iOS 5 is indeed a major release. The notification system finally brings the OS level with Android and WebOS, which had superior, less intrusive notification systems in the OS for a long time.

iMessage is clearly positioned as a competitor to Blackberry's BBM messaging service that has proven to be very popular with the teen demographic. It also competes with operators' SMS and MMS offerings and rich messaging apps such as Facebook's Beluga. It is Apple's third communication protocol after iChat and Facetime, which could potentially lead to confusion among users.

The Twitter integration is an interesting move that will certainly boost Twitter's mainstream traction as a service but also as a social platform provider for third party developers. The absence of a comparable Facebook integration becomes therefore noticeable. Apple has integrated Facebook with some of its products, but the two parties have thus far failed to reach agreement on a significant mobile integration to match the Twitter partnership (Facebook was already absent from Apple's Ping music-based social stream). With a few months still to go before iOS 5 launches, it remains possible that Apple and Facebook could still reach an agreement.

Finally, the removal of the USB requirement fits Apple's own ideology of 'post-PC' devices as well as improving its attractiveness in markets with low PC penetration.

IHS Screen Digest expects the launch of iOS 5 in the fall to be accompanied by the launch of new hardware, most likely a new iPhone model and an improved iPod Touch. 

iCloud was necessary to counter the cloud-based elements of Android. It is clearly intended to be a fresh start from MobileMe, which can be classified among Apple's rare failures in recent history. As many competitors struggled to match Apple on the hardware front, Apple learned the hard way that doing cloud services right was not such an easy task.

Except for a $25-a-year music matching service, most of iCloud will now be offered for free, and without ads. With margins on hardware considerably higher than the potential mobile advertising revenue, the infrastructure investment could become a very effective loss leader for Apple, should iCloud deliver on its promises.

The launch of iCloud follows cloud-based music offerings from Amazon and Google. Both Google and Amazon offer a digital locker service that requires users to upload each of their tracks (a task which is likely to prove too cumbersome for all but the most dedicated users). iCloud's ability to match a user's music with its online database, without the need to upload individual tracks, will likely make Apple's service considerably more attractive. Apple's service (backed by deals with major labels) may offer some improvements on its competitors, but the mass market potential for cloud-based digital locker music services is still far from proven.

The announcement of 14bn application downloads and more than $2.5bn in developer revenues is in line with IHS Screen Digest's forecasts and confirms Apple's comfortable lead at the top of the mobile applications store market. Google recently announced during its I/O developer conference in May that its Android Market store had served 4.5bn application downloads since its launch in late 2008. IHS Screen Digest expects Apple's store to serve more than 10bn app downloads in 2011 alone, generating more than $2bn developer revenues.

About 80 million iPhones are expected to ship in 2011; with the decline of Nokia and RIM's smartphone offerings, Apple has the opportunity to claim global smartphone shipments leadership by the end of the year. With the iPhone, Apple is already generating more revenue and profits than any other mobile handset company.