Let's play "What feature is apple holding back from the 5 to force you to go 5s?"

[Scrub175]

I wrote this thead off as a farce until the no simultaneous voice and data came up. The tech sites logical fix was to push carriers to launch VoLTE, but recent claims state that the iP5 as it ships will not even support that. So from a personal perspective I get the LTE service added and have to wait for that ability in the iP5 to be turned on or the iP5S to add the functionality to provide the fullest LTE experience out of the box...

 

[law0915]

Well, lets put it this way. If Apple's techs couldnt figure out how to put MMS, copy/paste and recently LTE in their phone, they are incredibly stupid and should be fired immediately. Unless you have another explanation why these features were not on a supposed high end device like an iphone when bargain basement phones had them.

Wait wait. I thought they were waiting for the more energy efficient QUALCOMM LTE chip? They gave us a boost at least to HSDPA for the 4S on AT&T, which was much more noticible for me. I agree though on the other two points! I would've been very irritated.

 

[sineplex]

i'd like an e-ink / LCD hybrid screen.
e-ink will save on a substancial amount of battery power.

also i'd like cheap plans with unlimited data and voice.

 

[terraphantm]

Voice + LTE data (apparently even the AT&T version drops down to 3G during calls)

 

[McGiord]

Voice + LTE data (apparently even the AT&T version drops down to 3G during calls)

Do you know if it drops down both things, voice and data, or only the voice, or only the data?

Ideal condition: voice LTE & data LTE
drop down 1: voice 3G & data LTE
drop down 2: voice LTE & data 3G
drop down 3: voice 3G & data 3G

There could be many more scenarios with the other connection speeds.

 

[terraphantm]

Do you know if it drops down both things, voice and data, or only the voice, or only the data?

Ideal condition: voice LTE & data LTE
drop down 1: voice 3G & data LTE
drop down 2: voice LTE & data 3G
drop down 3: voice 3G & data 3G

There could be many more scenarios with the other connection speeds.

My understanding is it drops down both due to the single chip issue. Otherwise I don't see why LTE and CDMA voice wouldn't be possible on the other side.

 

[ScKcBc]

I don't think they ever hoLd back a feature unless it's simply not ready.

of course they do. What's better than selling you the same phone brand new all over again that cost them 1/100th to produce. Alot of people on here don't understand business huh?

 

[d.steve]

I am a manufacturer and retailer by trade and continually improve and add to my product lines. The thought of holding back an R&D'd and completed feature/product to my customers simply in the hope off increasing sales in the next generation is the most inane idea I have heard for a successful business. We will rush certain products/features to market to get ahead of our competition - but to hold back and to lose ground in the marketplace is unthinkable. We do always have features and products that we are working on and wish to release once the price point of manufacture is low enough for the final end cost to the consumer. It is pretty evident to me that this is how Apple works - they have the added complication of having to wait for certain hardware and technologies to be ready for any said feature to be released. Forget the conspiracies guys - features and products come to market at the soonest time that they can and if anything were true products that are determined to be poor by the consumer are the ones badly R&D'd and brought to market far too early. I think a business that pride's themselves on the quality of their products understands this basic business principle.

This. Product Management at just about any company is about what can be provided to drive sales now. Holding back features that are deliverable now only creates risk and lost revenue.

Reasons that such features are left out are generally related to time to market (TTM) or driving COGs up to a point that it can't meet margins for the targeted price point.

However, there is another reason that I can think of:

As a company that clearly withholds features, look at Canon. They withhold features like crazy. Why do they do that? It's aggravating, as a serious hobbyist on the Canon side. And, if Canon does it, then why would I think Apple doesn't?

Canon largely withholds features to protect other products it sells. It basically cripples lower end products in a few key ways to prevent cannibalization within its product family. Beyond that, they likely operation like other companies.

Apple, however, doesn't have other existing products to cannibalize from. There's only one model a year, so it's only cannibalizing from the older models, which is what you WANT.

 

[Geckotek]

of course they do. What's better than selling you the same phone brand new all over again that cost them 1/100th to produce. Alot of people on here don't understand business huh?

Yep, you seem not to.

 

[ScKcBc]

This. Product Management at just about any company is about what can be provided to drive sales now. Holding back features that are deliverable now only creates risk and lost revenue.

Reasons that such features are left out are generally related to time to market (TTM) or driving COGs up to a point that it can't meet margins for the targeted price point.

However, there is another reason that I can think of:

As a company that clearly withholds features, look at Canon. They withhold features like crazy. Why do they do that? It's aggravating, as a serious hobbyist on the Canon side. And, if Canon does it, then why would I think Apple doesn't?

Canon largely withholds features to protect other products it sells. It basically cripples lower end products in a few key ways to prevent cannibalization within its product family. Beyond that, they likely operation like other companies.

Apple, however, doesn't have other existing products to cannibalize from. There's only one model a year, so it's only cannibalizing from the older models, which is what you WANT.

If you can hold back existing ideas and NOT lose ground, your in the win BIGTIME. Idk wha is wrong with some of you people. So I guess some of you think Apple lacked the ability to switch to 4g last year? Or you think they lack anything that competition has now?

Apple doesn't have to have the absolute best features or options because their phone is Killing every other phone in sales. Their profits are through the roof. EVERYTIME they drop a new iPhone it sells like wild fire. They are in control. The 3GS came out barely better than the 3G and the phone still sold like crazy. That was a perfect example of what apple fans would do. Then they released the 4 and it was an all new design that took off. So the 4s didn't need to be much different but guess what? Still Sold 4 million they first weekend. They didn't have to spend any money redesigning the body which means they made a huge profit on slinky improving a phone the already made a huge profit on.


Apple thought outside the box with alot of their products. And they continue to do so. They also changed when the iPhone releases now to perfectly boost 4th qtr profits.

 

[mellofello]

I figured now was the time to rebump this thread since we will find out who had the crystal ball last year.