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Apple's 'iPhone 5S Problem' Suggests Need to Be Less Predictable
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Mr.damien
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Just as next any of the next Samsung device can't be guessed ... 
So let me guess, after the Galaxy 4, the Galaxy 5. With more cpu, more memory and more **** in it.
wow, they are so unpredictable.
So let me guess, after the Galaxy 4, the Galaxy 5. With more cpu, more memory and more **** in it.
wow, they are so unpredictable.
I'm pretty sure you are just caving to analyst opinions, just like the rest of the stock market.
If it works why break it? Maybe the reason Android is seeing regularly refreshed UI's is that the UI wasn't that good to begin with?
I'd love some new features on iOS that are missing but I'm generally happy with the UI.
Reasons why people might be disappointed with the 5 :
- The lightning connector may pay dividends in the future, but initially it just meant that many of those 30-pin accessories were much less convenient. If Apple had been at the top of their game, they'd have made a 30-pin-to-lightning adapter designed to sit in a dock.
- Maps debacle around the time of the launch.
- iCloud sucks unless you use it precisely the way Apple intended,
- Android getting its act together and spending less time making iPhone knock-offs and more time offering interesting alternatives like phablets and stylii at one end, and small cheap alternatives at the other. Apple clings to one-size-fits-all.
Hard evidence that this has happened (beyond much whinge^H^H^H^H lively debate on MacRumors) not explicable by the stock market playing pump-and-short:
*crickets*
As for the "S" cycle, that cuts two ways - one of the pains about other gadget manufacturers is that by the time their new shiny is actually in stock in a shop near you, they've started waving the next version around at trade shows. The danger is, people continually put off buying decisions of non-essentials like phones.
I think its quite reassuring to buy a new device knowing (a) you'll usually be able to get it as soon as it is launched and (b) you have 2 years before it gets replaced by a completely new design and people start kicking sand in your face - or you can ride the S cycle and only upgrade after each new design has got over its teething troubles.
A 2-year cycle also fits particularly well with people getting their phones on contract.
I have bought pretty much every iPhone since the 3G, but will be holding off on the 5S this time. In hindsight, there really wasn't any reason to jump from 4 to 4S, but I got caught up in the hype.
The jump to the 5 was justified by the change to LTE alone. I really don't think NFC or a fingerprint sensor will cause for me to upgrade though. The only thing I buy on a daily basis is coffee from Starbucks. I can already scan my phone to do this. As for the non-purchasing functions of NFC, those are still a couple years off. A finger scanner would be a pure gimmick, nothing more.
Hah!
We could say the same thing about Fender and their guitars - the stratocaster hasn't changed in almost 60 years! 3 single coil pickups, vintage tremelo, same design that hasn't changed.
Yet it's still unbelievably popular and they must sell more models of that guitar than anything they make. They make dozens of variations for every concievable type of electric guitar player but it fundamentally hasn't changed much. The shapes are the same.
I think the iPhone is turning into Apple's "Stratocaster".
That being said, I think the iPhone5 was a little underappreciated - it really is quite a nice piece of kit but maybe it isn't different ENOUGH from the previous models to differentiate itself.
But if it's too different, you start to deviate from what people are comfortable with. So they're damned if they do and damned if they don't (probably why some of the 1980s "Heavy Metal" stratocasters didn't fare so well after the 80s music trend receded).
With the 5s if it's going to have the same case they could add another color tint such as gold, more straight gray, something different. People like to show off their new phone and differentiate it from the previous models.
It's called pride in ownership.
I'm sure Samsung will sell a million of these new phones but it suffers some of the same issues with the appearance as their previious model.
As time goes by, it may be a bigger issue for them. "Why isn't Samsung doing anything DIFFERENT?"
We could say the same thing about Fender and their guitars - the stratocaster hasn't changed in almost 60 years! 3 single coil pickups, vintage tremelo, same design that hasn't changed.
Yet it's still unbelievably popular and they must sell more models of that guitar than anything they make. They make dozens of variations for every concievable type of electric guitar player but it fundamentally hasn't changed much. The shapes are the same.
I think the iPhone is turning into Apple's "Stratocaster".
That being said, I think the iPhone5 was a little underappreciated - it really is quite a nice piece of kit but maybe it isn't different ENOUGH from the previous models to differentiate itself.
But if it's too different, you start to deviate from what people are comfortable with. So they're damned if they do and damned if they don't (probably why some of the 1980s "Heavy Metal" stratocasters didn't fare so well after the 80s music trend receded).
With the 5s if it's going to have the same case they could add another color tint such as gold, more straight gray, something different. People like to show off their new phone and differentiate it from the previous models.
It's called pride in ownership.
I'm sure Samsung will sell a million of these new phones but it suffers some of the same issues with the appearance as their previious model.
As time goes by, it may be a bigger issue for them. "Why isn't Samsung doing anything DIFFERENT?"
There's also the fact that it has more capability, better keyboard options, better text app options, more app categories, more freedom, just an all around better user experience experience because the user can choose what happens with the phone, do they want to just use the phone as is right out the box, great. Do they want to tweak? Do it. They have every user in mind.
