iPhone No Longer Appealing to Teens

Tig Bitties · Jan 11, 2013

dmelgar said:
Not entirely surprising. All it takes is an ad from Samsung making owning an iPhone seem uncool.

Done. Instantly uncool.

Teenagers can be sheep, easily manipulated through advertising and their need to fit in and seem cool.

Actually not unlike the average consumer either. Hence why everyone advertises. And Samsung has spent way more than anyone else. I still think they managed to work their magic on the Android community and paint themselves the poor little company fight the big evil Apple empire. I'm still amazed that folks have fallen for that given that Samsung is a much bigger conglomerate that makes everything, is 20% of the South Korean GDP, is run by a criminal convicted of bribery and miraculously 'pardoned', whose business ethics see nothing wrong imitating patented ideas as closely as possible.

Spot on, teens are the easiest to advertise too, they are simple minded still. Two years ago, Apple and iPhone was the be all, end all smartphone, nothing else even existed in their minds. If it wasn't an iPhone, it wasn't a true smartphone to them.

Now, that's over with the teen crowd I know. Today it's about the Galaxy S3 and Note II, and to this same crowd, the iPhone has become their parents phone, and looked at as uncool and "Out" phone.

Funny how quick that opinion changed in just a couple of years.

I am serious, but if Apple just sticks to the same old same old, they will become RIM in five years, wondering how they slipped from top dog, to second or third place. Mainly iOS needs a revamp ASAP, a fresh new UI is a must. And then a slightly larger screen too, they should go at least to 4.3" 16.9 screen.

Paulywauly · Jan 11, 2013

Damolee said:
Exactly that. LOL

Guys worried about the age of a chick when on the prowl & she is seemingly 18+?.... does she have a Blackberry? ...AVOID!

lol She's either below the legal age or has bad taste

abhinav7333 · Jan 11, 2013

This is the best thing that has happened to apple. For the last 2 years they have been sitting on their ass. Lets get the ball rolling Apple.

Yujenisis · Jan 11, 2013

aliensporebomb said:
Product placement in a popular television show can influence public opinion.

Absolutely true, however, Samsung deciding to pay for product placement in a program is not in itself an indication of the popularity of a product with the show's demographic: it's a sign that the company wishes to engage with that demographic and is willing to pay for it.

That said, Samsung is clearly upping it's game in their attempts to have the "cool factor" Apple currently enjoys with a wide swath of consumers. I wouldn't be surprised if they see increasing success with catching "cool".

jf1450 · Jan 11, 2013

Gives me all the more reason to buy another one.

. Who cares what they think?

Tig Bitties · Jan 11, 2013

abhinav7333 said:
This is the best thing that has happened to apple. For the last 2 years they have been sitting on their ass. Lets get the ball rolling Apple.

Totally agree. Apple has been stagnant on the iPhone, lately. To me the iPhone 4 was the last major release, it had the beautiful new industrial design, and retina display, and iOS was updated pretty big at the time. Then the iPhone 4S was just more of the same, with slight updates but nothing radical, and the iPhone 5 was still similar again to the iPhone 4 design theme, just thinner, and slightly taller, but iOS6 was barely changed whatsoever over iOS5.

#1 Apple needs to update iOS, new UI, and fresh design. Which I am 100% confident will happen with Ive's in charge of iOS now, he has publicly stated iOS will see an overhaul.

#2 The screen needs to grow a little bigger still. 4" is still to small, I am not saying going Android large @ 4.8", that's too large, but 4.3" would be the sweet spot.

Squilly · Jan 11, 2013

Tig Bitties said:
Spot on, teens are the easiest to advertise too, they are simple minded still. Two years ago, Apple and iPhone was the be all, end all smartphone, nothing else even existed in their minds. If it wasn't an iPhone, it wasn't a true smartphone to them.

Now, that's over with the teen crowd I know. Today it's about the Galaxy S3 and Note II, and to this same crowd, the iPhone has become their parents phone, and looked at as uncool and "Out" phone.

Funny how quick that opinion changed in just a couple of years.

