I'm with you on everything you say but unfortunately it seems like hardly anyone is hearing you.
Oh I suspect more of us think this way than we realise. The people who shout the loudest often are just making noise for the sake of noise. The rest of us sit back, see what happens and think about it and then, based on the sales numbers, go out and by iPhones!
People keep making these really sweeping statement about why people buy stuff. They say it's down to style and that big screens are really popular so Apple will lose sales if they do not provide a larger screened device. Th problem with this thinking is that it isn't supported by the facts.
Android phones all run the same software and the same apps. The only thing they have to compete on is hardware. The only way HTC can sell a handset ahead of Samsung or Motorola is by having some kind of fancy new tech in there regardless of how useful it really is. That's why you have Android handsets with 4.4" screens. Stupidly large screens. But then if they didn't keep one-upping each other with bigger screens or LTE stuff how would they differentiate themselves?
Apple doesn't need to do that. Apple has iOS, iTunes and the App Store and now iCloud. So they don't need to get involved in the spec arms race. They offer a unique product that no one else can offer.
So if you're a tech monkey then you're better off with Android because Samsung, HTC, Motorola and the like will force each other to push out higher and higher spec devices again and again. You end up with a million form factors and phones that do things that no sane person really needs them to do because that's how they can sell their phones. But you also end up with the downsides of such differentiation. LTE phones that suck batteries to death and machines so big you can't fit them in your pocket or reach all the bits of the screen with one hand. You also end up with design choices being made to accommodate these differentiating features which actually end up making the stuff that works well work slightly less well!
A friend of mine has an Android phone which uses a system where you can sketch shapes on the screen to activate certain things. An arrow pointing left to go back or right to go forward, for example. It's neat tech and, speaking as someone who used to sell phones for a living, would certainly be useful as a demo to help you sell the handset to tech hungry guys, but in reality it isn't useful. You need to press a button to activate it, for a start, and then half the time the system doesn't recognise the shape you draw! But the problem is you paid for it. The R&D and licensing of tech was all added to the price you paid for the phone. You paid for a feature which really only exists in order to sell you the phone but does nothing for you once you have it!
My point is that Apple works differently. They don't always get it right (Ping, anyone?) but they also don't have to add stuff just because other people have it on their handsets because they can use the unique aspects of their product as listed above to set themselves apart. That's why they're not in a rush to do a full redesign and add LTE, big screens and cup holders. Because they don't have to. And it doesn't seem to be hurting their sales one little bit.
was so well known for. It seems they are resting too much on their laurels!!
