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iPhone 5 dock watch thread...

I just have to say that the lack of an Apple-produced dock as well as no plans to release one makes me question whomever is driving the company's strategy.

To completely ignore one of the most basic accessories for your flagship product makes no sense to me whatsoever. The fact that Apple custom designs its own solution for display in their stores should tell the management something.

I wonder if at some point down the road if the Apple empire is nothing more than a business school case study this decision might be viewed as one of the warning signs that while the train hasn't completely derailed, there's a rough road ahead.
 
jasonbaum said:
I just have to say that the lack of an Apple-produced dock as well as no plans to release one makes me question whomever is driving the company's strategy.

To completely ignore one of the most basic accessories for your flagship product makes no sense to me whatsoever. The fact that Apple custom designs its own solution for display in their stores should tell the management something.

I wonder if at some point down the road if the Apple empire is nothing more than a business school case study this decision might be viewed as one of the warning signs that while the train hasn't completely derailed, there's a rough road ahead.
Click to expand...

I personally think there is quite a bit of strategy behind this.

By not creating a proprietary dock for the iPhone 5 they are diversifying the "Made for iPhone" market. They have no need to manufacture the product in questions and still get a portion of the profit.

Sooner or later i believe we will see a tone of licensed docks flooding the market, similarly to one of the contributing factors of why apple ended up abandoning the hi-fi it was competition to the abundance of speaker docks.

imo.
 
Geoffb3 said:
I personally think there is quite a bit of strategy behind this.

By not creating a proprietary dock for the iPhone 5 they are diversifying the "Made for iPhone" market. They have no need to manufacture the product in questions and still get a portion of the profit.

Sooner or later i believe we will see a tone of licensed docks flooding the market, similarly to one of the contributing factors of why apple ended up abandoning the hi-fi it was competition to the abundance of speaker docks.

imo.
Click to expand...

I like your optimism and I honestly hope you're right.

That being said, I would suggest that the core competencies involved in getting into hi-fi vs. building a dock are at different ends of the spectrum. So I don't know if the comparison is (and I hate to use the expression) "apples to apples".

As far as diversifying the "Made for iPhone" market, it seems like Apple's dock didn't stop third party manufacturers from getting into the game. By creating a basic, no bells and whistles dock, Apple, in my opinion, left the door wide open for anyone and everyone to improve on the design.

The fact that Apple has chosen to develop a solution for their retail stores out of necessity says something to me. Even if Phil Schiller doesn't believe Apple needs to make a dock, the retail division needs them. And I can't imagine Apple ever using a third-party dock across their stores (when one that meets their design standards comes out) to show off their flagship product.

Bottom line: You're optimistic and I'm wondering if this is another sign of company struggling to do what they seemed to do for so long, figure out what people wanted and needed and gave it to them before people even knew it.

imo
 
jasonbaum said:
I like your optimism and I honestly hope you're right.

That being said, I would suggest that the core competencies involved in getting into hi-fi vs. building a dock are at different ends of the spectrum. So I don't know if the comparison is (and I hate to use the expression) "apples to apples".

As far as diversifying the "Made for iPhone" market, it seems like Apple's dock didn't stop third party manufacturers from getting into the game. By creating a basic, no bells and whistles dock, Apple, in my opinion, left the door wide open for anyone and everyone to improve on the design.

The fact that Apple has chosen to develop a solution for their retail stores out of necessity says something to me. Even if Phil Schiller doesn't believe Apple needs to make a dock, the retail division needs them. And I can't imagine Apple ever using a third-party dock across their stores (when one that meets their design standards comes out) to show off their flagship product.

Bottom line: You're optimistic and I'm wondering if this is another sign of company struggling to do what they seemed to do for so long, figure out what people wanted and needed and gave it to them before people even knew it.

imo
Click to expand...

Read what you just wrote. You posited that because Apple hasn't made an iPhone Dock, they're doomed to failure. A DOCK. A single accessory that a fairly small portion of customers bought is signaling the downfall of Apple?!?
 
Senseotech said:
Read what you just wrote. You posited that because Apple hasn't made an iPhone Dock, they're doomed to failure. A DOCK. A single accessory that a fairly small portion of customers bought is signaling the downfall of Apple?!?
Click to expand...

I think in the context of what I said in my original message, I am merely conjecturing on the future of apple.

To quote myself:

I wonder if at some point down the road if the Apple empire is nothing more than a business school case study this decision might be viewed as one of the warning signs that while the train hasn't completely derailed, there's a rough road ahead.
Click to expand...

Not "signaling the downfall"...more like a warning sign. And I'm not stating this is happening. As I said in my original message, I'm simply "wondering" if it could be.
 
jasonbaum said:
I think in the context of what I said in my original message, I am merely conjecturing on the future of apple.

To quote myself:



Not "signaling the downfall"...more like a warning sign. And I'm not stating this is happening. As I said in my original message, I'm simply "wondering" if it could be.
Click to expand...

"Wondering" if it could be is a poor excuse to cover up the fact that you're insinuating that because theres no iPhone 5 dock, its a sign that Apple is failing. The sky is not falling because of Apple chose not to make an accessory they saw little benefit from and customers rarely bought, and to say, think, or passive-aggressively "wonder" is downright absurd.
 
