Phil Schiller Says Apple Wouldn't Sacrifice Quality for Market Share in a Cheaper iPhone

[imacintosh.0]

Originally Posted by AppleScruff1

That confirms it.

Confirms that you were generalizing and then dismissed the person who realized it? Yes. Yes it does.

[adildacoolset]

Originally Posted by lilo777

many people believe that aluminum is a superior case material choice but that's absolutely incorrect. Just think about it. By using aluminum, Apple loses the ability to have a lot of features in the phone, namely NFC, wireless charging, replaceable battery and memory cards (not that iOS can handle memory cards but more advances mobile OSes can). The shiny aluminum case does attracts the buyers but then what's the first thing they do? They put iPhone in the plastic case. Apparently most people do prefer plastic to aluminum after all.

Wrong. I keep my iphone 5 naked. It's just beautiful. I don't care whether it does that stuff. But I think that the look and feel of the aluminium makes the iphone 5 feel more premium. That, is something apple has always done.

[Squilly]

I don't see how this benefits anyone. Big deal, $200 vs $100. A typical cellular plan for one line is $100 a MONTH. They're filling the "poor" niched market. $2400 in two years > $100 in two years. Hello?

[From A Buick 8]

Originally Posted by Dave.UK

Just like we do with aluminum tin cans.....Hang about....

Not familiar with the phrase "hang About"

[Analog Kid]

Originally Posted by imacintosh.0

Wrong. What you said was many here said retina was unnecessary and that the mini screen was good enough. You're saying that's the same thing as saying "it's not as good, but good enough"?

The whole point of my post to you was the fact that many people did not say it was unnecessary.

I probably shouldn't weigh in on an argument that isn't mine, but since I've had to read past your posts I kinda feel entitled...

You're arguing like a bot without natural language context. Try adding these logic rules to your knowledgebase:

Necessary(A) -> !GoodEnough(!A)
GoodEnough(A) -> !Necessary(!A)

If it is "necessary", alternatives are "not good enough". If it is "good enough", alternatives are "unnecessary".

This might help parse the information content of a post beyond what you can get with regexps.

[brdeveloper]

Originally Posted by Radio

Apple should make a cheaper phone for other markets

In the USA a cheaper phone won't really matter due to subsidies

In USA, the first class iPhone wouldn't sell without subsidies. This is the main difference between USA, some european countries and most of "the rest of the world": subsidies aren't worth.

A less expensive iPhone, made in "the country where it's sold", would turn the iPhone a big seller in these countries. Actually, a slightly updated 3GS costing the price of a Galaxy Ace would sell a lot.

[cotak]

Originally Posted by iAco

No ****.

You'd have a severe mental illness if you think Apple will go from metal to plastic.

I'd be disgusted.

They did before from original iPhone to the 3G. The toilet's that way if you need to throw up.

[firewood]

Originally Posted by Squilly

I don't see how this benefits anyone. Big deal, $200 vs $100. A typical cellular plan for one line is $100 a MONTH. They're filling the "poor" niched market. $2400 in two years > $100 in two years. Hello?

Tons of people with regular income can't add, multiply, subtract or budget well enough to avoid paying obscene interest on their maxed out credit cards. They don't have an extra $100 up front because they already spent nearly their entire last paycheck. But they still pay their phone bill lest they die of farcebook withdrawal.

[iAco]

Originally Posted by cotak

They did before from original iPhone to the 3G. The toilet's that way if you need to throw up.

And I didn't own an iPhone until 4, when it actually became an iPhone.

[imacintosh.0]

Originally Posted by iAco

And I didn't own an iPhone until 4, when it actually became an iPhone.

It was always an iPhone!

[fiddlestyx]

Originally Posted by imacintosh.0

It was always an iPhone!

Lies, that makes too much sense!

