Despite the smattering of complaints about the iPhone 5, few dispute the fact that it will be yet another major success for Apple. The fact that Apple “only” sold five million copies as of the first weekend has cooled the stock ardor for a bit, but it appears investors will soon take a reality pill and the stock price will soon resume its upward march.

One thing: There are now suggestions that, even if sufficient inventory was available, it would have been near impossible to sell more than a couple of million more iPhones that first weekend. There are just so many orders that can be rung up, although introducing the thing in more countries would make the difference for at least a few years.

In any case, what else does Apple have in store for their devoted fans?

Well, there were reports recently that stocks of the iMac had dried up, fueling expectations for a new model. Certainly Apple’s a little late to the game, since the Intel Ivy Bridge chips the iMac would probably use have been out for a while. Some suggest that Apple is gearing up for a more substantial upgrade, perhaps similar in scope to late 2009, where the iMac suddenly became an extremely powerful personal computer that rivaled the Mac Pro and occasionally exceeded that workstation in performance.

I suppose it’s possible for Apple to slim it down, and ditch the optical drive, though I think that’s less necessary on a desktop computer. It can still be made thinner, without ditching a component that at least some users regard as still essential. Regardless, I’d like to see Apple ease the hard drive replacement process. It’s traditional with iMacs over the years that you have to take the things almost totally apart to add or replace a drive. Since Apple sells versions with both traditional and solid state drives, an easy installation scheme for both would be a real advantage, particularly for professional users.

However, it doesn’t seem reasonable to make a Retina display version. The price premium for, say, a 27-inch high-resolution display, would be too much except, perhaps, as an option.

But most of the attention is being focused on the prospects for an iPad mini. With more and more cheaper tablets out there hoping to grab the low end of the market, some wonder whether Apple will use the same scheme they employed with the iPod by releasing a mini or “nano” version. For quite some time now, there have been photos of alleged prototype components depicting an alleged 7.85-inch model.

Such an iPad would offer more screen real estate than the existing 7-inch widescreen tablets from Amazon, Google and Google partners. Sure, Steve Jobs made an often-quoted statement that he thought customers would need sandpaper to use a smaller tablet. But a somewhat larger version, with the same 4:3 aspect ratio as the standard iPad, would offer sufficient screen real estate.

But when might such a beast arrive? For robust holiday sales, the rumors point to an October arrival, right after the furor dies down a bit over the arrival of the iPhone 5, but not too late to compete head on with Kindles, Nooks and all the rest.

The main question is how much an iPad mini might cost. If Apple is charging $299 for a 32GB fifth generation iPod touch, what would they get for a larger iPad with comparable storage? $399. That would encroach on iPad 2 territory, or perhaps that model is due for end of life. A 16GB iPad mini for $299 would be just the ticket to go against the various and sundry $199 competitors, offering the full iPad experience. And remember that the cheapest tablets are restricted to 8GB storage.

Perhaps Apple will also cut the prices of the iPod touch to differentiate the models a bit more. Remember that the these products aren’t shipping until October, so there’s time for Apple to revise the prices. Certainly analysts would have been thrown off the track, and it would probably not be a serious problem for Apple to credit those who placed preorders. Usually merchandise isn’t charged against a customer’s credit card until it’s near ready to ship anyway.

Would there be anything else in Apple’s arsenal? Maybe another Apple TV, or perhaps a revised software update that would support direct hookup to cable and satellite providers? Regardless of where Apple takes their hobby, there appear to be few signs pointing to an actual TV set, at least for this year. Has that ship sailed, or did Steve Jobs simply drop those comments about inventing the greatest TV interface ever to spook the competition? They’d be spending millions to design products meant to compete with a fictional Apple competitor. Maybe Steve is up there laughing at their lame attempts to make TVs more user friendly in setup and regular use.

Perhaps Apple might also flesh out the MacBook family with a 13-inch Retina display variant, and maybe there will be a new Mac mini. Or a surprise, something the rumor sites haven’t picked up on yet. Apple has been known to pull things out of left field, but it’s getting harder to keep secrets these days.

Opinions are definitely a dime a dozen, and maybe worth two dozen because there are so many these days. With Apple’s still-amazing record growth, there appears to be a whole category of critics that believe that the hit counts for their sites will be suitably inflated when our favorite fruit company becomes the target. So off they go.