Senseotech said:
"Wondering" if it could be is a poor excuse to cover up the fact that you're insinuating that because theres no iPhone 5 dock, its a sign that Apple is failing. The sky is not falling because of Apple chose not to make an accessory they saw little benefit from and customers rarely bought, and to say, think, or passive-aggressively "wonder" is downright absurd.
Click to expand...

Sorry...got you confused with whom Geoffb3... you didn't make the arguments about the decision not to make docks.

You just quoted me out of context to give a different meaning to what I said.
 
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jasonbaum said:
I have no desire to get in a pissing match with you sir. I was simply trying to give the thread something to think about with a larger perspective than what dock they are going to buy.

You responded to my original post by absurdly comparing Apple getting out of the hi-fi business with their getting out of the dock business.

You further argued that by making a dock, Apple stymied third parties from making docks. Really? Care to explain how there are so many docks out there for iPhones 1-4?

And then you take my statements out of context to make me sound like I said something I didn't?
Click to expand...

Actually, I'm quite sure I never mentioned hi-fi or third party dock solutions. What I did mention was about the concept that you think a single accessory is somehow a sign of Apple's decline.
 
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oneMadRssn said:
Agreed. Which makes me think it's probably pretty good. Plus, it seems to support the back of the phone pretty well.
Click to expand...

I went ahead and ordered it. I do hope that more quality ones hit the market in the next 3-6 months (especially ones sold in the U.S. where it doesn't take up to 20 days for delivery!).
 
RCRod83 said:
I went ahead and ordered it. I do hope that more quality ones hit the market in the next 3-6 months (especially ones sold in the U.S. where it doesn't take up to 20 days for delivery!).
Click to expand...

Which one? The one from ebay or the one from iphone5mods?

Let us know how good it is when you get it on here? Please? 🙂
 
Dock I made on eBay. I have several others.
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=160916187911&index=7&nav=SEARCH&nid=97127796500
 
jasonbaum said:
Bottom line: You're optimistic and I'm wondering if this is another sign of company struggling to do what they seemed to do for so long, figure out what people wanted and needed and gave it to them before people even knew it.
Click to expand...

Bottom line: if you add up all of the people in this thread plus all of the people who have backed every iPhone 5 dock on kickstarter, you still don't come up with a very big number. For kickstarter projects, the numbers look good, though not great, but the numbers aren't big enough to point to an obvious product hole Apple needed to fill.

As for your comment about Apple creating a solution to dock iPhones in their stores... Apple wasn't housing iPhone 4 models in their iPhone 4 docks, nor do they house iPads in their own iPad docks. Apple came up with a custom solution that better fit the needs of their stores. It only makes sense that they've done that again for the iPhone 5.

Hey, I want an iPhone 5 dock as much as you do, but people like us are in such a tiny minority that Apple decided to leave it up to other companies to fill that need.
 
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oneMadRssn said:
Has anyone ordered one of these?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/9-Pin-Conne...Station-Desktop-For-iPhone-5-5G-/251175309726

They look pretty decent actually. I might take the plunge.
Click to expand...

King Julian said:
It appears to be similar to this one

http://iphone5mod.com/shop/iphone-5-dock-pro/
Click to expand...

This is precisely what I'm talking about in my comment above. iPhone5mod looks to me like it's just one guy buying that stuff on ebay and reselling it at a markup for easy money. Those are both the same product.

I feel bad for people who are dumb enough to get fooled by the word "Pro." It's showing up everywhere, especially in apps. Sheesh. I'm not saying this is a bad dock though. It looks exactly like what I want, especially if it isn't light as a feather. I had a dock kind of similar to this for my iPhone 4 and I loved it. If this thing works, I plan on buying one on ebay.
 
goodgnus said:
This is precisely what I'm talking about in my comment above. iPhone5mod looks to me like it's just one guy buying that stuff on ebay and reselling it at a markup for easy money. Those are both the same product.

I feel bad for people who are dumb enough to get fooled by the word "Pro." It's showing up everywhere, especially in apps. Sheesh. I'm not saying this is a bad dock though. It looks exactly like what I want, especially if it isn't light as a feather. I had a dock kind of similar to this for my iPhone 4 and I loved it. If this thing works, I plan on buying one on ebay.
Click to expand...

Eh, so what? Are you angry with them because of they're entrepreneurial spirit? Sure iphone5mods.com is buying stuff in Asia and reselling it here in the US at a significant markup, but it comes with a few bonuses. First, they offer a warrantee (though, we won't know how good that is until someone takes them up on it). Second, they offer to ship it from the US which for some people matters. Third, they offer a certain level of testing and quality assurance (it might be slim, but we can see from their pictures that they at least plugged it in and made sure it works and fits). All these things make the mark-up a bit more worth it, and the smarter of us can go strait to the source and buy it through ebay to save a few bucks.

Also, iphone5mods says they will sell that dock with a microUSB input which I cannot find on ebay but would prefer.
 
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