I am serious, but if Apple just sticks to the same old same old, they will become RIM in five years, wondering how they slipped from top dog, to second or third place. Mainly iOS needs a revamp ASAP, a fresh new UI is a must. And then a slightly larger screen too, they should go at least to 4.3" 16.9 screen.

Couldn't agree more.

----------

Tig Bitties said:
Totally agree. Apple has been stagnant on the iPhone, lately. To me the iPhone 4 was the last major release, it had the beautiful new industrial design, and retina display, and iOS was updated pretty big at the time. Then the iPhone 4S was just more of the same, with slight updates but nothing radical, and the iPhone 5 was still similar again to the iPhone 4 design theme, just thinner, and slightly taller, but iOS6 was barely changed whatsoever over iOS5.

#1 Apple needs to update iOS, new UI, and fresh design. Which I am 100% confident will happen with Ive's in charge of iOS now, he has publicly stated iOS will see an overhaul.

#2 The screen needs to grow a little bigger still. 4" is still to small, I am not saying going Android large @ 4.8", that's too large, but 4.3" would be the sweet spot.

Oh come on... Before the 4" screen, everyone said the next best size would be 4". Now that the Note II is out, everyone thinks "bigger is better".

Tig Bitties · Jan 11, 2013

Squilly said:
Couldn't agree more.

----------

Oh come on... Before the 4" screen, everyone said the next best size would be 4". Now that the Note II is out, everyone thinks "bigger is better".

Apple should have went 4" properly, like the Nexus-S was back in 2010, 16.9 The iPhone 5 just went taller, but not wider too, like it should have been.

lunaoso · Jan 11, 2013

Tig Bitties said:
Apple should have went 4" properly, like the Nexus-S was back in 2010, 16.9 The iPhone 5 just went taller, but not wider too, like it should have been.

The reason it's only taller is to achieve the 16:9 ratio. If it was wider then they would also have to make it even taller, so that they could keep the 16:9 aspect ratio, instead of the old ratio of 2:3.

Damolee · Jan 11, 2013

I'm glad this has happening.

There is a steeper learning curb with Android, kids might actually learn something.

On the flipside, it also means there might be more improvements to iOS which suit the older crowd.

Weerez935 · Jan 12, 2013

jav6454 said:
Exactly.

I said teens. I need an iPhone due to work. I have to use email and other stuff on it. Give me a good reason a teen would need an iPhone for? Please don't say school (unless you are in college and even then its a reach).

Well I am in my 20s, married, college degree, and in my last years of pharmacy school now.

I started highschool with a Motorola v600 or something like that with no texting. Honestly I was fine with that. If I had a wreck or something I could call the insurance company or dad. The reception was also better on that phone than the house phone and Cingular to Cingular was free. I still don't think there is much use for someone under 16 or driving to have any phone. My step sisters were determined to get RAZR phones so the end of my sophomore year retired my 6 year old hand me down and I got texting. Big deal. It looked nice but my other phone did the same things. Then dad upgraded mine after the contract ran out to an htc tilt which was my first smart phone. I hated it. The browser sucked, the ui sucked etc and I made little use of those features. Dad sent that one back and got a Samsung eternity instead which was a nice phone in my opinion. It was small feature poor but easy to talk/text on. Then the start of college dad had an upgrade ready and we both got iPhones.

I have started to appreciate it more and more as I have more time to devote to the "iLife" but it was incredibly useful for my undergrad studies.
By the time I got my 3GS iPhones were common place but it was the top of the line still.
I loved it. It was small, it had apps that were useful and it had a good browser.

Since then I have upgraded to a 4s that I've had the past year and a half and I love it as well.

However to me an iPhone was tremendously helpful in college for:

Creating schedules, calendar events, exam days

Flash card study apps

Evernote: viewing power points since my hp at the time did not have a way to view them

Looking up translations/ sparknotes for English

Checking email for school, work, home etc

Mymathlab/ Kahn academy on the fly for calculus

There are many many more but to me an iPhone is like a Swiss Army knife for a college kid. Being able to view/edit/ create documents on the fly is invaluable to those of us with difficult majors.

Now I have learned to appreciate some of its other features like being my Apple TV remote, face timing so my daughter can see her grandma everyday, photo stream, imatch etc.

