Rumor: Apple's low-cost iPhone to have 4" screen, mostly plastic body

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  • Reply 61 of 75
    hmmhmm Posts: 3,405member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    Nah, remember the '90s? And even earlier, really. Design by committee doesn't work.



    I never said anything about design by committee. That's a totally different topic. I'm saying that it's unlikely that Apple's decisions are influenced by "whiners". Apple might have thousands of failed concepts that have been considered to one degree or another. If they're making a lower cost iphone, it would be likely to address a number of things. In the US prepaid seems to be growing in spite of complaints with the service. I'm not sure how you get appeasing the whiners from rumors over business decisions.

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  • Reply 62 of 75


    Originally Posted by hmm View Post

    I never said anything about design by committee. That's a totally different topic.


     


    Picture a committee without a table and teleconferencing equipment. Picture a committee for designing products without any experience designing any products whatsoever. Picture a committee that has money.


     


    It's the same thing. Take a survey and ask what people want, put it all together, sell it, and they'll hate it. Exactly the same as getting a committee together, except it's the raw data instead of "well, I heard that [group] wants [feature], so let's put that in".






    In the US prepaid seems to be growing in spite of complaints with the service. I'm not sure how you get appeasing the whiners from rumors over business decisions.



     


    What stops them from just lowering the price of their existing models? Why does that make less sense than spending millions on a brand new design for old hardware? 

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  • Reply 63 of 75

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Vaelian View Post





    The iPhone 3GS would be sufficiently old yet sufficiently capable to accomplish that at this point, if they just stuck a front-facing camera in there to allow FaceTime to be used.


    But as I stated they aren't currently selling a non-retina phone. That ship has sailed. Why would they spin those lines up again for non-retina 3.5" screens?


     


    With the mini it works as they currently sell the iPad 2 with a non-retina screen so all apps work without problems and look made for the device. Most if not all iPhone apps are retina-only. Those developers would have to all of a sudden recode for non-retina after they've moved to retina. I don't see that happening.

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  • Reply 64 of 75
    nhtnht Posts: 4,522member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by allenbf View Post



    I prefer my aluminum iphone 5 but I would consider this for my kids. And I am not saying this is a great idea by Apple but they will sell millions and it will cannibalize the iPhone 5s/whatever sales to some degree.


     


    What I want for my kids is an iPhone with no data plan...an iPod touch that just does calls and iMessage via 3G cell service at a dumb phone or messaging phone monthly rate.

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  • Reply 65 of 75
    hmmhmm Posts: 3,405member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post




     


    What stops them from just lowering the price of their existing models? Why does that make less sense than spending millions on a brand new design for old hardware? 





    I haven't compared Apple's hardware from two or more cycles ago to the cheaper phones on the market today, and I don't know how much it costs for them to build something like an iphone 4 today. These are just areas where I won't comment. Regarding design by committee, I use the word "they" a lot, because Jonathan Ive isn't the sole member of Apple's design team. I prefer to recognize that it is more than one individual. This doesn't mean I was suggesting the practice you just described. I'm aware of the pitfalls that arise from a lack of direction.

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  • Reply 66 of 75


    Originally Posted by hmm View Post

    Regarding design by committee, I use the word "they" a lot, because Jonathan Ive isn't the sole member of Apple's design team. I prefer to recognize that it is more than one individual. This doesn't mean I was suggesting the practice you just described. I'm aware of the pitfalls that arise from a lack of direction.


     


    I don't mean design design, I mean functionality. Combined in a way such that design itself (and by extension usability) suffers.

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  • Reply 67 of 75
    kdarlingkdarling Posts: 1,640member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by nht View Post


    What I want for my kids is an iPhone with no data plan...an iPod touch that just does calls and iMessage via 3G cell service at a dumb phone or messaging phone monthly rate.



     


    You and me both, but you'd probably have to leave out the 3G since data messaging would cost too much.


     


    One of the things I really miss from back before Apple came along and upset the ... uh... smartphone cart... was that we used to be able to activate a smartphone on US carriers without being required to also sign up for a data plan.


     


    Back then you could add a kid on your family plan with a smartphone as an extra line for only $10, and restrict them to WiFi for data.

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  • Reply 68 of 75


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  • Reply 69 of 75
    hmmhmm Posts: 3,405member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    I don't mean design design, I mean functionality. Combined in a way such that design itself (and by extension usability) suffers.



    I just looked up Virgin Mobile pricing. An 8GB 4 is $349 or a 16GB 4s is $449. They don't mention a contract on the pages I visited. The competing items are mostly older models from other brands. I still do not buy into the idea that they are pulling a WebOS with this one. Even in the case of HP they may have started with a plan that was lost during management changes.

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  • Reply 70 of 75
    nhtnht Posts: 4,522member

    Quote:


    Originally Posted by KDarling View Post


     


    Back then you could add a kid on your family plan with a smartphone as an extra line for only $10, and restrict them to WiFi for data.



     


    Yep, that's what I want.  Let them have the ability to play games, use apps, whatever and make calls without either carrying two devices (one or both of which they will lose) or paying for a data.

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  • Reply 71 of 75

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Paul94544 View Post

    You fools who think Apple is coming out with a cheaper model despite Apple's assertion they won't,  are smoking something!




    True.


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Paul94544 View Post

    Have you actually held one of the cheaper Android smart phones in you hands? 




    Right now.

