Apple Stiff Arms the competition with iPhone 3.0

Posted by melting on Jun 15, 2009

With the latest HW set to launch, Apple is also gearing up for it’s latest firmware update for its iPhone and iPod touch users.  This update is just what Apple needs to keep the competition at bay.  There are many new features that are great for usability, should have been in the original software, and help developers make even better apps. 

First, the features that should have been there from the start: cut, copy, and paste.  Since people are thinking the iPhone is the start of truly mobile computing vs. a smartphone, there is no excuse from not having this capability from the beginning.

There are so many features that will truly make this device even more usable and powerful.  The first is the landscape built in apps.  Even though the biggest complaint about the iPhone is the lack of a physical keyboard, it is actually pretty easy to type on in landscape mode.  Apple has realized this and improved all of their apps to take advantage of this ease.  Apple has also added MMS.  While their are many features that make the iPhone a multimedia device, “syncing is so nineties”.  This is at least one more way to share some of that media without syncing. 

Apps will only get better from here with all of the new api’s available to them.  The feature with a likely big impact is the push notifications.  Apps that talk to services can now leave you logged in to their service and push messages to you.  AIM, google talk, yahoo messenger etc., will now be able to let have continuous conversations.  Another feature to have a big impact will be the ability for Apps to talk with custom hardware accessories.  

On a slightly gloomy note there are a few things that won’t be coming for US users.  The coolest feature that won’t be supported by AT&T is tethering.  Tethering was created to allow users to connect to the web on their laptops via their iPhone when out in the wilderness of the world.  

 The upgrade will be free for current iPhone users and $9.95 for iPod touch users.   

Read about the iPhone 3Gs 

iPHone 3Gs: Time to upgrade?

Posted by melting on Jun 14, 2009

Apple this past week has announced their next iteration to the iPhone.  This new phone will be available this week on the 17th of June.  While there are a few new features, which I will cover in a future post, there is at least one Apple’s US service partner has left off.  That feature is UPGRADE.  

This time last year the iPhone 3G came out fixing one of the biggest issues users had to that point, speed.  AT&T had pushed to get their initial rollout of their third generation (3G) service.  So when Apple announced their phone they claimed it was twice the speed for half the price.  That pointed out another feature of that phone a hug subsidy by AT&T.  Apple ditched their model of foregoing the phone subsidy for a share of the monthly payment.  

This perfect set of conditions let AT&T allow upgrades for current iPhone users.  AT&T didn’t have a previous subsidy they had to make up with those users, or in other words, they were already in the black.  This year the upgrade is a much harder and more easily predicted model.  Many users who upgraded last year won’t get the best price this year.  AT&T could very well still be in the red for that customer.  

My conclusion here is, it is very easy to understand why AT&T is not giving the subsidy to current users under contract.  They are at least giving some reduction in price for signing and new two year agreement.  This will likely mean fewer phones  sold right of the bat.  In my thinking if AT&T did honor the subsidy many people would sell their phones, those phones would likely end up in the hands of users who don’t mind being on AT&T just not on contract.  In the long run, while not easy to track I would guess this model would keep current customers happy and let AT&T benefit from being the only providers of iPhones in the US. 

Read more about:
iPhone 3GS
How to get around the upgrade issues 

Apple big in smart-phones or big in phones?

Posted by melting on Apr 26, 2009

Ever since Apple wowed the world with it’s iPhone and follow on iPhone 3G everyone was wondering what market share would be stolen from Microsoft Windows Mobile and Symbian OS’s as well as RIM, Nokia, HTC, Samsung, and others.  As many have pointed out over the last year and half the iPhone is a growth engine for Apple.   It is gobbling market share for the smartphone market left and right.  

In Q4 of 2008 calendar year Apple grabbed 10.7% of marketshare of the worldwide smart-phone industry.   This is some feat for a company that wasn’t in the cell phone industry, which some thought to be a crowded market, two years ago.  

Despite all of this growth it still only has 1.5% of global cell phone market.  It doesn’t seem to be Apple’s mojo to cut capabilities in products and sell them at low end prices.  

Two trends that do start to make some sense when I try to come up with my own strategy if I were in El Jobso’s Tim Cook’s shoes are netbooks and predicted smartphone growth of 6% for 2009.  

First 6% growth for smart-phones in 2009 seems like a small number, but in context this is huge.  Most industries this year are  at best predicted to stay the same or contract so this market is going to continue to head up.  So why would Apple want to look down to the basic handset market that is likely to become even more heavily commoditized? 

Second huge opportunity is netbooks.  While I think this is a dirty word for Apple it points to some pretty cool opportunities.  First netbooks are typically rather slow and operate in a diminished capacity.  If you spin this and retool the name to something like iTablet or iPod Touch HD then you may get somthing interesting.  

So if you put these two trends together you may start to get to a  strategy that we can see in June.  Perhaps a new type of device that can get its mobility from the iPod world and its power from the Mac lineup then we can see something that can truly bridge the gap.   The other thing this does nicely is allow the current iPhone 3G be sold at lower pricepoints, perhaps even $99, which would drive this market share even higher.  

Since I am quickly becoming an “Apple Fanboy,”  I certainly hope so.