Now I'm not sure what I'd do without it and I highly doubt any other phone will work well in an already apple setup.

bonskovsky · Jan 12, 2013

Who cares about teens? I'm 21? XD

rans0m00 · Jan 12, 2013

Weerez935 said:
Well I am in my 20s, married, college degree, and in my last years of pharmacy school now.

I started highschool with a Motorola v600 or something like that with no texting. Honestly I was fine with that. If I had a wreck or something I could call the insurance company or dad. The reception was also better on that phone than the house phone and Cingular to Cingular was free. I still don't think there is much use for someone under 16 or driving to have any phone. My step sisters were determined to get RAZR phones so the end of my sophomore year retired my 6 year old hand me down and I got texting. Big deal. It looked nice but my other phone did the same things. Then dad upgraded mine after the contract ran out to an htc tilt which was my first smart phone. I hated it. The browser sucked, the ui sucked etc and I made little use of those features. Dad sent that one back and got a Samsung eternity instead which was a nice phone in my opinion. It was small feature poor but easy to talk/text on. Then the start of college dad had an upgrade ready and we both got iPhones.

I have started to appreciate it more and more as I have more time to devote to the "iLife" but it was incredibly useful for my undergrad studies.
By the time I got my 3GS iPhones were common place but it was the top of the line still.
I loved it. It was small, it had apps that were useful and it had a good browser.

Since then I have upgraded to a 4s that I've had the past year and a half and I love it as well.

However to me an iPhone was tremendously helpful in college for:

Creating schedules, calendar events, exam days

Flash card study apps

Evernote: viewing power points since my hp at the time did not have a way to view them

Looking up translations/ sparknotes for English

Checking email for school, work, home etc

Mymathlab/ Kahn academy on the fly for calculus

There are many many more but to me an iPhone is like a Swiss Army knife for a college kid. Being able to view/edit/ create documents on the fly is invaluable to those of us with difficult majors.

Now I have learned to appreciate some of its other features like being my Apple TV remote, face timing so my daughter can see her grandma everyday, photo stream, imatch etc.

Now I'm not sure what I'd do without it and I highly doubt any other phone will work well in an already apple setup.

In a full apple house I bet android would not mix well.... Everything you mentioned android can do same as an ios device except imessage. As more people I know deviate from ios the imessage loss has turned into a non issue.

Some day if you really feel like giving android a chance give it a spin... If you use it to androids full extent you pretty much end up with a portable pc. Mine does everything I need a pc to do... I still use my pc due to the ease of typing on my computer and being able to save everything to Dropbox and have it on my android without any bumps in the road.

Weerez935 · Jan 12, 2013

rans0m00 said:
In a full apple house I bet android would not mix well.... Everything you mentioned android can do same as an ios device except imessage. As more people I know deviate from ios the imessage loss has turned into a non issue.

Some day if you really feel like giving android a chance give it a spin... If you use it to androids full extent you pretty much end up with a portable pc. Mine does everything I need a pc to do... I still use my pc due to the ease of typing on my computer and being able to save everything to Dropbox and have it on my android without any bumps in the road.

I've tried them.
My mother in law has one as well as my grandmother lol. I just can't get used to it.
While an iPhone may not sport all of those features I like what I'm used to.

Damolee · Jan 12, 2013

Nobody uses iMessage here, it's all about WhatsApp. Cross platform iOS, Android and BB and does exactly the same job. (Including emoji built in)

hafr · Jan 12, 2013

Damolee said:
Nobody uses iMessage here, it's all about WhatsApp. Cross platform iOS, Android and BB and does exactly the same job. (Including emoji built in)

Where's "here"?

Last time I heard someone actually discussing WhatsApp it was a bunch of retired people next to me in a café, talking about how amazing it was to keep in contact with their kids and grandkids in a way that made them feel so involved/up to date. It was pretty interesting, because that's definitely one aspect that I had never even thought about before.

Plus, it was quite funny to see old people sitting their with their brand new smartphones, some using "youthful" covers, talking about which apps were the best, the difference between Android and iOS and so on.

Abazigal · Jan 12, 2013

Damolee said:
Nobody uses iMessage here, it's all about WhatsApp. Cross platform iOS, Android and BB and does exactly the same job. (Including emoji built in)

Until they build whatsapp for ipad and macs, imessage is still my main way of quickly messaging people from my iPad, imac and macbook air.