     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Paul94544 View Post

    And finally  for all you wise guys out there who think the Galaxy S3 /note is a better phone, it costs more than the iPhone and is made of plastic!




    S3/N2? - They are better. They cost less. They are made of plastic superior to anodized aluminum.

     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Paul94544 View Post

    All I see, is perhaps more screen sizes for us older folks who have bad eyesight and those clowns who try to use a phone  like a small tablet.




    That's why they are called smartphones. They don't serve only as phones - they are more like pocket PC's now.

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  • Reply 72 of 75


    There's zero doubt in my mind that Apple will be aggressively addressing the underperformance of the I phone in developing nations due to COST.


    When Android users have 65% of the market compared to 17% by Apple; somethings wrong.


    My question is: when will they produce a competitively priced phone, or is it going to be something else entirely?


    WHAT ARE THEY WAITING FOR?????

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  • Reply 73 of 75
    paul94544paul94544 Posts: 1,027member


    Android and IiPhones smartphones are replacing older feature phones that ran symbian. Why don't people understand this?  Its not really about Apple vs Android. They are both taking an bigger share of the phone market. The iPhone went from 0 to about 20% of the market since the launch 5-6 years ago. Android powered phones are at about 60% or so  I think. There are arguably many reason why Android phones are having better penetation than iPhones I won't go into these because they are well discussed already and only create more arguments.


     


    The only thing I will say is that the phone market has price points that are well below the prices of the high end phones like the Galaxy s3 and Iphone, so its obvious why cheaper smart phones are gaining market share. its not a reflection on Apple's phone quality,  its pure economics. Apple doesn't sell to that price point but the fact that it can get 20% share is quite impressive given that! The simple fact is there is more profit to be made on high end smart phones  and the cheapar models don't make much money.


     


    The only Android OS  phone making much of a profit for its manufacturer is the range offered by Samsung, which imho are okay but getting better knock offs of the iPhone. The rest of the market is having a hard time making much money and caters to the low end running older non upgradable versions of Android drastically discounted to try to entice buyers.  For the most part any android phone is not practically upgradeable for the majority of people who buy them. Essentially they upgrade by getting a new phone at the end of their 2 year contract (in the USA) or once it wears out or is lost.  In the rest of the world phones are mainly purchased up front. In the USA most smart phones actually cost about the same somewhere in the the 500 to 800 price range depending on what you want. The cheapest Galaxy S 3  I have seen it is about $600 on ebay unlocked - though who knows what kind of warranty is included.  At Verizon its sells the Galaxy S3 16GB  for $644.99, The 16GB iPhone 5 retails for 649.99 at verizon. Essentially the same.


     


    They are both good phones and are selling well, and Samsung is making a lot of profit just like Apple does,  though the iPhone has just had a tremendous qtr since its release, which is normal. I assume apple will contunue its path of upgrading to higher perfomance processorsa and add newer features every 6 months / yearly and discount the previous year's phone as was done with previous models.

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  • Reply 74 of 75
    paul94544paul94544 Posts: 1,027member


    Android and IiPhones smartphones are replacing older feature phones that ran symbian. Why don't people understand this?  Its not really about Apple vs Android. They are both taking an bigger share of the phone market. The iPhone went from 0 to about 20% of the market since the launch 5-6 years ago. Android powered phones are at about 60% or so  I think. There are arguably many reason why Android phones are having better penetation than iPhones I won't go into these because they are well discussed already and only create more arguments.


     


    The only thing I will say is that the phone market has price points that are well below the prices of the high end phones like the Galaxy s3 and Iphone, so its obvious why cheaper smart phones are gaining market share. its not a reflection on Apple's phone quality,  its pure economics. Apple doesn't sell to that price point but the fact that it can get 20% share is quite impressive given that! The simple fact is there is more profit to be made on high end smart phones  and the cheapar models don't make much money.


     


    The only Android OS  phone making much of a profit for its manufacturer is the range offered by Samsung, which imho are okay but getting better knock offs of the iPhone. The rest of the market is having a hard time making much money and caters to the low end running older non upgradable versions of Android drastically discounted to try to entice buyers.  For the most part any android phone is not practically upgradeable for the majority of people who buy them. Essentially they upgrade by getting a new phone at the end of their 2 year contract (in the USA) or once it wears out or is lost.  In the rest of the world phones are mainly purchased up front. In the USA most smart phones actually cost about the same somewhere in the the 500 to 800 price range depending on what you want. The cheapest Galaxy S 3  I have seen it is about $600 on ebay unlocked - though who knows what kind of warranty is included.  At Verizon its sells the Galaxy S3 16GB  for $644.99, The 16GB iPhone 5 retails for 649.99 at verizon. Essentially the same.


     


    They are both good phones and are selling well, and Samsung is making a lot of profit just like Apple does,  though the iPhone has just had a tremendous qtr since its release, which is normal. I assume apple will contunue its path of upgrading to higher perfomance processorsa and add newer features every 6 months / yearly and discount the previous year's phone as was done with previous models.

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  • Reply 75 of 75

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gary Verne View Post


    There's zero doubt in my mind that Apple will be aggressively addressing the underperformance of the I phone in developing nations due to COST.


    When Android users have 65% of the market compared to 17% by Apple; somethings wrong.


    My question is: when will they produce a competitively priced phone, or is it going to be something else entirely?


    WHAT ARE THEY WAITING FOR?????







    They might think the cheaper iPhone would cannibalize the expensive one.

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