The sad thing is that Apple has always touted itself as the innovator, not the follower. By Apple adapting, it proves they were very wrong on this one and didn't know the market well enough. They ignored what the customer wanted and have conceded too late - a lot of iPhone customers are defected to other platforms that offer larger screens and now Apple are having to play catch up to try and win them back.
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Why does Apple get a free pass on backflips?
- Thread starter Krimsonmyst
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The sad thing is that Apple has always touted itself as the innovator, not the follower. By Apple adapting, it proves they were very wrong on this one and didn't know the market well enough. They ignored what the customer wanted and have conceded too late - a lot of iPhone customers are defected to other platforms that offer larger screens and now Apple are having to play catch up to try and win them back.
Why do you think Apple is expecting huge numbers of upgrades this time around? People were going to buy whatever phone Apple made regardless of size, they clearing still preferred bigger screens...which is why Apple went even larger than 4". They were wrong and arrogant.
They made more and more money with every new version. So, again, clearly not wrong.
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They adapted when the market was right for them to do so. They've made more and more money with every version and will make even more now. No catching up going on.
It's marketing. Plain and simple. Which, incidentally, is Apple's biggest forte.
Who cares what they say, any person with half a brain should be perfectly capable of deciding for herself what she likes or dislikes. I certainly don't need a stuffy old CEO from Megacorp, Inc. to tell me what I like.
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Not wrong, but very likely not the best that they could have done.
I'm a bit puzzled about abandoning the 4" model altogether. It would have been nice to see how "perfect" that size was with regards to sales with true options available.
But perhaps that is exactly the reason they dropped it... Too much crow to fit on one plate?
Who cares what they say, any person with half a brain should be perfectly capable of deciding for herself what she likes or dislikes. I certainly don't need a stuffy old CEO from Megacorp, Inc. to tell me what I like.
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Not wrong, but very likely not the best that they could have done.
I'm a bit puzzled about abandoning the 4" model altogether. It would have been nice to see how "perfect" that size was with regards to sales with true options available.
But perhaps that is exactly the reason they dropped it... Too much crow to fit on one plate?
They still have 2 4" phones for sale that will still make them money. Hard to say if they could have done better, and not really needed anyway since they've done great as it is.
So what would you like, a fine?
Apple repeatedly calls the competition crap and adamantly proclaims they themselves are not entering a particular space.
Until they do.
It's just good business.
Apple repeatedly calls the competition crap and adamantly proclaims they themselves are not entering a particular space.
Until they do.
It's just good business.
And which is going to be the biggest upgrade cycle?
I left at the iPhone 5 for Android because of them not going bigger than 4". Many other went with me. We are now coming back.
Because the ecosystem was getting better, apps were getting more complex, and games got more intensive gameplay that required both hands.
They didn't make the screen bigger just for the sake of it, and that's why they did away with the 4" this time around. They know that people want bigger phones, but they also know that you have to design especially for those sizes and not just cram in an app the way it is, on a bigger screen, or settle on letting people use iPad apps on it. And they want developers to focus on that because it is the future.
And people trust Apple to do it right, aswell as developers.
I don't like the idea of using a 5.5" device myself, but I believe Apple has all the intentions of getting people like me comfortable with it. It won't be anything like using Android devices at that size.
They didn't make the screen bigger just for the sake of it, and that's why they did away with the 4" this time around. They know that people want bigger phones, but they also know that you have to design especially for those sizes and not just cram in an app the way it is, on a bigger screen, or settle on letting people use iPad apps on it. And they want developers to focus on that because it is the future.
And people trust Apple to do it right, aswell as developers.
I don't like the idea of using a 5.5" device myself, but I believe Apple has all the intentions of getting people like me comfortable with it. It won't be anything like using Android devices at that size.
I like the iPhone 4 size the best. One handed use and pocket fit is important to me. If apple put the iPhone 5 screen size in the iPhone 4 phone size with the light weight of iPhone 5 I'd buy it as would many and we'd see posts of Steve was right regarding overall phone size and his last project the iPhone 5 showed he was right on screen size but he didn't get time to fuse the two together. Maybe next year...
technology evolves. If companies sales are affected they will adapt and want to partake in the demand. Who owns a company that doesn't want to make more money? No ill just stay with what we no and lose out on all that cash. If companies don't adapt to the way technology is going they will die a slow death.
I don't think Apple ever bashed "large" screens (think iMac, iPad, MBP). They were adamant about being able to use a phone ONE HANDED. With the advancement in iOS (swipe gestures) and processing power/technology (Touch ID Ring...now allows for "REACHABILITY" with a double touch), Apple is now able to offer a larger screen while maintaining one handed use.
Marketing.
Apple, like every other company, are primarily interested in making moolah, and lots of it. Which is fine by me, Apple is a corporate entity.
