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Will the iPhone 5S be enough?
- Thread starter AppleFan91
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Supposed Apple fans on this site have been lambasting iOS7 and it's ugly icons, the 5C which is so CHEAP and the iPhone 5S with nothing new but gold "bling" and fingerprint scanner supposedly no one in the world wants so NO I do not think the 5C will be enough to quiet Apple critics.
For some people will be enough, for others no. 
This is why you can choose between different brands and so on
This is why you can choose between different brands and so on It is always enough. The true magic of Apple is its marketing expertise. They have such amazing influence that hoards of writers, bloggers, and reviewers gush over everything Apple. Headed towards certain success, the new iPhones will be praised from every quarter. The actual performance and usability is secondary.
Its all about the ecosystem, which includes not only hardware & software, but also service. Apple still far outshines everybody else in that department. I'd like to see a wider screen, but an incremental update of the hardware is tempting since I have a 4S and I'm due an upgrade. Besides, I still do not like Android. I don't know why, but the Android GUI makes me feel like I'm using LINUX - it's functional but hard on the eyes after awhile. IMO.
It depends on who you are talking about? Enough for which group? I've noticed that ONLINE, in forums, on blogs, and so on, Apple takes a freaking beating on every - single - thing. Nothing is good enough. Nothing they do is right. They always make the wrong call. They never offer what they need to to satisfy this group.
Apple can't innovate. Apple is moribund. Can we compare them to Blackberry of 4 or 5 years ago? The 5S has a "measly" 2 core processor. On and on.
And even more extreme, I've noticed a whole sub-group that takes personal offense when Apple doesn't clear the bar that they have set for them. There is language like "Apple has TRICKED / FOOLED / CHEATED all of us into buying the same phone AGAIN, just a year later." These people are MAD. They are FURIOUS with Apple when this happens. As if they were FORCED to buy the iPhone 4S when it was no better, really, than the iPhone 4.
But then, two years later, there is a near consensus on the fact (in a thread near the top right now) that the 4S is a much better phone than the 4.
The 5S will NOT be "enough" for this group. Nor will anything ever. Not really.
I can remember lots of discussions online that I was involved in (not here, though) back when the iPad first came out. Going by the posts in those threads, the iPad was a TOTAL failure. EPIC FAIL. How STUPID would you have to be to buy a tablet without a USB port, that couldn't run OS X applications? It was "just" a large iPhone! "No one is buying them." One poster said that. No one he know was going to buy them. The such-and-such touch netbook was way better.
But then, Apple sold 1 million iPads in--what was it?--a month--the first month?
Apple is sitting on BILLIONS in cash reserves. Apple has hundreds of the best chip designers IN THE WORLD working for them--ever since they acquired PA Semi. The processor in the iPhone 5 was arguably the best cell phone processor in the world when it came out--and remained so for months afterwards. In terms of power management, benchmarks, whatever--it was right up there. The iPhone 5 sold very well. And so will the 5S.
Is Apple losing "ground" to Android? Absolutely. And that's a great thing. Choice and competition are great. Not everyone is part of nor wants to be part of, the Apple "ecosystem". It's closed. It's not as configurable. You can't install whatever you want on your phone. Etc. --I'm not making fun of these points--they're all valid--and if someone would rather be using a phone they can do whatever they want with, then great. Or whatever. That's fine. Choice is GOOD.
But, just because Apple is not as dominant as it was in the smartphone world doesn't mean that it's going the way of Blackberry. It means that Apple created something pretty amazing--not because it was new, cutting edge tech, but because it was a new user experience in the cell phone world. And the other players have caught up and are in the running again. But, despite the fact that it has company in the front of the pack, Apple is still offering the same type and quality of USER EXPERIENCE as it used to. The hardware doesn't need to be bleeding edge! It needs to be GOOD ENOUGH to give the right user experience WHEN RUNNING iOS. And it only needs to be that good for TWO YEARS.
My uncle got an iPhone 4, on contract, in the Spring, for $1, and he was (and still is) tickled pink with the thing. I know what he's missing, but he doesn't. He loves the thing. And MOST people are in this same boat. They aren't comparing their iPhone or iPad to this or that hardware from competing companies or operating systems. They are comparing the user experience. And they are most often pleasantly surprised at how easy and straightforward and intuitive the experience is. It's not always that way, of course, but it hits the mark often enough that enough people are inclined to buy the Apple stuff to keep Apple doing very well, thank you very much.
My parents visited over the summer and they just got an iPad and my dad complained left and right about this or that thing--mostly about being asked for proprietary information--why would they need my info just to download a FREE APP?--Why does Game Center keep bothering me? And so on. But even so, I noticed that he used the thing almost non-stop, DESPITE the fact that he also had his laptop with him.
And used Apple stuff commands stupidly high prices. I just looked on ebay and iPhone 4's are going for like $200, give or take!!! $200???!!!! Really?
You can be cynical and say that Apple has so many "fanboys" who will stand in line for whatever Apple offers, no matter what, but I think that's just plain untrue. I think that MOST people find tech stuff to be so difficult and frustrating and daunting that they are drawn to, and really appreciate, Apple--the WHOLE PACKAGE. Not just the hardware, but the ecosystem: the app store, the music, the movies, the tv shows, OS X, iOS, iCloud--all of it.
I think Apple HAS stumbled in the past three years--since Lion--by screwing up some basic things, like Calendar, Address Book, Mobile Me, Save As, stability, Maps, and so on. But nothing that indicates a downward TREND, and nothing that they didn't/can't/won't recover from. And they've hit a lot of home runs. I just bought Logic Pro X and I'm very impressed with it. Classic Apple brilliance: easy to use AND powerful.
If the iPhone 5S is what the rumors indicate it will be, it will be more than enough.
