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"Despite the popularity of cheap smartphones, this will never be the future of Apple’s...
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Thursday, January 10, 2:17 PM ET"Despite the popularity of cheap smartphones, this will never be the future of Apple’s (AAPL -0.1%) products," says SVP Phil Schiller in an interview with a Chinese paper. He adds that in "every product that Apple creates, we consider using only the best technology available." The remarks throw cold water on reports of a cheaper iPhone featuring less costly materials, and particularly on a Bloomberg report that Apple is considering retail prices of just $99-$149 for the device. Update: The interview's text has been significantly revised.
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Apple has very good style, packaging and reliability but has historically had significant technology gaps. The original iPods had poorer batteries and lower audio fidelity. Airbooks are sleek and cool, but are always at least a year behind competing products for power and function.
Apple is much more about integrated ecosystems and status. They are the technology equivalent of the cool kids at school. Everyone wants to be in the clique but that doesn't mean they are the best students. They don't try compete on performance metrics or value. They don't try to give people what they want, Apple tells people what they should want, and, with a few embarrassing missteps, they usually get away with it. (Anyone think consumers wouldn't prefer an SD card port on their new iPad)?
Of course, that wasn't going to happen either.
I used to think Apple was about cool. Not anymore. USAF pilots don't care about cool, they just want their flight manuals, which are now on iPads.
You can view Apple that way, sure, but you can also look at it another way: Apple is ahead of the curve and may be seen as causing evolutionary change. An example would be not including an SD or any other ports on their portable devices (harkens back to the early days of Apple, when Wozniak wanted to allow users to customize their Apple computers). In Apples world, SD cards are already obsolete. Photo Stream, iCloud, etc. make the need for physical data storage yesterday's news. You can buy a card for your digital camera that automatically uploads your photos to the cloud - right from your camera.
The newest iteration of iMacs don't come with an optical drive of any kind. Will people turn away from that? Some will, but I believe we'll see a spike in iMac sales, as people will simply learn to adapt to Apple's environment. They wouldn't do this if they had to sacrifice anything meaningful, by the way.
Apple isn't for everybody, and they aren't trying to say they are, but they haven't strayed from their goal of controlling the user experience, and for an increasingly large number of users, that's just fine with them.
Techno nerds will always talk bits, bytes, mega this and that...but consumers just want gagets that work, don't require volumes of user manuals and "surprise" us with their ease of use. When Apple stops delivering, its faithful will start shopping elsewhere. Problem is, as Rocco so ably points out, where do they go?
and
" Apple doesn't leave out SD cards and Optical Drives and add brand new interfaces such as IEEE1394 just to annoy people... they push trends forward looking to when SD cards and Optical Drives are pointless since all your data is flowing from a cloud anyway."
Apple doesn't believe flash storage is obsolete or pointless They just don't think they can charge $200 for an SD card port and they can to upgrade from a 16GB to 64GB iPad.
"Guess they need a lag popping out new phones every couple of months."
You of course are joking if what you are referring to is anything AAPL coming out every 2 months.
Of course, you'll note that Schiller does not say that Apple won't be pursuing the segment of the market that is currently being serviced by "cheap" smartphones...
Apple has bucked the trend for a long time by holding price premiums of 2x on products that are only slightly better. That means for every advancement the competition makes Apple loses big time.
This will make it the fourth bounce off of the 510 or so level, with higher lows over the last month. that 500+ support level is a real battle, but my guess is that the bears are getting a bit tired. 4 months of selling with very little respite on rumor and speculation, for a stock that is trading at 9X earnings or so (ex cash)... Way oversold.
then that is what the "Genius Bar" is for, to have superb After-Sales Service.
I have been slighted by Best Buy (bunch of Geek-incompetents even with an extended warrantee), Toshiba ...
Apple kool-aid goes down well, where others leave a most bitter lingering after-taste ...
The only non-Apple product I like is the nexus 7. But, the iPad mini is nicer.
Apple doesn't care what analysts think, what stock traders and hedge fund managers think, or anything else. Apple just makes stuff they like to make.
Apple products are not expensive, they just cost more than some people can afford ;)
[non-Apple users] the additional expense(s) would be transferred, if not an IT dude (-tte), go to System Administration and other tweeks.
siri ? because its about the same thing as the other voice recongnition software made out to be super awesome. Just the same, there is nothing really better about it in my view just my humble opinion.
1. open app
2. swipe to choose photo, file or contact
3. select to photo, file or contact
4. Bump
What is different with Android? I imagine one still has to use these steps, with the exception of #1, maybe the app is always on, but that would drain the battery eh? Anywho, I can't imagine that Android can read a users mind so you'd think that even Android users have to use steps #2-4, eh, at least #4!
Ipod touch 4gen 2010-- how is this different from an mini-tablet or rather iphone w/o cellular.
As Developing World Goes Mobile, Can Apple Make The Sale?
by STEVE HENN
January 28, 2013 3:14 PM
How does this affect the message of the article.