I think it's absurd how some people make such a big deal of backflips, and can only assume they hold Apple up, or other companies, as some kind of moral arbiter or role model. Which is far more worrying frankly, and suggests to me that said person needs to reassess their values/life goals and seek out, you know, good people irl.
Essentially, making a big deal of such things tells me you actually believe the marketing at a given time. Me, I like some Apple stuff because they're nice, effective technology that suits my needs. Nothing more, nothing less.
Apple, like every other company, are primarily interested in making moolah, and lots of it. Which is fine by me, Apple is a corporate entity.
I think it's absurd how some people make such a big deal of backflips, and can only assume they hold Apple up, or other companies, as some kind of moral arbiter or role model. Which is far more worrying frankly, and suggests to me that said person needs to reassess their values/life goals and seek out, you know, good people irl.
Essentially, making a big deal of such things tells me you actually believe the marketing at a given time. Me, I like some Apple stuff because they're nice, effective technology that suits my needs. Nothing more, nothing less.
Nobody really knows who went where except the carriers and that's only if you stayed with your carrier between phones. Otherwise who moved between platforms is nothing but a wet finger. Frankly I could care what apple said or did in the past.
My mantra is what can you do for me today, that I base my purchase decision on. I don't have an emotional investment in apples past.
The size of people's hands haven't meaningfully changed in the last few years.
This is a good example of rationalization.
Steve Jobs said 3.5" was the ideal size.
He died.
Someone else at Apple decided to make a bigger phone.
World hasn't ended.
Much like Steve's argument about the original iPad being the ideal size, turns out a lot of people rather like the Mini.
The guy was clever but arrogant.
He died.
Someone else at Apple decided to make a bigger phone.
World hasn't ended.
Much like Steve's argument about the original iPad being the ideal size, turns out a lot of people rather like the Mini.
The guy was clever but arrogant.
Apple's argument wasn't about what people do with them; it was about the size for "ideal" use in the human hand.
Again, if Apple wanted to say "We just don't see the demand at this point for larger screen" that would be one thing. Right or wrong, it could at least be understandable. "It needs to be this size so that your thumb can reach parts of the screen" is a different argument. Apple made the latter argument and then abandoned it. That, to me, is the flip flop, not that they now offer larger screens per se.
The difference is, AT&T or Verizon really ARE evil companies. The price of their mobile plans have nothing to do with my decision to believe that. The fact that they want to kill Net Neutrality, and continue to price fix the cable and internet marketplaces without government indictment is why they are evil companies.
The truth is, people pay premium for companies that they can trust. One thing you always can trust Apple for is an amazing quality of product, and also an amazing quality of service if something is wrong with that product. Do you think Verizon or AT&T would give me a brand new Android if I walked into their retail stores with a shattered screen? Nope. Apple has never charged me for a replacement, either in or out of warranty.
I went to Android for a while. The OS is shoddy and every time I needed to make a service request, it was a major pain in the ass. I can understand why some people dislike Apple, but overall, I think it's easier to see why people love them. Just as it's easy to see why people love Google.
Modern-era tech companies operate with much more integrity than companies prior in most situations.
These companies sell consumer products. It's not surprising they hype up the differences between one company's product versus another at any given time. It's also not surprising they pressure the competition where there is money to be made.
If you have small-X's and company B has big-X's, you're going to spend all your time hyping up the benefits of small X's over big X's until you can make better big X's in pursuit of profits.
Yet, some consumers seem to treat this game like politics--hanging their hat on every world spoken by peddlers of consumer goods. There is no backlash because the vast majority of people aren't surprised and/or don't care. Recently, adding a contact to my iPhone, the individual said, "I really need to get one of those Blackberrys."
If you have small-X's and company B has big-X's, you're going to spend all your time hyping up the benefits of small X's over big X's until you can make better big X's in pursuit of profits.
Yet, some consumers seem to treat this game like politics--hanging their hat on every world spoken by peddlers of consumer goods. There is no backlash because the vast majority of people aren't surprised and/or don't care. Recently, adding a contact to my iPhone, the individual said, "I really need to get one of those Blackberrys."
Apple sold it to common people the best way that it could--not in the way where they would explain why they think it's better for them but in a way that would show why it would be better for those people. It's called marketing and smart marketing at that. Any smart company tries to do that whenever they can. Nothing new or surprising there.
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They aren't evil companies they are just capitalist companies that operate in their own self interest. Nothing surprising or bad about that (well, no worse than just whatever capitalism itself entails).
Stop using this tired "Apple is doomed" argument.
When you could only buy a computer with a CD-RW OR a DVD drive, Steve chose the DVD drive because he thought that would take off first. He was dead wrong. He flipped and started shipping Macs with CD-RWs instead. This is far from the first time where Apple has chased the wrong trend. Except, unlike Blackberry, Nokia, etc, they know when to swallow their pride and change course which is what really matters.
Nor are the kinds of rationalizations you're making for Apple that I mentioned in my first post in this thread.