Apple Takes a Beating in the Media

This month has been full of up and downs for Apple and it’s not even over yet. I think it’s quite interesting to see how quickly the media jumped off the “Apple can do no wrong” bandwagon and jumped onto the “We expected so much more” bandwagon. I mean there were days (and weeks and months) that I thought I was riding this wagon solo, but this change of events has been so drastic that I actually feel bad for Apple. I want to talk about this, not because I’m pleased that Apple is failing, but because I want to show just how fickle the media is.

This month started off well for Apple, with the launch of the new iPhone 6 (and 6 Plus) and the Apple Watch. CNN said that the new product launch was “one of the most ambitious product launches in its history”, while Gizmodo said “this is Apple’s biggest year yet”. People were excited and wanted to get their hands on an iPhone immediately (don’t ask me why). For customers on the east coast that meant getting up at 3AM (I actually know someone who did this) to place your pre-order. And here is where the first problem occurred. Apple’s online store in the US was down for 2 hours and 25 minutes, leaving people frustrated. And when people are frustrated, they take to Twitter to vent (and come up with clever tweets like “Guy in charge of the Apple store fell asleep listening to the new U2 album”). I would have thought at this point, they would be able to forecast demand and prepare for an increase in traffic, but apparently not. All of the online Apple stores outside of the US weren’t affected (you would think the US site would be the one they would make sure worked). It appears Apple is also unaware of Canadian geography, confusing Toronto and Ottawa on their pre-order map. This led to a lot of jokes that they must have been using their own mapping software instead of Google Maps. 

However, Apple fans aren’t so easily deterred. And so, it was announced that Apple had sold 10 million iPhones in the first weekend, beating last year’s record of 9 million. Not only that but Tim Cook stated, “we could have sold many more iPhones with greater supply and we are working hard to fill orders as quickly as possible”. So, why didn’t you have greater supply Apple? At this point I have to assume it’s a strategic tactic, making the products scarce to increase the demand, and it always seems to work.

But then, things started to go downhill. First, we have “bendgate” as it’s being called. Proud owners of the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus started to notice that if you left the phone in your pocket for most of the day (as most of us do), that the phones started to show a slight bend. My first reaction is, how is this even possible?? Numerous companies have been releasing 4.7” and 5.5” phones for years and they all managed to prevent them from bending, but then Apple (who is supposedly the pinnacle of technology) can’t succeed at this? I’m going to presume that it had something to do with the fact that Jony Ive’s design department has far more say than in any other technology company and forced engineering to cave into some sort of weaker casing, but who knows. Its hard to believe, considering how much attention to detail he, and Apple, put into everything. Apple’s response to all of this was to say that they have only received 9 bending complaints to date, which I presume was a way of saying, stop overreacting. I think people aren’t reacting so much to the bending, as to the idea that Apple may have messed up. They then stated that their products go through rigorous testing and invited a few members of the press to their testing labs to see this.

I think the best part of all of this was the creative ads that other companies came up with to make fun of Apple. Everyone from LG, Samsung, Nokia, Coca-Cola, Kit Kat, Pringles, Heineken, etc. I think it shows just how important real time advertising is becoming and how everyone wants to be a part of the conversation, regardless of what it’s about.

And just when you think Apple may have managed that crisis effectively, they are hit by another one. The disaster that is iOS 8 and it’s updates. Originally iOS 8 had some glitches that needed to be worked out. But then, the first patch (iOS 8.0.1) caused even more issues. For a lot of users, it disabled their cellular connection and made Touch ID stop working altogether (which means users couldn’t even get into their phone if they had a fingerprint password). It was so bad that Apple pulled the update and decided to try again. And so they soon released iOS 8.0.2, which apparently is causing the same issues for users in Australia, but everyone else is fine.

Overall, I’m sure it’s been a hectic couple of weeks for the people over at Apple. All those people who waited to get their iPhone's (knowing that the first batch usually has some issues), are probably feeling pretty smart right about now. I think that every company makes mistakes (although some of these are fairly significant) and that it's only such a big deal because the media, and people, have put Apple on such a high pedestal. I wonder if it will cause anyone to rethink buying a new iPhone.

