The market for traditional cell phones features low-margin products that can only compete on price.
The smart phone market is about high-margin products that compete on software and features.
And you think Apple would be interested in that first market...why? There's also a huge market for fast-food hamburgers. Do you think Apple is going to start selling them?
The same reasons they make the iPod Shuffle and the Mac Mini. As a gateway to Mac products. There are plenty of people out there who will never buy an iPhone because they have no need/desire for a smartphone. But they would buy a non-smartphone Apple device. Just like lots of people would never have bought the iPod (too expensive, didn't need that much storage space, etc.), but they're happy to buy the less expensive, lower-capacity nano.
If we assume for a moment that Apple's goal is to increase market share and, thus, profits, then we come to the logical conclusion that Apple should produce a phone that is not a smartphone. Someone that buys an iPhone nano and enjoys it is more likely to buy another Apple product in the future. By offering lower-margin products, they create brand awareness and brand loyalty among people that would otherwise not have bought an Apple product. And that increase sales of all their products.
Retail stores use a similar strategy when they price items
below their cost. That means they actually loose money on every one of those items sold. It seems totally illogical. But it's called a loss leader - they loose money on those items, but it gets people in the door, and those people then also buy other, higher margin products.
And LOL @ Demosthenes X, I think anything less than Steve Jobs yelling from a mountain "THERE IS NO NANO iPHONE" wouldn't be enough to sway you. And for the record I certainly believe there will be Mac updates, as that aspect of the brand is long overdue for an update.
*shrug* I've
never said there
will be an iPhone. I simply grow tired of people insisting, wrongly, that there is no market for phone. There certainly is. As I've said before, that does
not mean Apple will produce it: there is a very obvious market for the "xMac", as well, and yet Apple has made no indication that they will ever produce such a product.
If the "anti-nano" crowd stuck to that argument, I would have no problem. But instead they make baseless claims about how there is "no market" (untrue) or that Apple "doesn't do cheap" (also untrue). And now they've started touting the lack of an announcement today as "proof". But if you think about it for more than twenty seconds, the lack of an announcement means very little. There was also no Mac Mini, iMac, iPhone, or Mac Pro announcement. Yet we all anticipate those products will be updated in the future. So arguing that "no announcement today = no product, ever" is just stupid. But then, the "anti-nano" crowd has never been big on logical arguments...
Believe it or not, I'm one of the nicer guys out there. I hate people who are demeaning or rude. And there's A LOT of them here.
Despite that fact, I really want to punch you square in the mouth.
Yeah, you've certainly demonstrated your "nicer guy" attribute by expressing a desire to do physical harm to someone. More to the point, if you're first reaction is physical violence when someone posts a comment about a potential electronic device that you disagree with, I'd wager you're not a "nice guy" at all.
I've certainly had my disagreements with some of the members on this forum, but as I recall none of them has ever threatened violence... good on ya for breaking that nasty cycle!
