I have to rant

[J4rrod]

So, on the night of the iPhone 5 pre-orders, I am starting to feel the need to rant.

Basically, my thoughts are this: even though Apple has lost their touch, and even though the iPhone 5 gets trounced by the likes of the Nokia Lumia 920, Apple is still involved in 90% of the TTs on Twitter, my Facebook feed is all talking about pre-ordering, etc. This phone, regardless of its "upgrades," is still selling like hot cakes. I mean it will probably be the best selling phone ever. I just about guarantee it. Is the 920 a better phone? Yes. But it doesn't matter, and that really gets under my skin.

Apple does not deserve to bring in the profits they will from this phone. They didn't deserve to sell the iPhone 4S, either. The iPhone 4 was a truly revolutionary phone. It was pretty nice. Since then, though, Apple's "upgrades" are barely that.

This all brings me to a question: can Apple be beat?

I fear the answer is no. If the iPhone 5 was shipped with a bug where 80% of them stop working within 2 weeks, and they refused to acknowledge it, it would still sell millions, and the iPhone 6 would too. I truly think that they can't be beat. One of the main reasons is marketing, too. Go ahead, click Apple and see if, no matter how much your brain tells you "bro, this phone isn't very impressive" you still want to click that big shiny iPhone and read more about it.

I want Apple to go bankrupt. That's what I want. I'm so sick of seeing Apple window stickers everywhere. I'm so sick of morons with their iPhones truly believing they have the best of the best, and act like any other alternative is crap.

Another reason Apple doesn't deserve profits? They do things like charge $30 for their new "Lightening" adapter. Yeah, an adapter, something that costs less than a dollar to make.

Anyone else share my pain?

 

[ilifecomputer]

Nope

 

[blehblehbleh]

I think it's possible to beat Apple. Google or MS just have to chip away at the right places in terms of the ecosystem. OEMs for phones and the like have to step it up in build quality and what they want to achieve to demonstrate that their products are icons of status. Nokia's slowly veering into that game in my mind, at least tech wise.

Of course, Google and MS especially can market better. I cringed reading the amount of embellishments that were stated on the live blog of that keynote, but that's how you do it; keep telling people they will enjoy using the product.

Those that are really entrenched will be tougher to convert though.

I feel you on the over saturation of Apple; total mob mentality or maybe I should say cult mentality.

 

[Luminatic]

J4rrod,

I feel your pain. Here are my thoughts:

- For lots of people (at least where I live), the iPhone somehow became the default phone to buy
- Some iPhonebuyers just buy it because all their friends have it --> Those could be lured away once another brand becomes more popular
- Some iPhonebuyers buy iPhones based on rational evaluation --> Those might stay with iPhone or go, depending on their criteria --> Those might be lured away by good features, good hardware etc
- Some iPhonebuyers are fanboys/fangirls, they'll continue to buy iPhones until either they die or Apple disconinues producing iPhones or they grow up. The ones who decide to grow up, therefore becoming less fanboyish (Cause in my opinion, blind fanboyism is a sign of not being grown up) and might fall into any other category mentionned above.
- For more and more people, Samsung is becoming the brand to buy, slowly chipping away some of the iPhone sales. Which means that it IS possible to beat the iPhone.
- Lots of people don't have much of an idea about technology and hardware features. I have recently mentionned the terms "LTE" and "NFC" with some friends, and all I got back was blank stares. So those kind of people will tend to buy what an authority (Be it friends, be it a company) tells them is best. As long as the salespeople are blindingly trying to sell them what they like best (INstead of doing their job properly and offer and explain the client all options), it will be hard for WP. For the OEMS and MS, this means they, for example, shouldn't just sell "NFC", but what you all can do with it. And they should get the salespeople to do the same somehow and advertise the **** out of this features.


So ... i think it will be difficult for WP.
BUT: I also think it won't be impossible. It very much depends how the future iPhones will look, if they will restart really innovationg and bring something new and fresh or not. I think Apple can live of their we-re-the-cool-innnovators-for-the-rich-and-trendy for a while, but if they sit on their laurels for too long, their image will fade, like it always, always is with fashionable stuff. And this is the chance for WP and the OEMs to change their public image as well.

 

[mmacleodbrown]

Of course they can be beat, anyone can be beat, tech fads come and go..
Look at google, built an entire infrastructure from nothing, android was buggy as **** when it first came out, they didn't care, took no notice of sales figures and just carried on plugging away, improving it bit by bit until it has market dominance today.
MS need to do the same, ignore the sales figures, keep improving with every revision, and eventually people will switch because they think it does things better than the competition.

 

[threed61]

Nothing stays cool forever. The iPhone is everywhere, and a new generation of smartphone buyers will want to differentiate themselves. Especially since the most ardent sheep are old farts. The simple laws of business/fashion cycles will bring them down.

 

[Big Supes]

Fortunately, we don't have Apple window stickers here in the UK. That's embarrassingly sad.

Apple will make decent sales of the iPhone 5, but I don't think it will do as well as expected.

Enjoy it whilst it lasts Apple.

 

[Markerton]

Since Steve Jobs passed away Apple's new philsophy seems to be 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. Hence why the cosmetics of the iPhone have gone unchanged.

To put it simply - Apple are scared. They are scared that should it change to something 'different' their loyal followers will go elsewhere and choose another device.

Now, I know a fair few 'fanboys' of Apple who I have had arguements with over this issue.

When I compared the iPhone 5 with the Lumia 920 the latter one (with the exception of processor and RAM - which personally are sufficient anyway). Why is he still spending the ?530 on an iPhone? I don't know.

 

[scottcraft]

Apple isn't going to lose their crown overnight. It will take some time for microsoft to reach anywhere close to what Apple has accomplished with the iPhone, but it can be done.

 

[1jaxstate1]

This is the only statement that needs to be made. No one stays on top forever.

Nothing stays cool forever. The iPhone is everywhere, and a new generation of smartphone buyers will want to differentiate themselves. Especially since the most ardent sheep are old farts. The simple laws of business/fashion cycles will bring them down.