Because the iPhone 3GS, a nearly two and a half year old phone, still sells better than any Android phone.
Marketshare? Screw it. Apple has all the profits and the mindshare.
I agree market share isn't everything and I agree they have significantly more profit and mindshare. To keep mindshare I think Apple know they need a new form factor. I do have a suspicion that an iPhone 4S was getting close to release in June the traditional release date, but perhaps they decided that they did need a new form factor to encourage upgrades from the iPhone 4 and to avoid negative publicity. I'm just speculating of course, but I will be surprised if the form factor stays the same. The fun is in the speculation after all.
Never said it was. I just said there's no "intense" competition.
That's in no way the case for their computers, why would it be the case for their phones?
I am afraid it is the case for their computers. Were Apple selling 50% of the market they would have greater profit, and greater mindshare. It's a counter factual history.
And their better position in that market now - 13% in the US and 5% worldwide- is in part down to the halo effect based on the success ( read marketshare ) of other devices. Apple were at 2% at one stage, worldwide, and without Jobs' return God knows what would have happened there. They are still not where they were, in marketshare, compared to the mid 1990's.
As I said, Apple are aware of this. They wont surrender any market ( to paraphrase the present CEO) nor make the mistakes of the 90's by milking profits instead of market share ( to paraphrase the last CEO).
As long as they keep the resolution and the ratio, there would be nothing for the developers to change. Since the 3GS and third generation iPod touch is also getting iOS 5, and is half the resolution, I don't see Apple introducing a third. I think 3.7" and the same resolution would still qualify it as "Retina Display" where 4" wouldn't, thus requiring a new resolution for Developers to contend with.
Retina = dpi not resolution. Though resolution and dpi are used interchangeably, they are quite different. Resolution is how many pixels vertically by how many pixels horizontally, regardless of the size of the pixel. Dots per inch is the size of the pixel. The size of the pixel, determines a retina display Independant of screen size.
In view of the foregoing, while screen size affects resolution it has no affect on dpi. Keeping the same dpi, Apple can make whatever screen size they want, and it would still be a Retina display.
With iOS 5 supporting older devices with non-retina displays I cannot see Apple forcing every developer to support a third resolution. It think it much more likely that Apple realizes that 4" at the current resolution is still better than almost everything in the Android camp and that "bigger" might sell better than "highest resolution". Look at the huge anticipation for iPhone 5, the number of people itching to upgrade. Surely some of them are drooling at the prospect of a bigger display and don't care if the pixel density goes down slightly. In fact some of us with aging eyes are truly hoping the pixel density goes down so we stand a better chance of being able to read the small text that some apps/websites insist on using.
Retina is determined by dpi or dots per inch. The dpi does not 'decrease' by increasing screen size. Apple will not purposely 'decrease' dpi just to keep the resolution the same on a bigger screen.
Screen resolution will go up by increasing screen size, but this can be handled through scaling, which Apple does quite well- 'pinch to zoom' is an example of scaling. The image & text does not look pixelated if the image is scaled vector drawn graphics.
Keeping the dpi high and actually increasing it in the future is what makes everything look so readable, clean, and crisp. This is the best feature for our aging eyes. Bigger screen, keeping the dpi the same or better- yes the resolution increases, but this is not a challenge with automatic scaling.
With iOS 5 supporting older devices with non-retina displays I cannot see Apple forcing every developer to support a third resolution. It think it much more likely that Apple realizes that 4" at the current resolution is still better than almost everything in the Android camp and that "bigger" might sell better than "highest resolution". Look at the huge anticipation for iPhone 5, the number of people itching to upgrade. Surely some of them are drooling at the prospect of a bigger display and don't care if the pixel density goes down slightly. In fact some of us with aging eyes are truly hoping the pixel density goes down so we stand a better chance of being able to read the small text that some apps/websites insist on using.
Apple is not going to lower the dpi. Present Apps and artwork optimized for iP4 will scale and look just fine on a 4" screen using the same dpi with no special optimization needed. They will simply look bigger on the screen, which is the point.
Going to 4" would drop pixel density below what Apple calls Retina Display (see http://bit.ly/oE9672). Doubt Apple would give up on a feature that they consider head of the class.
This is often misunderstood. You're assuming Apple keeps the same resolution from a 3.5" screen to a 4" screen by dropping dpi. Apple will not drop the dpi when going to a 4" screen, but they will rather deal with the higher resolution through scaling.
Regardless of screen size- they will keep the pixel densit (dpi) the same or even increase it and maintain Retina display features.
This elongated home button, could it be a rocker switch, with a left side, right side and central push position? Maybe a touch sensitive slide motion? Maybe allow you to answer the phone with one hand?
You can't answer an iPhone with one hand? Do you just have really small hands or something? I hope they don't change the whole design for non dexterous hands.
Comments
Thats one phone ( and that stat is true in the US only). Marketshare is not determined by one phone only, when comparing platforms.