Squilly · Jan 12, 2013

Like... No. Apple is hopping on the bandwagon. Bigger phone = more sales. They don't seem to understand that BETTER phone = more sales.

hafr · Jan 12, 2013

Squilly said:
Like... No. Apple is hopping on the bandwagon. Bigger phone = more sales. They don't seem to understand that BETTER phone = more sales.

What an odd thing to say. To a large part of the smartphone buying population, a bigger screen is better than a smaller screen. It's not about hopping on the bandwagon, it's about listening to your customers and giving them what they want.

If the iPhone 5 would still have the 3,5" screen, but the rest would be the same - I don't think I would have bought it to be honest. Especially not now after having gotten used to the 4" display of the iPhone 5.

sulpfiction · Jan 12, 2013

Blakjack said:
It's these darn big a** android phones man. All Apple has to do is make a big a** phone and no one will buy an android ever again. It's really that simple.

Personally, I would hate to see a big (note sized) apple branded phone. Ill take the 4" with possibly a bit more width somewhere down the road. But if u think making a big screen will gain a huge % of the market, I think ur wrong. In fact, I think it would be a flop.

iPhonemaster5S · Jan 12, 2013

I am a teen and I have both a Samsung Galaxy SIII and a iPhone 4S, I have to say that I am using my samsung more than my iPhone because of it's screen size. Most of the kids at my high school have iPhones however the smarter kids have an SIII ( not to say that i'm a genius ). Some of my friends were talking about getting a iPhone 5 but only one of them got one and said " It looks like an elongated brick " which the more time I spend looking at it the more I see it aswell. However most people is my school chose iPhone becuase of its status symbol. Ut if you want to stand out get a samsung.

corvus32 · Jan 12, 2013

At this point, Apple's competitors are throwing everything they can at consumers to see what sticks. Huge screens that are not easy to use with one hand or carry in a pocket. Silly phone resolutions, like 1080p, is another. The list continues.

It's either chip away profit from Apple, or wither away from the higher end market.

They're hoping a percentage of iPhone users begin to feel their device is inadequate. The youngest are the easiest to persuade, and that's the demographic they're after right now.

If Apple wanted, they could respond irrationally with a similar device and call it a day.

I'd rather see something different.

Drunken Master · Jan 12, 2013

VanNess said:
Gotta love this:

Yeah, much better to go somewhere else and buy stuff no one obviously wants.

This article is high on opinion and scant on just about anything else, especially data. And when they suggest the surface tablet as being on anyone's wish list - let alone teens - you know something's up

Instead of a Forbes fluff piece, how about something that actually has data to back up it's claims.

I'm convinced that whoever edits the tech articles at Forbes is either on drugs or doesn't even read the pieces sent their way.

They actually published this article last week from a guy who said Apple should ditch the iPhone because RIM is experiencing a resurgence in the smartphone market.

It's like an April Fool's story being published in January.

vastoholic · Jan 12, 2013

iPhonemaster5S said:
I am a teen and I have both a Samsung Galaxy SIII and a iPhone 4S, I have to say that I am using my samsung more than my iPhone because of it's screen size. Most of the kids at my high school have iPhones however the smarter kids have an SIII ( not to say that i'm a genius ). Some of my friends were talking about getting a iPhone 5 but only one of them got one and said " It looks like an elongated brick " which the more time I spend looking at it the more I see it aswell. However most people is my school chose iPhone becuase of its status symbol. Ut if you want to stand out get a samsung.

Perfect example of using a phone as a status symbol. You said it yourself. If you're smart and want to stand out, get a Samsung. I never understood the elongated brick comment. I don't think these kids have seen actual bricks before. For one, most standard housing bricks are long and skinny anyway, so calling the iPhone an elongated brick is odd. But how do you even equate something this small to a brick, much less any current smart phone out there. The old Nokia 5150 was more like a brick. The old bag phones were more like a brick.

macingman · Jan 12, 2013

As a teenager the iPhone still appeals to me. 90% of friends use an iPhone.

iPhone No Longer Appealing to Teens

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