Now it’s quite true Apple’s “exalted” status invites criticism, and some of it is even deserved. When OS X Mountain Lion came out and apparently seriously reduced battery life on some Mac note-books, I suppose some were justified in wondering why Apple didn’t discover the problem ahead of 10.8’s release. Or maybe they did, and hoped to fix it later on. When it came to the poorly-implemented return of the Save As feature, maybe the developer team just didn’t think it through, or made the decision at the last minute without considering the consequences when it came to leaving the original versions of documents well enough alone.

With 10.8.2, which arrived shy of two months after Mountain Lion’s release, both problems appear to have been addressed. Well, officially, Apple doesn’t say anything about poor battery life, but I’ll accept the published benchmarks as accurate, having not seen any that contradict the claim that the issue is resolved.

With the release of iOS 6, I understand the frustration with Maps, although those who yell the loudest seem to forget that navigation systems have traditionally been imperfect. But time and lots of work have allowed Google Maps to be less imperfect than Apple’s. Some might suggest that Apple could have held off with Maps, but there are deadlines and products to be released, so perhaps Tim Cook and his team concluded that it was best to ditch Google Maps as quickly as possible, and endure the early complaints. I will accept Apple PR’s claim that things will get better, although the online forums are polarized. Some people don’t believe they should become unpaid beta testers for Apple, while others are happy to file the problem reports. Don’t forget that Google also depends on crowd-sourcing  to refine their mapping service.

All told, the reviews of the iPhone 5 are quite favorable, though some assert that Apple didn’t add enough new features. Considering the gradual refinement of Apple hardware and software in general, the scope of the iPhone 5’s improvements are in keeping with tradition. But it’s also true that Tim Cook is being held to a higher standard compared to his legendary predecessor.

When it comes to that “other” platform, one blogger has been very vocal in his reasons for deciding to dump Android. The complaints are typical. Multitasking performance is awful, with some apps able to hog resources and slow the system down. There are frequent freezes, the need for frequent restarts, not to mention various and sundry interface problems. The writer in question, who will not get a link for reasons you’ll see shortly, compares today’s Android to Windows 98, another OS known for inconsistency, poor reliability, and performance lapses.

About halfway through the piece, you discover that it’s about tablets, not smartphones.

But when it comes to trying an iPad instead, we get this curious response: “And become one of the mindless ‘sheepie’ hanging out at the local Starbucks, trying to look all ‘hip’ and ‘deep?’ Puhleeezzz!”

This seemingly deranged mindset clearly ignores the known virtues of the iOS, which has good multitasking, stable and reliable performance, and an easy-to-master user interface. Sure, maybe the power user blogger in question isn’t going to be able to tinker with custom ROMs and overclock chips, but that’s not Apple’s game. The iPad is meant as a computing appliance, not a tinker toy. It’s not designed for the sort of customization that was in vogue in the PC era, but shouldn’t be necessary on a mobile computing device. But I understand that a preference is a preference.

His solution? Well, it appears he has doubled down in relying on Android apps, only he decided to run them on a BlackBerry PlayBook which uses the QNX OS that is apparently also capable of using them. He concludes that QNX offers “class-leading web browser standards support.” Really? I did notice an article on the PlayBook last year that recommended a WebKit browser named Torch Mobile, which reportedly “fixed up BlackBerry’s traditionally poor web browsing experience.” Or maybe he’s referring to the forthcoming BlackBerry 10 and RIM’s claims of offering a browsing experience that’s superior even to desktop browsers.

But he’d better hurry, since it’s not at all certain just how long RIM will be around. However, if he wanted a tablet platform with few users, he’s made the right choice, without having to worry about using a product that you can find in abundance at the nearest Starbucks. Indeed, he’d be lucky to find anyone using a PlayBack at any Wi-Fi hotspot, considering how few have been sold.

Understand I’m not attacking the blogger in question for preferring a different product, a different platform. But the reasons for objecting to Apple are lame, without any factual basis, and that’s an understatement.

So Apple reports that, through its first weekend on sale, over five million iPhone 5s were sold. That’s a million more than the iPhone 4s last year, and it sounds pretty good. In fact, it’s a record, but it wasn’t nearly good enough for some industry analysts and investors, as Apple’s stock price has taken a bit of a dive in the wake of the announcement.

Once again, reality and wishful thinking are at polar opposites.