Never said it was. I just said there's no "intense" competition.
Eventually, loss of marketshare will reduce both of those.
That's in no way the case for their computers, why would it be the case for their phones?
Because the iPhone 3GS, a nearly two and a half year old phone, still sells better than any Android phone.
Marketshare? Screw it. Apple has all the profits and the mindshare.
I agree market share isn't everything and I agree they have significantly more profit and mindshare. To keep mindshare I think Apple know they need a new form factor. I do have a suspicion that an iPhone 4S was getting close to release in June the traditional release date, but perhaps they decided that they did need a new form factor to encourage upgrades from the iPhone 4 and to avoid negative publicity. I'm just speculating of course, but I will be surprised if the form factor stays the same. The fun is in the speculation after all.
Never said it was. I just said there's no "intense" competition.
That's in no way the case for their computers, why would it be the case for their phones?
I am afraid it is the case for their computers. Were Apple selling 50% of the market they would have greater profit, and greater mindshare. It's a counter factual history.
And their better position in that market now - 13% in the US and 5% worldwide- is in part down to the halo effect based on the success ( read marketshare ) of other devices. Apple were at 2% at one stage, worldwide, and without Jobs' return God knows what would have happened there. They are still not where they were, in marketshare, compared to the mid 1990's.
As I said, Apple are aware of this. They wont surrender any market ( to paraphrase the present CEO) nor make the mistakes of the 90's by milking profits instead of market share ( to paraphrase the last CEO).
As long as they keep the resolution and the ratio, there would be nothing for the developers to change. Since the 3GS and third generation iPod touch is also getting iOS 5, and is half the resolution, I don't see Apple introducing a third. I think 3.7" and the same resolution would still qualify it as "Retina Display" where 4" wouldn't, thus requiring a new resolution for Developers to contend with.
Retina = dpi not resolution. Though resolution and dpi are used interchangeably, they are quite different. Resolution is how many pixels vertically by how many pixels horizontally, regardless of the size of the pixel. Dots per inch is the size of the pixel. The size of the pixel, determines a retina display Independant of screen size.
In view of the foregoing, while screen size affects resolution it has no affect on dpi. Keeping the same dpi, Apple can make whatever screen size they want, and it would still be a Retina display.
With iOS 5 supporting older devices with non-retina displays I cannot see Apple forcing every developer to support a third resolution. It think it much more likely that Apple realizes that 4" at the current resolution is still better than almost everything in the Android camp and that "bigger" might sell better than "highest resolution". Look at the huge anticipation for iPhone 5, the number of people itching to upgrade. Surely some of them are drooling at the prospect of a bigger display and don't care if the pixel density goes down slightly. In fact some of us with aging eyes are truly hoping the pixel density goes down so we stand a better chance of being able to read the small text that some apps/websites insist on using.
Retina is determined by dpi or dots per inch. The dpi does not 'decrease' by increasing screen size. Apple will not purposely 'decrease' dpi just to keep the resolution the same on a bigger screen.
Screen resolution will go up by increasing screen size, but this can be handled through scaling, which Apple does quite well- 'pinch to zoom' is an example of scaling. The image & text does not look pixelated if the image is scaled vector drawn graphics.
Keeping the dpi high and actually increasing it in the future is what makes everything look so readable, clean, and crisp. This is the best feature for our aging eyes. Bigger screen, keeping the dpi the same or better- yes the resolution increases, but this is not a challenge with automatic scaling.
With iOS 5 supporting older devices with non-retina displays I cannot see Apple forcing every developer to support a third resolution. It think it much more likely that Apple realizes that 4" at the current resolution is still better than almost everything in the Android camp and that "bigger" might sell better than "highest resolution". Look at the huge anticipation for iPhone 5, the number of people itching to upgrade. Surely some of them are drooling at the prospect of a bigger display and don't care if the pixel density goes down slightly. In fact some of us with aging eyes are truly hoping the pixel density goes down so we stand a better chance of being able to read the small text that some apps/websites insist on using.
Apple is not going to lower the dpi. Present Apps and artwork optimized for iP4 will scale and look just fine on a 4" screen using the same dpi with no special optimization needed. They will simply look bigger on the screen, which is the point.
Going to 4" would drop pixel density below what Apple calls Retina Display (see http://bit.ly/oE9672). Doubt Apple would give up on a feature that they consider head of the class.
This is often misunderstood. You're assuming Apple keeps the same resolution from a 3.5" screen to a 4" screen by dropping dpi. Apple will not drop the dpi when going to a 4" screen, but they will rather deal with the higher resolution through scaling.
Regardless of screen size- they will keep the pixel densit (dpi) the same or even increase it and maintain Retina display features.
This elongated home button, could it be a rocker switch, with a left side, right side and central push position? Maybe a touch sensitive slide motion? Maybe allow you to answer the phone with one hand?
You can't answer an iPhone with one hand? Do you just have really small hands or something? I hope they don't change the whole design for non dexterous hands.