Exactly. I would much rather prefer this method than major redesigns that offer nothing new...or what they offer is a shiny new buggy mess.
Unfortunately I think this is where the Android-powered devices have screwed up everyone's line of thought. There are new Android phones coming out all the time. It seems like every other day I see a commercial for next Droid "iwillcrushyourlastphone" phone that gets people thinking "Wow, I've had the same phone for over a year, I MUST be behind." But, what I've come to like about my iPhone and other Apple products is how well they work and how LONG they stay working well. I had the Motorola Droid 1 and it was crawling a year later. I had very few apps and did far less than I do on my iPhone 4. My iPhone a year later is still running like the day I bought it, with FAR MORE apps, music etc. I want more of that which is why I applaud the way Apple does their thing...and it's why I won't switch back to Android-powered phones any time soon.
Very well said. I have an EVO 4G. Decent phone as far as Androids go but not the smoothest experience. Since I bought this phone I have seen a procession of new phones being released by HTC and Samsung and Motorola. I started thinking to myself recently that for Android users this has got to be frustrating. You buy what you believe to be the latest greatest phone which has been out for about 30 or 45 days just to see a new phone that is reportedly better and has "better" specs than your phone. What are you supposed to do or think? Why the hell did they release this piece of crap knowing that six weeks later they were releasing something better?
Now as an Android user you have to start feeling like all these new phones are nothing more than a money grab. Why the hell would HTC release 6 or 8 phones within a 12 month period if not for the money grab? So phone A has a better screen but phone B has better processor. Phone C has more memory. Phone D has a better processor but a smaller screen. Phone E has a ginormous screen but it's light and plastic feeling. Phone F has better battery life but everything else sucks. When will they manage to put it all together into one package?
Prior to Android I think I upgraded my phone about 2 to 3 years apart. But now I'm expected to upgrade yearly? Or every six months? Ridiculous!
I do appreciate Apple's release schedule and when I finally now get an iPhone I can ignore all the shiny new Androids. I will say this however, While I do appreciate Apple's position and schedule, the market is getting more competitive each and every day. My fear is that if Apple does in fact wait an entire year to release the next gen iPhone (I refuse to put a name to it because it doesn't matter what it's called) they stand to be the company catching up. I know there are some people in this forum that think they are already "catching up" but I don't think that just yet.
While Siri, a better camera, the A5 processor and iCloud are all great updates. I don't know how it will be viewed by Joe Consumer. We geeks understand processors RAM HSDPA+ but average Joe/Jane don't know about these things and don't care. They are going to be sold to by young kids who will tell them that Android phone B is a lot more powerful because it's 1.5 GHz while the iPhone is 1.0GHz or maybe 800MHz and the screen is 2" bigger and it has 1GB of RAM when Joe/Jane's eyes start glazing over all they'll really hear is that the iPhone isn't as good. Please don't forget that Android phones are sold in more outlets than are iPhones. In some cases Joe Customer won't even get to see the iPhone to compare side by side. If the salesperson is working on commission Joe's not leaving without a phone.
Mr Jobs was right when he said that people don't know what they need or want. That "We (Apple) have to show them". But in the coming year I fear that while he was right it may in fact hurt Apple. HTC and Samsung will continue to spit out new phones at a blistering pace. Samsung phones especially of late have been getting very good reviews. In a couple weeks they are going to introduce a new phone with a curved screen and Ice Cream Sandwich. It may blow the roof off.
Now please, don't misunderstand me here. I'm not saying in any way that Samsung phones are better or anything of that nature. But these phones will get tremendous coverage from the tech press and will more than likely get very good reviews. The iPhone 4S may get lost in the flood of all the new phones. And that's only two weeks away. We have another 50 weeks before a new iPhone gets released.
I like the current iPhone and will more than likely buy it(Depending on what Sprint offers me as a current customer I may have to wait for the next iPhone) I think it's fine in it's current iteration. I just don't know if Apple's expectations will be realized this year and if they're not will Apple be pressured into releasing the new iPhone in the spring? I wonder.
