Lower cost iPhone? Why?
I saw this coming with the passing of Steve Jobs. But this article is giving us hints about the direction Apple is going in the near future:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/t...sales-spurs-talk-of-cheaper-iphones.html?_r=0
Excerpt:
The latest Android phones make the iPhone 5 look like a toy, and unfortunately they cannot boast any features that Androids do not have (or implemented as well) other than Siri. But is Siri a good reason to buy the phone? Most I have asked say no. But I also know some very satisfied and loyal Apple fanboys and gurls. Invariably, they have never owned or worked with an Android device so they have no idea how far behind the curve Apple is.
Beyond the loyalty wars is the real driving factor: price.
For between $500 and $600, you can have the iPhone 5 which comes out of the box two or more years behind in technology and power and hardware as compared to its cheaper Android competition. The iPhone has become a status symbol in China, but the price remains the same there as it is here in the US. And also Android is there. But the social reasons that the Chinese buy the phone for are similar to the French jeans craze in the 1970s in the US. It did not matter that the materials used in French jeans were more cheaply made than US Levis, they were status symbols. And they cost money.
If Apple follows up its Apple Maps disaster with yet another step back with a cheaper iPhone, we will have witnessed the death of Apple-ism. A gasp for air.
I saw this coming with the passing of Steve Jobs. But this article is giving us hints about the direction Apple is going in the near future:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/t...sales-spurs-talk-of-cheaper-iphones.html?_r=0
Excerpt:
Worries about low-cost competition weighed on Apple’s stock on Monday after reports that the company had reduced orders of screens for the iPhone 5, suggesting that demand for the phone could be weaker than expected. The company’s shares dropped 3.6 percent for the day to close at $501.75; they have slid 29 percent from their high in September.
The latest Android phones make the iPhone 5 look like a toy, and unfortunately they cannot boast any features that Androids do not have (or implemented as well) other than Siri. But is Siri a good reason to buy the phone? Most I have asked say no. But I also know some very satisfied and loyal Apple fanboys and gurls. Invariably, they have never owned or worked with an Android device so they have no idea how far behind the curve Apple is.
Beyond the loyalty wars is the real driving factor: price.
For between $500 and $600, you can have the iPhone 5 which comes out of the box two or more years behind in technology and power and hardware as compared to its cheaper Android competition. The iPhone has become a status symbol in China, but the price remains the same there as it is here in the US. And also Android is there. But the social reasons that the Chinese buy the phone for are similar to the French jeans craze in the 1970s in the US. It did not matter that the materials used in French jeans were more cheaply made than US Levis, they were status symbols. And they cost money.
If Apple follows up its Apple Maps disaster with yet another step back with a cheaper iPhone, we will have witnessed the death of Apple-ism. A gasp for air.