Even the most avid Apple-heads I know were lukewarm at best about this product announcement. The 5C is more intended for China because it can be made cheaply (although Reuters reports that it might be too little, too late to catch up with Android). The 5S might have a faster CPU, but unless one has a jailbreak, it is pretty much pointless. The fingerprint scanner helps with security, but it isn't exactly an option to stop what one is doing and run to an Apple store to trade up for.
Tim Cook is trying, but he is no Steve Jobs, and it seems that Apple went from awe-inspiring to yet another PC and phone maker in the past year.
I wonder what might happen with Apple. When Microsoft lost its luster, they kept themselves profitable by going to the enterprise and becoming the backbone of modern day to day business (Exchange, Active Directory, etc.) Apple's hush-hush product announcements (other companies have roadmaps where one can sign a NDA and get info on what the firm is doing in the next few years, which is crucial for budget decisions) and their enterprise-hostile ways may hurt them in the long run when consumers find another product innovator to flock to (perhaps Samsung), and business doesn't give them the time of day.
For the price of a new phone, Apple should have made the new iPhones have NFC (and software to allow for wallet payments, contact exchanges, Bluetooth device pairings, etc.), offline maps (where maps of the region are downloaded), points of interest (nearest gas stations with the prices posted like how some car navigation systems offer), maybe even some more security features (phone asking for the AppleID username/password if the device is removed from the usual geographic location the user is at, allowing access to some apps with one PIN code, access to others with a different one), etc.
In the spring, Google's I/O was mainly for developers, but Android is getting to the point where it not just is on par with iOS, but is a nose ahead in many aspects.
This was Apple's turn to shine and get consumer interest for the fall and Christmas. Now, Android developers and Google have plenty of time to make cool product announcements until around this time next year and the iPhone 6.
