device's lack of an NFC chip to enable mobile payments.

"The interesting question is whether this omission will mean further delay in mobile payments taking off, or if it presents an opportunity for its competitors to take a lead in this field," said Tudor Aw, KPMG's European head of technology.

Jim Henner, chief executive of mobile apps outfit Antenna, argued that the iPhone 5 had not gone far enough and said the larger screen "looks like it is straight out of Samsung's playbook", a company with which Apple is currently engaged in a global patent war.

"The iPhone 5 has not been redesigned - it has been refitted. It was the same story with the new iPad when it launched earlier this year, and that is going to raise more questions about Apple's ability to innovate in the post-Jobs era," he said.

Apple also used last night's event to introduce a new iPod Touch, iPod nano and iTunes service. The rumoured iPad Mini, however, was notable by its absence.