Today Apple Inc introduced two handsets, the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 plus. IPhone fans were excited as usual and expecting a innovative product as this was a big launch in a bigger hall than the last iPhone introduction.
After looking at the official ad and some of the new features I can not only say that iPhone 6 lacks innovation but also has copied other products yet again and changed some of its own philosophies.
When the first iPhone was introduced, it changed the mobile phone landscape and I have always given it to Apple for this innovative product. It also had the first move advantage and that's the reason consumers even today think that's best product in the market and lap every iteration of then phone blindly. Below I have mentioned some new features of the new devices and what other OEM's have on offer.
Larger screen: after the introduction of larger screens in some Android devices from Samsung, Sony, HTC handsets, you don't see many people with a tiny device and the larger screen surely had its advantages in our daily computing needs.
Apple Inc on the other hand was adamant that 4" is the correct size for all in spite of fans wanting a bigger device. In Today's event it not only introduced a large 4.7" phone but also a 5.5" phablet to take on the Samsung note category. All this was because of their of the threat posed by Android and Windows Phone OEM's and demands from the fans.
Now where is Apple's philosophy?
Design: Apple introduced both devices today with a Uni-body design where the glass screen merges into the bezel of the phone.
Apple has lifted this design language straight from Nokia Lumia phones. Take a look at the beautiful design of Lumia 800, 920, 925, 930 and the phablet Lumina 1520. All have the same Uni-body design with merging glass. And to say these devices were launched couple of years back. Check out the Lumia 925 and you will see exact similarties
Optical stabilised camera: IPhone introduced the Optical Stabilised camera module in the 'Plus' model. Optical image stabilization is a hardware feature where your photo is less blurred and the videos you shoot are less shaky as the module adjusts itself mechanically to compensate for the hand shakes during the shoot.
Nokia is a innovator in the image technology and one of the leaders if not the leader. It introduced Optical Image Stabilization in its phones in 2012 when it introduced Lumia 920 and then Lumia 1020 which is still the king in the camera phones category.
Battery: battery has always been a weak point in the IPhones and this problem still continues. Apple promises 50 hours of music playback for the IPhone 6 and 80 hours for the 'Plus' model.
The newly introduced Lumia 930 tops this to give music playback of 75 hours the bigger Lumia 1520 phablet gives a music playback of whopping 124 hours.
User Interface: We have a very similar user interface across all mobile operating system which is icon based. You click on the app icon and you are taken to the whole application. What if you want to look at some information at a glance. For example if you want to know what meetings you have got for that week or the month, you have to click on the Calendar icon and check the week or the month to see what meetings you have got. Android came up with something better which are called 'Widgets' where you can see monthly meetings at a glance without going into the calendar app. But with Android there is a huge battery drain because of this. Windows Phone User interface is different to both Android and IOS and also innovative. Its called the tile interface. You can see information regarding the weather, stock price, calendar events just at a glance on its live tiles without going into the app itself and it doesn’t have drain on the battery as Android does plus it remains as smooth as butter, similar to IPhone's IOS OS.
Apps: There is absolutely no doubt that the IPhone as the best apps and the developers when programming for any apps, target the IPhone first. This is because of the first move advantage and the user base of the customers plus the investment the developers have done in the ecosystem. But recently things have changed where apps and games are developed for IPhone and Android at the same time and then later they are introduced to Windows Phone. Still Windows Phone have all the top 50 apps and many others apps required by the user nowadays for productivity and social.
Price: IPhones come at an astronomical price points which its fans are always willing to pay even though there are similar and better devices in the market at half the price.
Smartwatch: Smartwatch was introduced by Microsoft more than 10 years back but due to it being too early in the market didn’t work out. There many smart watch introduced by Samsung, Sony, Motorola etc. Apple watch is just an answer to the competition. I don’t even want to go into Apple watch as it looked too messy and design was uninspiring. Check out Moto 360 from Motorola and you will know what I mean.
So to sum it all even though IPhone 6 and 'Plus' maybe good quality products but there are many great devices and even better than these in many ways.
Lastly Apple Inc has lost its innovation edge and the features and products introduced today are nothing but a catch up to the competition.