Rumor: Apple's inexpensive iPhone to adopt colors from iPhone 4 Bumpers
A fresh rumor out of the Far East on Thursday claims Apple will launch a low-cost iPhone in September in five colors, with the hues taken directly from the company's official bumpers made for the iPhone 4.
Citing a reliable source, Japanese Apple blog MacOtakara reports Apple has decided to produce black, white, pink, orange and blue versions of an as-yet-unannounced low-cost iPhone. The color saturation is said to be very close or identical to Apple's iPhone 4 Bumpers.
In addition, the person said green is no longer being considered, a color rumored to be in the running as of late May. The source was not sure if a (PRODUCT)RED iteration would be included in the launch lineup.
As for Apple's follow-up to the iPhone 5, dubbed by many as the "iPhone 5S," the site reiterated that gold will be an option when the handset is released this fall. The statements are in line with a photo of purporting to show SIM card trays bound for the next-generation iPhone, one of which appeared to be golden or beige.
Rumors of a colored iPhone 5S first gained traction in January, when Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White claimed supply chain sources said the smartphone would be offered in a range of eight colors. Those options were pink, yellow, blue, green, purple, silver, slate and a special designation for the (PRODUCT)RED initiative.
Citing a reliable source, Japanese Apple blog MacOtakara reports Apple has decided to produce black, white, pink, orange and blue versions of an as-yet-unannounced low-cost iPhone. The color saturation is said to be very close or identical to Apple's iPhone 4 Bumpers.
In addition, the person said green is no longer being considered, a color rumored to be in the running as of late May. The source was not sure if a (PRODUCT)RED iteration would be included in the launch lineup.
As for Apple's follow-up to the iPhone 5, dubbed by many as the "iPhone 5S," the site reiterated that gold will be an option when the handset is released this fall. The statements are in line with a photo of purporting to show SIM card trays bound for the next-generation iPhone, one of which appeared to be golden or beige.
Rumors of a colored iPhone 5S first gained traction in January, when Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White claimed supply chain sources said the smartphone would be offered in a range of eight colors. Those options were pink, yellow, blue, green, purple, silver, slate and a special designation for the (PRODUCT)RED initiative.
Comments
What does this gain Apple?
And multi-colored iPhones? Really? Hideous.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AaronJ
I'm still confused as to waht the advantage is to selling a bunch of low-margin phones that -- assuming people only bought them because they are cheap -- won't even produce much in iTunes sales is.
What does this gain Apple?
And multi-colored iPhones? Really? Hideous.
Yeah, those colours are damn ugly.
The only way selling low-cost iPhones would work would involved neutering features enough to minimize cannibalization and aiming for profits via the high-margin app/iTunes store.
The problem with neutering the iPhone sufficiently is that it would require a "light" version or altered loadout of iOS 7 (no camera? no GPS? lower res display? no SIRI? slower processor?), which I really don't see happening.
I can't see apple messing with the iPhone brand with a "can't do everything" phone, and can't see them split iOS into a multiple-loadout package either.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AaronJ
I'm still confused as to waht the advantage is to selling a bunch of low-margin phones that -- assuming people only bought them because they are cheap -- won't even produce much in iTunes sales is.
What does this gain Apple?
And multi-colored iPhones? Really? Hideous.
It helps keep IOS relevant in the silly "marketshare" bubble. By allowing vast amount of people in third-world countries to start using IOS, they win over users who will later stay in the ecosystem.
That is one ghastly shade of pink.
Here's hoping this is another rumour that sinks without a trace!
It shouldn't even be called inexpensive, instead an more affordable version. At $399 Apple Can make the same margin as it did with the latest iPhone 5 with some tradeoffs.
But I dont think Apple has decided which to tradeoff yet.
I think that there is a lot of value in iOS reaching a larger community base. There is a real possibility of iOS becoming the defacto mobile OS, if Apple can dominate the space. Then the 'walled garden' becomes a 'walled universe' and the outsiders become a rogue minority, not the unwashed masses. Being a dominant platform brings a lot of value to the user community; Windows won the OS wars because it was ubiquitous; System 7 was marginalized when it was not the dominant player.
I don't know if the answer is based on an OS war or if the end-game is HTML5 and web-apps, but Apple is playing both markets quite well. I'd almost suspect that their recent surge in saying 'we are not in the volume mantra is the classic Apple mis-information'.