We are a small minority(i.e. MacRumors / tech savvy /etc). We just are. Apple isn't FOCUSED on us. Or rather, we aren't at the center of their focus. But Apple isn't "giving us the finger" or anything like that, either. We're part of their calculations, just not as much as we want to be. But part. I think the continued existence of the Mac Pro--and it's redesign--indicates that, as well as stuff like Logic Pro X not leaving it's core user base in the cold, despite the fears that that is what would happen.
Apple is still doing great, and still doing great things. When Steve Jobs died it was said that, ultimately, Apple was his greatest creation--and I think that history will probably find that to be the case. But what do I know? I'm just an Apple fanboy.
Apple can't innovate. Apple is moribund. Can we compare them to Blackberry of 4 or 5 years ago? The 5S has a "measly" 2 core processor. On and on.
And even more extreme, I've noticed a whole sub-group that takes personal offense when Apple doesn't clear the bar that they have set for them. There is language like "Apple has TRICKED / FOOLED / CHEATED all of us into buying the same phone AGAIN, just a year later." These people are MAD. They are FURIOUS with Apple when this happens. As if they were FORCED to buy the iPhone 4S when it was no better, really, than the iPhone 4.
But then, two years later, there is a near consensus on the fact (in a thread near the top right now) that the 4S is a much better phone than the 4.
The 5S will NOT be "enough" for this group. Nor will anything ever. Not really.
I can remember lots of discussions online that I was involved in (not here, though) back when the iPad first came out. Going by the posts in those threads, the iPad was a TOTAL failure. EPIC FAIL. How STUPID would you have to be to buy a tablet without a USB port, that couldn't run OS X applications? It was "just" a large iPhone! "No one is buying them." One poster said that. No one he know was going to buy them. The such-and-such touch netbook was way better.
But then, Apple sold 1 million iPads in--what was it?--a month--the first month?
Apple is sitting on BILLIONS in cash reserves. Apple has hundreds of the best chip designers IN THE WORLD working for them--ever since they acquired PA Semi. The processor in the iPhone 5 was arguably the best cell phone processor in the world when it came out--and remained so for months afterwards. In terms of power management, benchmarks, whatever--it was right up there. The iPhone 5 sold very well. And so will the 5S.
Is Apple losing "ground" to Android? Absolutely. And that's a great thing. Choice and competition are great. Not everyone is part of nor wants to be part of, the Apple "ecosystem". It's closed. It's not as configurable. You can't install whatever you want on your phone. Etc. --I'm not making fun of these points--they're all valid--and if someone would rather be using a phone they can do whatever they want with, then great. Or whatever. That's fine. Choice is GOOD.
But, just because Apple is not as dominant as it was in the smartphone world doesn't mean that it's going the way of Blackberry. It means that Apple created something pretty amazing--not because it was new, cutting edge tech, but because it was a new user experience in the cell phone world. And the other players have caught up and are in the running again. But, despite the fact that it has company in the front of the pack, Apple is still offering the same type and quality of USER EXPERIENCE as it used to. The hardware doesn't need to be bleeding edge! It needs to be GOOD ENOUGH to give the right user experience WHEN RUNNING iOS. And it only needs to be that good for TWO YEARS.
My uncle got an iPhone 4, on contract, in the Spring, for $1, and he was (and still is) tickled pink with the thing. I know what he's missing, but he doesn't. He loves the thing. And MOST people are in this same boat. They aren't comparing their iPhone or iPad to this or that hardware from competing companies or operating systems. They are comparing the user experience. And they are most often pleasantly surprised at how easy and straightforward and intuitive the experience is. It's not always that way, of course, but it hits the mark often enough that enough people are inclined to buy the Apple stuff to keep Apple doing very well, thank you very much.
My parents visited over the summer and they just got an iPad and my dad complained left and right about this or that thing--mostly about being asked for proprietary information--why would they need my info just to download a FREE APP?--Why does Game Center keep bothering me? And so on. But even so, I noticed that he used the thing almost non-stop, DESPITE the fact that he also had his laptop with him.
And used Apple stuff commands stupidly high prices. I just looked on ebay and iPhone 4's are going for like $200, give or take!!! $200???!!!! Really?
You can be cynical and say that Apple has so many "fanboys" who will stand in line for whatever Apple offers, no matter what, but I think that's just plain untrue. I think that MOST people find tech stuff to be so difficult and frustrating and daunting that they are drawn to, and really appreciate, Apple--the WHOLE PACKAGE. Not just the hardware, but the ecosystem: the app store, the music, the movies, the tv shows, OS X, iOS, iCloud--all of it.
I think Apple HAS stumbled in the past three years--since Lion--by screwing up some basic things, like Calendar, Address Book, Mobile Me, Save As, stability, Maps, and so on. But nothing that indicates a downward TREND, and nothing that they didn't/can't/won't recover from. And they've hit a lot of home runs. I just bought Logic Pro X and I'm very impressed with it. Classic Apple brilliance: easy to use AND powerful.
If the iPhone 5S is what the rumors indicate it will be, it will be more than enough.
We are a small minority(i.e. MacRumors / tech savvy /etc). We just are. Apple isn't FOCUSED on us. Or rather, we aren't at the center of their focus. But Apple isn't "giving us the finger" or anything like that, either. We're part of their calculations, just not as much as we want to be. But part. I think the continued existence of the Mac Pro--and it's redesign--indicates that, as well as stuff like Logic Pro X not leaving it's core user base in the cold, despite the fears that that is what would happen.
Apple is still doing great, and still doing great things. When Steve Jobs died it was said that, ultimately, Apple was his greatest creation--and I think that history will probably find that to be the case. But what do I know? I'm just an Apple fanboy.