"most important in smartphone history"

"biggest device launch in the company's history"

"one of the most important ... seen to date"

If Shope told his readers why he thinks this, Epstein doesn't bother to tell his own readers why, or offer his own thoughts.

Epstein quotes extensively from the investors note concerning future carrier subsidies and upgrade policies, although this doesn't relate to the question of why iPhone is the most important or biggest or whatever Smartphone Thing That Will Happen This Year. Shope thinks most carriers will stick with paying Apple whatever it demands in the way of subsidies for iPhone 5 and with their current upgrade policies "to migrate their installed bases from feature phones to data-centric smartphones, and amid this transition, we think the risk of losing market share in the iPhone sub-segment is likely to be too great to ignore."