With that said, iphone is a nice phone, for a while it was the BEST phone. No iphone hate, but Apple should really offer more options. Options do not = complexity
Predictable is bad. Yet people got all pissed off at iPad 4 last year.
Apple can't simply please everyone...
Apple can't simply please everyone...
Sure, but more people have jumped on the ship than off the ship.
I wonder if some people do anything but stare at the homescreen on their iPhone. (And ignore any changes there since 2007.)
Absolutely not true. I have a lot of friends who did the switch to the Galaxy SIII from iPhone, say what you want but it is a good phone. Bigger screen, redesign every year, more features added (rather than a row of icons).
S1 was Meh S2 was Ok but S3 is when they hit gold, in fact, Samsung themselves are feeling the pressure that Apple have felt for years, S4 needs to deliver.
Galaxy S I was HORRIBLE. Poor excuse for a bug ridden phone. Before the S III I hated samsung because before then all the samsungs I had were janky. I was happy with my iphone 4 and EVO 4g
Exactly how I feel. People always look for something new and shiny, no matter how irrelevant those are. Sure, new things are exciting and they're something to talk about and look at, but they should be added only if they add true value to the overall experience of using the phone. New features should be a means to a simpler, easier daily life, not the end by themselves.
People call me and other Apple fans "iSheep", when in fact they're the ones who're addicted with adrenaline rush they get with new, glittery gimmicks.
First, as others have said, the design is different. You don't know what "literally" means. Second, the 5 is a very big step forward from the 4s. They actually improved basically every part of the phone - screen, processor, ram, graphics, wifi, cellular, bigger yet lighter, etc. The 5s will be another small step forward on top of that. All in all, a massive upgrade from your 4s. Whether you need it or not is another question entirely.
This is a pretty useless article and useless rationalizing. It is based on the very poor assumption that I as a consumer would want to switch to another platform and ignores the high value and integration of the MacOS/iOS platform. This also totally fails to value my time as a consumer. I'm not looking for the entertainment (NOT) of learning a new device's quirks. I have real world work I want to get done and the Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPodTouch, etc are tools. I don't want to shop around for a screwdriver with a screwing different handle. I just want to screw in my screws so I can do my stuff. Predictability is good.
Because with the 3GS and 4S Apple was well ahead of everyone. Today Android, Samsung, Winphone 8 and even Blackberry have caught up. So while Apple will release (if they stick to their past schedule) a spec and possibly a feature bump other handset makers will be releasing flagship handsets. This year it might make a difference. We won't know for while yet but 2013 will be very interesting.
I can swear that when 4S was released, the reaction here was that it's already behind the competition.
Why? Are you Apple's biggest customer?
No he's not, but he's a representation of millions upon millions of people. And don't get me wrong, I have the iPhone 5 and an use nothing but Apple in my house and biz. To discount him though is incredibly short-sighted. Because as said, he represents many, many others who feel the same way. So in a sense he IS one Apple's biggest customers. The customers that they are losing.
We can now queue up the ridiculous "Apple doesn't need your business" posts in 3...2...1...
I've had every iPhone starting at the 3G and have loved them all. I've tried a few android handsets as well. Always annoys me when people complain. If you don't like the product then don't buy it. Try something new. No need to complain cause I assure you apple doesn't care.
Those are some pretty convenient assumptions there. ----------
And what about the millions upon millions of people represented by the consumer who is switching to the iPhone? Because there are more of those.
1. Most consumers in the U.S. (Apple's largest market by sales) are on 2-year contracts with their carriers. Therefore, every year, only about half of us are realistically in the market for a new iPhone. Only off-contract subscribers and first-time smartphone buyers have the freedom to "look around" without facing a heavy early termination fee. Apple knows that most people will not pay the ETF every single year, even if there were a radically new iPhone every year. Hence the "tick / tock" model releases.
2. Those of us who are on the even year contract cycle have enjoyed an extra year of "freshness" in terms of exterior iPhone styling. I bought a 3G in 2008 and it still looked up-to-date in 2009. Same with the 4 I bought in 2010. Looked up-to-date right up until September 2012 when the 5 was released. (No, looks aren't everything, but the common tick-tock exterior design helped maintain the resale value of even-year iPhones.)
3. Apple's ecosystem adds huge value to iPhone, and also helps to encourage repeat sales. If you spend a few hundred bucks on apps, music, and movies in the Apple ecosystem over the years, you're going to be less likely to consider switching.
Some time in the near future, the "problem" will go away because we'll reach a point where iPhone and its Samsung copies have all achieved fantastic battery life, hardware features, thinness, lightness, screen resolution, CPU power, low cost, and anything else that will be appropriate for a smartphone. That's when the pattern will really be broken. Happened with iPod, and it will happen with iPhone.
Yes, there will continue to be technical advances ad infinitum, but they will mostly be driven by increasing bandwidth as carriers move from LTE to "real 4G" and beyond. In the meantime, over maybe the next 5 years or so, the tick-tock strategy should work just fine for Apple.