Actually you can call it a failure. In general you would expect cheaper phones to sell more. I know people think a cheaper 5C might have affected sales of the 5S, I don't buy it as people who bought the 5S could afford it anyway. Look at the iPad to see the cheaper model sell more. Imagine a world where the iPhone 5C was outselling the iPhone 5S by 2-1 and the 5S was not affected. Of course that would be a world where the iPhone 5C were cheaper.
So, imagine a fictional world where the 5C is doing even better than the 5S? Sure- it's always easy to image something selling even more. But that's never been in Apple's DNA. They don't push their chepaest products the hardest. They don't WANT they cheapest products cannibalizing sales of their pricier ones. They want their "flagship" products to be the most lusted and sought after. The current scenarios is pretty damn close to ideal for Apple. I doubt they'd want 5Cs flooding the market while the 5S becomes more of a niche product. The 5S contains tech that Apple wants to push- Touch ID, 64bit, ultra-high build quality, etc.
"Imagine a world where the iPhone 5C was outselling the iPhone 5S by 2-1 and the 5S was not affected."
So imagine a world where a shitload more people were buying iPhones? Um, ok. That doesnt mean that was a realistic scenario, today. Total iPhone sales are smashing all previous records, so your alternate reality is pretty fictional. My point is that there's no way the 5C can be considered a "failure" if any other company produced ONLY the 5C in their product line, and nothing else, they'd still be insanely successful.
I just bought my ex a new 5c yesterday from Walmart for $29 she was using a 4 before that, I think that was a great price this is a much better phone that what she had.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bradipao
The problem with 5C is the price model: in Italy a phone is usually purchased off-contract (because overall expense is lower), the iPhone 5C 16GB is sold (after all taxes) at 629€ that is about 850$. To be compared for example with a Nexus5 at 349€ that is about 450$. I don't want to say what is better, my clarification just to explain why in Europe iPhone is quickly losing market share.
I understand that. But there are a lot of people like mwhiteco in the US for whom the 5c wasn't a bad deal, so I disagree with some of the negative posts about the 5c in the States. Here there's a major part of the cell phone users who don't consider buying a phone off contract. When you have a family plan with five and every few months one of the lines is up it's really no terrible thing to go with a contract phone on an upgrade. Last year my college age daughter had her 4 stolen so I gave her my upgrade and she got a 5c. I don't remember offhand what the price was but it was around $50 and another 2 years, and I do remember that it was more of a difference than comparing the off contract phones (which were too high $$$ for the situation). IIRC it was more than the current difference of around $150. I used the yardstick of what my reality was, which was comparing the contracts. I was happy with the cost and she still loves it six months later. In four months she can take my wife's upgrade, pass the 5c to her younger sister and get a 5s or whatever seems best at the time for the upgrade cost. (My wife still refuses to have a smartphone but I can guarentee that if she had to she'd get the cheapest iPhone available unless the difference was less than maybe $75 and she would also find it perfectly fine.)
Whatever people's opinions are about the 5c, I think Apple needs to not have only a single new model available, with only storage size choices. Their 5c mistake, IMO, was in not giving it a better monetary introduction, getting the costs further apart either by subsidizing or margin, while they were making everyone lust after the barely available 5s. Nothing wrong with the hardware.
Finding a decent case was a PITA though, I'll tell you : )
I've seen the 5C in public and some Olympians have them as well.
What's your point?
We have all seen the 5c in public, whether it be teenagers at the mall or Olympians.
Bartenders, SI swimsuit models, truck drivers and Fortune 500 CEOs carry around the 5s.
Last I heard, the 5C was the second most popular phone on the planet, second only to the 5S. But that doesn't stop them all from calling it a flop, despite the fact that each and every one of them would give anything they had to produce such a "flop".
So, imagine a fictional world where the 5C is doing even better than the 5S? Sure- it's always easy to image something selling even more. But that's never been in Apple's DNA. They don't push their chepaest products the hardest. They don't WANT they cheapest products cannibalizing sales of their pricier ones. They want their "flagship" products to be the most lusted and sought after. The current scenarios is pretty damn close to ideal for Apple. I doubt they'd want 5Cs flooding the market while the 5S becomes more of a niche product. The 5S contains tech that Apple wants to push- Touch ID, 64bit, ultra-high build quality, etc.
"Imagine a world where the iPhone 5C was outselling the iPhone 5S by 2-1 and the 5S was not affected."
So imagine a world where a shitload more people were buying iPhones? Um, ok. That doesnt mean that was a realistic scenario, today. Total iPhone sales are smashing all previous records, so your alternate reality is pretty fictional. My point is that there's no way the 5C can be considered a "failure" if any other company produced ONLY the 5C in their product line, and nothing else, they'd still be insanely successful.
I said that I didn't think they would have seen any cannibalisation, as people who have bought the 5S would do so anyway.
Despite the rhetoric Apple do want to increase sales in developing countries and a cheaper 5C will be the way.
I just bought my ex a new 5c yesterday from Walmart for $29 she was using a 4 before that, I think that was a great price this is a much better phone that what she had.
