All this "Jobs would never do this" talk - what a bunch of crap. Of course he would. He did! Remember the plastic MacBook? That was fine for him and beloved by many, despite cracking problems. This was a smart move by Apple, IMO. Had they attempted to offer the iPhone 5 at a discount, it would likely have been an 8gb model to make up for the costs associated with the materials and production of the shell. And 8gb iPhones fit very few lifestyles these days. I haven't seen a single review that didn't note the high quality feel of the 5c shell. So Apple is now able to bring us usable size mid-level iPhones. I'm glad, this is what I want and need. I don't like the 5/5s aluminum shell. I can't possibly use the speed of the A7 with what I do. Bring on plastic!
You beat me to this, but yea, the "Steve wouldn't do this" is absolute bullshiite (that's not a typo, it's a religious cow).
Jobs was most well known among his peers as being amazing at two things, his taste and his ability to change his mind on a dime. He HATED the idea of anything other than web apps for the original iPhone, right up until he praised the App Store as Apple's gift from god.
He sold candy colored iMacs and iBooks, then switched to white plastic, then to aluminum. He made GOLD iPod minis and then got rid of them six months later.
If Jobs thought that eschewing skeuomorphism would have improved the product in the long term (for example, if it worked with the hardware design that Ive sold him on) then I have no doubt he'd support a re-design. Compare OS X Cheetah (10.0) to OS X Lion (10.7) in terms of its use of Aqua style elements. It is the same underlying code, but Apple moved away from fruity toward sleek as Macs went from fruity to...well, look at the hardware you're reading this on (if you're not on mobile).
If anything, the 5C could very well be argued to be the future of the iPhone. The polycarbonate is incredibly well done, and if you reversed the specs and the 5c had the A7, the M7, Touch ID, etc... I doubt as many of you would be saying it was the ugly stepchild.
Also, fundamentally, we are not the audience for Apple anymore. Why? We own iPhones, most likely the 5. They aren't going to sell customers who "just" (in their minds) bought a new expensive device while they're not upgrade eligible.
The 5c is more than good enough for someone upgrading from a 4 or 4S. The fact that it's not "last year's model" means that you can expect it to be well supported by iOS 8 and even iOS 9 (two year lifecycle is standard).
And the price point, well, if I'm looking at my 4S, $99 and a chance to get a color that'll make my girlfriends jealous...well...that's not a bad deal (or my kid, who wants his or her first smartphone, and all their friends have Androids in colors)
In short, we're like the guys complaining when Apple introduces Final Cut Pro X and aims the feature set for the general prosumer. Or when they stop producing the 17 inch MBP. Guess what, when they don't think you're going to buy their next big thing in bulk, they'll focus on the people who will. That's how Apple won the last decade. I don't see why they'd change that strategy now.