Based on the report that Apple received two million preorders for the iPhone 5 last week, it was assumed that total sales for the first weekend must be in the six to eight million range. I suppose that makes sense, but that also assumes that many units would be available. As many of you know, most dealers were out of stock by Sunday, which clearly limited how many units would end up in the hands of customers.

Unlike the questionable statistics such companies as Samsung deliver, Apple based their figures on the number of new iPhones actually being delivered to customers. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said the original estimates were based on the assumption that Apple would count all preorders, whether or not they had actually been delivered. So there may be another million or so  iPhone 5s en route to customers that aren’t part of Apple’s launch weekend figures. Quick sellouts may indicate that, yes, yet another million or two units may have been sold had enough stock been available.

So the real significant figures may not be available until Apple releases the financial report for the September quarter in late October. It’s still possible for Apple to sell another few million between now and the end of the month, assuming there’s enough stock available. The original industry projections in the range of ten million units may indeed come to pass.

That Foxconn had to close one of their plants for a day or two due to employee riots isn’t going to help, but the units produced this week may not actually reach dealers until some time in October, so any impact won’t be felt this quarter. By next quarter, they might even catch up, though Munster doesn’t expect Apple to be able to fully meet iPhone 5 demand until the end of the year. Piper Jaffray is predicting sales of 49 million iPhones for the December quarter.

I also expect, as the iPhone 5 remains in short supply, investors will come to their senses yet again and stop selling Apple stock. But I never pretend to understand the quirks of Wall Street.

Unfortunately, there’s no much Apple could have done, other than build another few million copies of the iPhone 5, and it’s now reported that the unique in-cell display is the main production bottleneck. Based on those lines snaking around Apple Stores around the world, it’s clear there’s heavy demand, and that demand has yet to be satisfied. Today, if you want to order an iPhone 5 from Apple’s online store, expect to wait three to four weeks for delivery. So much for any lingering theory that there is a problem with demand for the product.

All this comes, however, on the same week that loads of users of iOS 6 discovered that the first version of Apple’s own Maps app isn’t perfect. While it has worked well for me, mostly at any rate, there are enough flaws to cause complaints, and sometimes outright freak outs. Do you ever wonder how many people complained about Google Maps until accuracy got real good? Did customers who received incorrect routes, or discovered missing landmarks, complain to the media in the numbers with which they complain about Apple now?

It’s not as if you can’t use Google Maps on any of the 100 million Apple mobile devices running iOS 6. Just point your browser to Google’s site, and use their service instead. Or don’t upgrade to iOS 6 until you feel assured that Apple has fixed the most serious mapping problems.

But a beta quality mapping service isn’t the only complaint. There are reports of possible Wi-Fi connection and performance issues that are said to be under investigation by Apple. Some people report scratches on the rear of the iPhone 5’s case, and that the aluminum backing is more prone to such ills. Since I always use a case, I won’t worry should I get an iPhone 5, but I can see where that may be a problem, assuming the scratches aren’t easily removed with a non-corrosive cleaning solution.

I would also expect that there will be other software and hardware issues that will come to the fore as more and more of you put an iPhone 5 into service. Some might require replacing the unit, others will likely be resolved with software updates. But the 24/7 news cycle is going to cause a feeding frenzy for any news that happens to make Apple look bad.

Meantime, I’ve seen little cause to worry about demand. If dealers were stuck with unsold stock, there would be a problem. Clearly those occasional claims that Apple is holding back stock to look good are just plain delusional. And that’s an understatement.

The launch of the iPhone 5 appears to have been hugely successful, but it seems the tech media, and a number of Apple customers, wanted things to be just perfect. So they seized on a clear shortcoming that is more part of the iOS 6 update than the new smartphone. And that’s Maps.

Embroiled in ongoing patent disputes involving Google’s Android mobile platform, and clearly feeling betrayed over presumed “resemblances” to the iPhone, iPad, and iOS, Apple made a strategic decision to build their own mapping software. Certainly the fact that Google never offered turn by turn navigation in their iOS mapping app may have been a contributing factor.

As with Android, Google Maps is based on technology invented by another company. In this case, it was Where 2 Technologies of Sydney, Australia, which was purchased by Google in 2004. So Google has had eight years to get things right, and it’s still not perfect. I’ve sometimes been led astray with Google’s turn-by-turn directions, but that’s also true with the built-in navigation system on my Honda.

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