"There are a thousand no's"
"Now for us it's never been about making the most."
Someone doesn't pay any attention, it seems.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lerxt
What some of you don't understand is that in Asia colours and anything else that makes your phone stand out is really popular, as are big screens. If they don't increase their Asian customer base they will continue to be outsold and swamped by Samsung.
Swamped by cheap phones? Is that what Apple so afraid of?
Quote:
Originally Posted by AaronJ
I'm still confused as to waht the advantage is to selling a bunch of low-margin phones that -- assuming people only bought them because they are cheap -- won't even produce much in iTunes sales is.
What does this gain Apple?
And multi-colored iPhones? Really? Hideous.
Apple is not Google to survive on iServices. It primarily sells hardware and makes money.
Yes it's all about getting people into the ecosystem.
Agree on LTE. If this is geared for emerging markets, no need for LTE, really.
Some of those colors are fugly. But so is a gold 5s.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hydr
It helps keep IOS relevant in the silly "marketshare" bubble. By allowing vast amount of people in third-world countries to start using IOS, they win over users who will later stay in the ecosystem.
I'm actually amazed, how many people still don't understand that. Apple did this before with iPod and much sooner than they will with iPhones. While I might somehow understand that bigger screen iPhone was barely an option due to too big performance tradeoffs when trying to make it instantly compatible with screen resolution schema, I cannot understand why the hell did they wait for so long with lower cost iPhone....
They started only when all the statistic numbers starting to wind down strongly, thus showing to the world weaknesses and bad judgements. Having released iPhone Cheaper before, at least one year ago, market share cut in premium range and total would be easily compensated with mid-range and growing number of users as a "software company" as they claim to be...
This was and is plain and simple business cock up, especially when considering what a crap is any Android phone below premium range. Apple cannot do something shitty like that even intentionally...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lerxt
Yes it's all about getting people into the ecosystem.
Without selection? Anyone? Everyone? I don't think so. That would benefit Apple none. The only danger company like Apple will face is not from cheap products competition, or lesser marketshare because poor people buy something else, but from people getting bored. And people will be bored if they see Apple products everywhere even in the place it should not be, like in the lower class populations'. If that happens, the brand will suffer. And the brand is the golden goose.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chandra69
Apple is not Google to survive on iServices. It primarily sells hardware and makes money.
97% of Googles "iServices" is click marketing. If they would have to sell services other than that, they wouldn't know how to. Google has no real business case. Their business case is simply how to get enough clicks to give something for free to "free" community who really isn't picky about any kind of quality,
Quote:
Originally Posted by matrix07
Without selection? Anyone? Everyone? I don't think so. That would benefit Apple none. The only danger company like Apple will face is not from cheap products competition but from people getting bored. And people will be bored if they see Apple products everywhere even in the place it should not be, like in the lower class population. The brand will suffer.
Wrong. Very much wrong. Apple offers services really for EVERYBODY in their ecosystem. EVERYBODY is potential customer to Apple services.
You have to understand that Apple is no more niche company. It is strong and highly praised mainstream company and purpose of using APple products will be less and less "being cool" and more and more being productive and entertained in best possible experience there is. Brand will not suffer even a bit. It will be much stronger than even today.
They need to go back to the bold hues of the older iPod nanos. Strong greens blues oranges and reds.
Perhaps, but they're very good at what they do, you have to admit that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by poksi
Wrong. Very much wrong. Apple offers services really for EVERYBODY in their ecosystem. EVERYBODY is potential customer to Apple services.
You have to understand that Apple is no more niche company. It is strong and highly praised mainstream company and purpose of using APple products will be less and less "being cool" and more and more being productive and entertained in best possible experience there is. Brand will not suffer even a bit. It will be much stronger than even today.
Wrong. Completely wrong. Apple doesn't want everyone in their ecosystem. Why should they? Their ecosystem is just a mean to sell you the product you want.
Oh, and it has nothing to do with it being mainstream or not. I'd say being mainstream is a bit dangerous for Apple. Beware to fall into the same pit Microsoft and Nokia did.
Steve Jobs understand the important of the brand. I only hope Tim Cook understand it much better than many people here, for the sake of Apple.
Quote:
Originally Posted by allenbf
Perhaps, but they're very good at what they do, you have to admit that.
Good is a modest description. I would rather said they are masters of the art. If I don't like it, I cannot deny their superiority at the same.