Apple’s announcement on Tuesday didn’t
reveal anything truly ground breaking or unexpected. Indeed, the past couple of
years have seen Apple shift from revolutionary products to reactionary
products. The biggest unveiling was that of not one, but two iPhones. Not only
do you now have to choose between iOS and Android (or Windows 8), you now need
to decide if you want an iPhone 5S or an iPhone 5C.
The iPhone 5C comes in some bright new
colours, which allow you to personalize your phone, if you haven’t already done
so with a colourful case. Apple will be offering versions in red, blue, yellow, green and
white. It’s running an A6 chip, which is the same as the iPhone 5, has a four
inch display, and a casing made of plastic. The interesting thing to note is
that although it’s touted as the “cheap” iPhone 5, it’s $99 for the phone on a
two year contract, and $549 outright. Can anything that costs $549 be
considered cheap?
On the flip side, you have the iPhone 5S,
which has a fingerprint scanner built into the home button and is running the
new 64 bit A7 chip. It also has a specialized M7 chip, a “motion co-processor”
which will be used to run the data from the accelerometer and gyroscopes,
making sure that all those fitness apps aren’t using up your phone’s processing
power. This iPhone 5S, which is available in silver, gold and “space grey”, is
only $100 more, coming in at $199 with a two year contract or $649 outright.
The iPhone 5C appears to be Apple’s attempt
to enter new markets, such as China, where there is a large market for cheaper
smartphones. In entering this low-end/mid-range market, it looks to be
competing with Nokia’s Lumia 520, which is priced about the same and has done
well in these markets. Apple is following the competition, and unlike what
we’re used to, it doesn’t look to be substantially bigger or better. Apple also
announced that they were discontinuing the iPhone 5, and dropping the price of
the iPhone 4S so that it’s now free with a two year contract.
Continuing with their reactionary
announcements, Apple announced iWork (Apple’s productivity suite), will now be
in the cloud, in an attempt to compete with GoogleDocs and Microsoft’s
365. A rather surprising twist was that
iWork will now be free for anyone who buys an iPhone or an iPad (it used to
cost $30). Considering Apple’s goal has always been to sell hardware, as
opposed to Microsoft’s software model, this strategic decision makes a lot of
sense.
Some other announcements from Apple include
the fact that the camera will now take pictures in bursts and choose the one
that is best for you (there are already several phones and apps that give you
this feature), as well as giving us a look at the new iOS7, which is very
different from what users are used to and has already had a lot of criticism.
Noticeably, there were no announcements regarding the iPad, iPad mini, iMac,
Macbook Pro, Macbook Air or the Mac Mini. The only change to the iPod line was
a new colour option, “space grey”. Perhaps Apple has learned that it’s best to
spread things out, and always have everyone anticipating the next new thing.
How long until people start getting tired of the Next
Slightly Changed New thing? Can Apple no longer innovate? Clearly the investors weren’t
impressed, Apple’s stock dropped 2.2% overall, about $11.50. *All prices in USD
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