Apple Inc.'s unveiling of the iPhone 4S Tuesday met lukewarm reactions from fans and analysts. Although the iPhone 4S had its own exciting features, everyone was looking for the iPhone 5, with its anticipated larger screen and thinner form factor.

Hours after the unveiling, Samsung Electronics announced it will be asking courts in Italy and France to block sales of the iPhone 4S because of alleged infringement of Samsung's wireless telecommunications technology. Samsung would also seek preliminary injunctions in other countries after review.

Last Wednesday, Laurene Powell Jobs, to whom Jobs was married for 20 years, and their three children shook the world when they announced that one of America's greatest CEOs died peacefully at 56 after a long battle of pancreatic cancer.

A Bad Year for Apple?

Apple is poised to beat analysts' estimates for the 31st straight time when it reports fiscal fourth-quarter results Oct. 18. And it did not do badly the quarter before that, either -- in fact, it posted record revenue of $28.57 billion and record earnings of $7.31 billion for the three months ended June 25, 2011, its best quarter ever. During the period, Apple still sold 20.34 million units of the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, even with everyone looking forward to the iPhone 5.

After the Let's Talk iPhone event unveiled only an upgraded or interim model, rivals have been hoping they can finally gain ground against the iPhone. At the event, newly anointed Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled an iPhone 4S that has a 3.5-inch screen; an 8-megapixel, 1080p high-definition camera; an A5 chip processor that is seven times faster than the processor in the iPhone 4; two antennae to transmit and receive data; CDMA and GSM connectivity; and new applications like Siri and Find My Friends.

Samsung, Motorola, and HTC have already released touch-screen phones that are cheaper, have 4.3-inch screens, use 4G-LTE technology, and have dual-core processors, among other superior specifications and features. So is this the end of the iPhone? No, even a new Android phone that has quad-core processors won't outsell the iPhone 4S.

And they don't have Siri. Siri, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking. Siri understands context, allowing you to speak naturally when you ask it questions. If you ask, "Will I need an umbrella this weekend?", it understands you are looking for a weather forecast. Wow. But Siri's in version one, and will likely not be smarter than a fifth-grader.

It's Steve Jobs. If Jobs made it to the iPhone event to entertain and inspire everyone, the iPhone 4S would have received cheers and a standing ovation throughout his presentation.

But the iPhone 4S will be the best-selling iPhone in history because of Jobs, whose favorite musician was Bob Dylan.

The iPhone 4S won't be the last Jobs-grade device to be released by Apple: The iPhone 5 and other products to be unveiled in the next few years are already in the pipeline. But everyone knows that Jobs was a perfectionist, and was the one giving final approval to Apple's products.

Many people will be buying the iPhone 4S to honor Steve Jobs and his incredible legacy. Jobs' larger-than-life persona has touched millions, and even his adversaries have shared their admiration for the man who had changed Silicon Valley and Wall Street. Jobs' magic will certainly reach iPhone 4S, the last new product that has Jobs' final touches.

Apple already sold 200 million iMacs, iPads, iPhones, and iPods in the past year, but that is just 20 percent of the market. With all the news about the death of the creative genius and tributes to the man who virtually invented the personal computer as we know it today in his garage and changed the way millions listen to music, use their cell phones, and interact with their computers, people who have not yet touched Apple devices will certainly join the long queues for the iPhone 4S.

Of course, analysts have the experience and claim they know better. But they were the same people who claimed that a keyboardless phone would be another technological flop, and that consumers didn't need another computing device, such as the iPad. They never saw Apple becoming the world's most valuable tech company, either. The iPhone 4S, regardless of the fact it doesn't wear any new clothes, will be the king of all smartphones again.

And Steve Jobs' magic will extend even to Samsung. Samsung had turned a blind eye on Apple's alleged violations of Samsung's wireless patents when Apple released the first iPhone. Samsung has manufactured the RAM, processors, and screens for Apple. Although Apple started it with a ban of the Galaxy S 2 and Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Europe and Australia, it would be bad publicity for Samsung if it were to succeed in getting a ban of the iPhone 4s at a time when there is sentiment caused by the death of Apple's visionary. Samsung won't get a backlash if it goes to the negotiating table instead.

Jobs, who has embraced Buddhism, will have his rebirth in the iPhone 4S. Queues outside Apple stores waiting for new iPhones will be the longest ever when the iPhone 4S is released Oct. 14.