Apple's Newest Releases: iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, Apple Pay & Apple Watch

This week Apple had a huge announcement where they finally unveiled the products that everyone had been waiting for. On Tuesday, Apple introduced the world to the iPhone 6, the iPhone 6 Plus, Apple Pay, and the Apple Watch. Let’s start with the iPhones. Not only did Apple finally give in and make 4.7” phone, they went even further and made a 5.5” phone as well. So after years of refusing to shift away from the 4” sized phone, they have now abandoned it all together. I find this interesting because a lot of Apple fans that I talk to say they love the size of their phones and that other phones are too big. I’m assuming we won’t hear much of that now that Apple has told them that a bigger phone is better. I’m curious to see if the 5.5” ‘phablet’ sized iPhone takes off, and if it cannibalizes iPad mini sales. I honestly think that making their phone bigger – at least 4.7” - is a good move for Apple, if a bit behind the curve. The new phones have a new processing chip (A8), a better camera, and NFC technology, which allows them to implement Apple Pay.

Apple Pay is a mobile payment system meant to replace your wallet and all your cards. Essentially you load your cards and information on your phone, and when you want to buy something you tap it (the same way you would tap a credit card) and put your finger on the fingerprint sensor. Of course it only works on the new iPhones, and with certain companies/retailers. While Apple could be the company to make mobile payments takeoff, I think it also has several concerns to face. Security is a big issue considering the recent hacking of iCloud accounts that led to the release of nude pictures. Apple says that the place you’re buying from doesn’t get any of your financial information, and that Apple doesn’t either, but I’m not sure how much I believe this. If Apple can push the new U2 album to everyone person who has iTunes (users get the album for free), to help break some records, then I’m pretty sure they can collect data about your purchase habits. One part of Apple Pay that wasn’t announced on Tuesday, is that Apple gets 0.15% of all payments made with Apple Pay. That’s 15 cents for every $100 spent, and that’s going to add up quickly.

While a lot of retailers are on board (McDonalds, Staples, Walgreens, etc.), some companies aren’t planning on implementing Apple Pay any time soon. Walmart and Best Buy both stated that they have no plans to equip their stores with NFC scanners. Both of them have given their allegiance to a retailer owned mobile commerce network called MCX (Merchant Customer Exchange). MCX uses an app (available next year) that is available on both iOS and Android devices, allowing the technology to be used by a much wider range of people. Considering the impact that Walmart has on the marketplace (it pretty much single handedly got companies to switch to RFID tracking), it could definitely affect which mobile payment systems take off.

Lastly, is the Apple Watch (which is horribly named, in my opinion – even iWatch is better). I felt kind of bad for Apple because the expectations were so high for this product. And while it isn’t bad, it isn’t amazing either. Apple clearly attempted to make their product customizable, but only with the physical hardware. There are 2 sizes, 3 different watch faces, and 6 interchangeable watch bands. There are also physical buttons, which remind me of the original iPod with the scroll wheel. I’m not sure why the buttons are necessary, but we’ll see how they improve the user experience. The watch pushes your phone notifications to you, it functions as a mini iPod, it’s a fitness tracker, it works with Apple Pay and you can control your Apple TV with it, among other things. While it’s arguably the best smartwatch out there right now, it certainly doesn’t blow anything out of the water. It incorporates a lot of the similar features and ideas of other smart watches, and the design leaves you looking for more. However it is the first iteration and lots of improvements are sure to be made in the future. Still, it’s a hefty price to pay ($349 USD) for something that simply saves you the convenience of pulling out your phone. Like other smart watches, the Apple watch has to be charged every night. It also won’t be available until sometime in 2015.

Overall, I think this was a good day for Apple. Nothing revolutionary was introduced, but they are working on new things, and often their strength is improving on the ideas of others. Tim Cook did say that Apple is working on products that haven’t even been rumoured about, and that he still thinks improvements need to be made to TVs. Now the media will have to find something new to expect from Apple, continuing the endless cycle of hype.