[Squilly]

Originally Posted by firewood

Tons of people with regular income can't add, multiply, subtract or budget well enough to avoid paying obscene interest on their maxed out credit cards. They don't have an extra $100 up front because they already spent nearly their entire last paycheck. But they still pay their phone bill lest they die of farcebook withdrawal.

Which, chances are, will be more than what the phone is worth on a family plan.

[macaddict06]

Originally Posted by gpat

Just like they didn't make a cheaper, smaller tablet because someone wished it were cheaper and smaller?

Fair point, so to clarify what I mean is something cheap, vs something which is less expensive. I meant cheap to refer to build quality, not just the price point. Case and point: Dell makes cheap computers - lower build quality, lower specs etc (not to say all of them, but the low-end Dells). Apple would never build one of these machines. Same for their portable lineup.

A less expensive version? Sure, like you said, iPad Mini. A cheap version, i.e. plasticky or crummy version of the full iPad at a lower price? Not on your life.

[hleewell]

Apple: don't give in to external pressure to market cheap iPhone. If anything, you should split the line, a low end iPhone for the masses assembled in China, Brazil & Indonesia, and high end iPhone with quality parts (screen, audiophile DAC, faster, cooler processor) possibly assembled in USA.

[Smileyboy]

That means a cheaper iPhone Is coming... Notice how carefully that is worded....

[swagi]

Originally Posted by Michael Scrip

Apple is... and has always been... a hardware company.

iTunes? Helps sell iPods. App Store? Helps sell iPhones and iPads.

Like KnightWRX said... Apple sells content to add value to the devices. The content was never supposed to be Apple's primary source of income.

By the way... Apple entered the smartphone market without the App Store... and the iPod didn't have the iTunes Store until 2 years later as well.

You can theoretically use an iPhone or iPod without ever spending a dime on music or apps. And that's fine... because Apple already got your money from buying the hardware.

Guess what... that's how most consumer electronics companies function. Apple is unusual in that they also have their own content store.

How can you say with a straight face that Apple failed to translate iOS sales into iTunes revenue?

Did you know iTunes is the largest online music store in the world? Or that the App Store has 40 billion downloads with $7 billion paid to developers?

Guess who's buying all that stuff? iOS users... and Apple keeps a little bit of that money too.

It's absurd to think the iTunes store doesn't generate revenue when it's the most profitable store of its kind.

So you're talking cumulated sales into success - and obviously have not looked at the graphs provided by Knight. Consider 40 billion downloads vs. 10 billion $ over time. Just read what you've posted.

[Michael Scrip]

Originally Posted by swagi

So you're talking cumulated sales into success - and obviously have not looked at the graphs provided by Knight. Consider 40 billion downloads vs. 10 billion $ over time. Just read what you've posted.

You said Apple is forcing a monopoly of content and media.

While they do that... content and media are not Apple's main source of income.

I understand growth... and all companies need to grow.

If Apple fails to grow... but they do have a media store... what about the companies who fail to grow but who don't have a media store?

I still don't think Apple got into the phone business to sell apps, though.

Apple makes their money on the hardware... anything else is supplemental.

They aren't Amazon who sells the hardware at cost and then MUST make money on content.

[alexN350z]

Maybe Apple really doesn't care about market share, but it is a big deal for many third party software companies. They will spend resource on the platform most likely to succeed in market share.

[KTF]

Originally Posted by etrinh

Quality doesn't meet the most recent tech. Quality means its supposed to look good, feel good, and last long.

not with 3 year old tech for premium price

[RenoG]

Why is this rumor so hard to comprehend. Based on what Phil said in the interview and whats already out (ipad mini), its reasonable assume that this cheaper iphone will simply be a lessor spec'd high quality piece much like the iP-mini.

[whatever]

Originally Posted by KnightWRX

I don't think the iPod ever represented such a big portion of Apple's revenues. The iPhone being 50% of their revenues is something that hasn't ever happened to Apple as far as I know ( outside of the Mac line-up)

Yes, the iPod represented more than 1/2 of Apples revenues, right up until the iPhone came out.