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Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

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Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#81

Post by krobertson »

raldi wrote: post #50

The real reason Apple called it an "iPhone 4S" is that they want to start selling the 4 to the large segment of the market shy of the cutting edge. Plenty of people will buy something called a "4" when the state of the art is a "4S" -- there's no embarrassment there: "Oh, my discount phone is almost as good; it's just missing an S. And it's not like my friends will be able to tell that I'm using last year's model. It…

I don't know if I agree with the reasoning of the "4" being like the "4S" as the reason for buying. I'd look at it instead as on the surface, looking at someone using an iPhone, you wouldn't be able to tell if it was a 4 or a 4S.

The 4S will sell to early adopters and power users, and the 4 will sell to more price conscious late adopters. Either way, Apple wins. They're already doing good with iPhone 4 production, probably have decent amount stocked, and production costs between the two don't change too much.

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#82

Post by azulum »

nextparadigms wrote: post #45

Wait a minute. What's all this "the iPhone 5 didn't arrive because LTE chips weren't good enough" ? It wasn't mandatory for an "iPhone 5" to have LTE in the first place. Just because it wouldn't have had LTE ,doesn't mean they couldn't have made an "iPhone 5". And if it's all about economics, then I guess it makes even more sense to keep the same design for 3, or even 4 years, no? That's probably what would happen if…

you are conflating many different people into one. so here's me: i like apple products. i like HTC's variations on a theme. i was disappointed by the 4S because i like new things, even if only on the outside. (though the 4S has an S on it, like superman, heh)

apple has its reasons for not changing the design and they are sound as ever—evolutionary, not revolutionary. and it makes so much sense for the 2-year upgrade cycle. considering too that apple is trying to make as many devices as possible, the same old design really helps them to that end. i am disappointed. but the product is by no means a disappointment.

(i really wanted an ipod touch 3g with upgraded internals that could go month by month like the ipad and do facetime/skype over wifi/3g)

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#83

Post by kisielk »

achompas wrote: post #19

Is anyone really shocked? Here, I'll write out the tech media "design pattern" for a new Apple product. 1. Hype up killer pie-in-the-sky feature that makes zero economic sense for Apple (see: retina iPad, 4G iPhone with larger screen). Traffic spikes. 2. As launch approaches, use "inside sources" to mock up designs (Macrumors's "we think the 5 will look like this"). Report on supply chain behavior, leaked case design…

I don't know how anyone could reasonably anticipate an iPhone with a larger screen. From what I can tell, the resolution of the OS is effectively fixed and layout is done with pixels. A larger screen would mean lower DPI if the same resolution were to be maintained. That be rolling back on all the retina display hype.

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#84

Post by grillz »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #79
InclinedPlane wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft does the same thing with Windows. Tick: Windows 95, Tock: Windows 98 Tick: Windows 2000, Tock: Windows XP Tick: Windows Vista, Tock: Windows 7

Except this "tick" (iPhone 4) was actually pretty good, whereas in your example all the "ticks" were abysmal failures.

I didn't feel like Windows 95 and 2000 were failures. In fact, Windows 2000 was one of their best releases.

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#85

Post by robgough »

mikeash wrote: post #41
robgough wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't agree with you on that one. I think people would have been more upset, as they expect a number increase = new design.

That's the "maybe a different case" bit.

my apologies, seem to have missed that in my initial read.

I still think there were no breakout features this time round though. Siri being '4S' only is a bit of a cheek - and everything else felt firmly incremental. Even iOS 5 doesn't excite me much except for the notification system (though that is much appreciated).

Apple are experts in taking a feature their competitors technically have, but few customers use - and taking it 'mainstream' - nothing along those lines this time.

It seems to me that their next breakthrough in that regard is likely to be the NFC stuff, presumably to arrive with iPhone 5.

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#86

Post by jsavimbi »

wanorris wrote: post #52
jsavimbi wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too much hassle. Start with one persona and just keep revising estimates as word comes out without mentioning it. Then obfuscate by "calling out" other experts. Nobody can be arsed to click the link you provide and wade through commentary to refute you anyway. Just remember to answer any question with "It's what I've been saying all along..." and use short, choppy sentences.

IMHO, the most shameless was Jonathan Geller at BGR, who not only hyped the supposedly impending iPhone 5 to death, he released a story on Monday pushing a rumor that Sprint was getting an exclusive 4G iPhone 5. Yesterday, his iPhone 4S story offered this astonishing course reversal: "While confusion was sprinkled throughout the industry on exactly what Apple would announce, most seemed to agree that the iPhone 4S wo…

See? If you didn't know who he was or read his Apple-related articles previous to the release, you'd think the guy was no moron.

Admit nothing.

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#87

Post by mikeash »

robgough wrote: post #85
mikeash wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the "maybe a different case" bit.

my apologies, seem to have missed that in my initial read. I still think there were no breakout features this time round though. Siri being '4S' only is a bit of a cheek - and everything else felt firmly incremental. Even iOS 5 doesn't excite me much except for the notification system (though that is much appreciated). Apple are experts in taking a feature their competitors technically have, but few customers use - a…

I don't think breakout features are really that necessary, though. There's tremendous value in incremental improvements. The 3GS was "only" an incremental improvement over the 3G, but the net result was a vastly better device. The iPhone 4's only breakout features were the screen (which is pretty impressive, but not ultimately all that consequential) and the new look. I don't think there's anything wrong with taking a great product and just making it greater. In fact, it seems to me that a lot of other companies miss that part and instead try too hard to come up with new stuff that will amaze people, which results in a worse product overall.

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#88

Post by [deleted] »

baddox wrote: post #68
mikeash wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this exact same phone had come out with the name "iPhone 5", and maybe a different case, people would be praising it to the heavens. People are weird.

If the new case didn't have glass on the back, had a larger screen, or was thinner/lighter, then you're right that it would be getting more praise. I don't find that weird. I had an iPhone 4 for a while, and since I had zero performance issues with it, I probably wouldn't upgrade until there's a more significant improvement. Sure, it's frivolous, to the extent that there are people starving to death in the world and…

[deleted]

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#89

Post by danh »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #79
InclinedPlane wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft does the same thing with Windows. Tick: Windows 95, Tock: Windows 98 Tick: Windows 2000, Tock: Windows XP Tick: Windows Vista, Tock: Windows 7

Except this "tick" (iPhone 4) was actually pretty good, whereas in your example all the "ticks" were abysmal failures.

Calling Windows 95 an "abysmal failure" might be a bit too harsh.

Re: Why the iPhone 5 never arrived

#90

Post by cwp »

gamble wrote: post #72

The advantage of operating at Apple scale is the ability to buy components in vast quantities, giving Apple better deals and exclusivity that their competitors can't match. The downside is that they have to buy at those scales. Apple can't afford to ship anything that contains components they can't source by the million. If one HTC handset is delayed by six months thanks to part shortages, that's a problem for them.…

Actually, I think Apple could ride out a 6 month product delay quite easily. It would seem that the 4S was delayed 3 or 4 months (part shortage resulting from the earthquake in Japan?) from the normal summer release with no ill effects. Releasing it in December would have been bad, sure, but that has more to do with Christmas than the length of the delay.
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