If she's your ex, why didn't you buy her an Android?
I think Tim Cook needs to shut the doors for good%u2026Apple is clearly doomed and this is further proof of their impending demise. I'll be sure to sell my positions on Monday.
I have a neice (age 16) and a nephew (age 30). Both have blue iPhone 5c's and love them. Myself, I prefer my daughter's iPhone 5. Maybe this has told Apple that Apple users aren't interested in plastic phones?
So out of your tiny survey of three people, two thirds of them prefer plastic phones, and from this you deduce that Apple therefore aren't interested in them?
I think one of the reason Apple made the 5c was to make a product that looked inferior to the 5s. Then when customers were given the choice they would always pick the 5s. A `steering product' if you will.
Yep, Apple were determined to make a product that no-one would want to buy. Clearly, the iPhone 5s was so unattractive that they had to make another product that was even worse, in a desperate attempt to lure the bottom of the barrel customer. Bloody hell.
Because we still get along and I wouldn't give an Android to my worst enemy!!!! Also she had Android before and it was the worst pile of crap ever and I am the one who gave her the 4.
I went into the Apple Store and test drove the 5c and 5s on all the apps I use. I saw no appreciable difference in performance. The 5c felt better in my hand. I liked the way the default background matched the case - It looked very stylish. So I bought the 5c and am very happy with it. The Apple honeycomb covers are ludicrously priced and so I have no intention of buying one, and I reckon using one would detract from the tactile experience which I believe is one of the 5c's USPs. I'm on O2 and don't use 4g because 4g isn't available in my area. But as far as I know the 5c is 4g capable.
It's not a flop, but it shows a clear misjudgment of the market from the Apple brass. Tim Cook as much as admitted to this fact.
Just goes to show that the people who run Apple are also human (and before the "SteveJobs wouldn't have" folks chime in, Jobs was also prone to many mistakes).
It's not a flop, but it shows a clear misjudgment of the market from the Apple brass. Tim Cook as much as admitted to this fact.
Just goes to show that the people who run Apple are also human (and before the "SteveJobs wouldn't have" folks chime in, Jobs was also prone to many mistakes).
Time Cook merely said Apple underestimated the market for the 5S, and over estimated the market for the 5C. Considering the margins are higher for the 5S, it wasn't really a bad problem for Apple to have. Moreover, there were other nonintrinsic benefits, such as taking over more retail space in third party stores, and giving customers a choice.
From my perspective a six percent market share amongst all operating iPhones seems pretty good for the 5C after less than a year, and twenty percent for the 5S seems incredibly good.
My girlfriend bought a 5C, and I have played with it quite a bit. I think it is a great phone. It is not the 5S, but still a great phone. I think Apple misjudged people's vanity. If you buy a year old iPhone 5, it looks like you are just waiting for your contract to expire, whereas with the iPhone 5S it looks like you just wanted to save a hundred bucks.
I went into the Apple Store and test drove the 5c and 5s on all the apps I use. I saw no appreciable difference in performance. The 5c felt better in my hand. I liked the way the default background matched the case - It looked very stylish. So I bought the 5c and am very happy with it.
The Apple honeycomb covers are ludicrously priced and so I have no intention of buying one, and I reckon using one would detract from the tactile experience which I believe is one of the 5c's USPs.
I'm on O2 and don't use 4g because 4g isn't available in my area. But as far as I know the 5c is 4g capable.
Glad you like the 5c. Although I've only held it in a Store, it seemed a lovely phone.
I think Tim Cook needs to shut the doors for good. Apple is clearly doomed and this is further proof of their impending demise. I'll be sure to sell my positions on Monday.
A couple of years from now the 5C might be the new entry level 4. We'll see how Apple meant to do it. It'd make sense if the update cycle of the 5c isn't annual, instead pushing production costs down and keeping the design separate from the top line. The C and S might look somewhat similar today, but in a few years it'll probably be even more different from the top line, and cheaper, making it increasingly more appealing as an entry level phone. Just my thoughts.
A couple of years from now the 5C might be the new entry level 4. We'll see how Apple meant to do it. It'd make sense if the update cycle of the 5c isn't annual, instead pushing production costs down and keeping the design separate from the top line. The C and S might look somewhat similar today, but in a few years it'll probably be even more different from the top line, and cheaper, making it increasingly more appealing as an entry level phone.
Just my thoughts.
In theory, i think the 5C was a good idea but it seems to have caused a high amount confusion among buyers. Even many people who read and post about tech on the internet seem to keep comparing the 5C sales to the 5S instead of comparing it to previous gen iPhone sales going into their second year. If you're going to run out to buy an iPhone opening weekend it was never likely going to the 5C with 2012 HW. For those reasons I wouldn't be surprised if Apple kills it and simply does one new iPhone per year (for a given display size).
Comments
Actually you can call it a failure. In general you would expect cheaper phones to sell more. I know people think a cheaper 5C might have affected sales of the 5S, I don't buy it as people who bought the 5S could afford it anyway. Look at the iPad to see the cheaper model sell more. Imagine a world where the iPhone 5C was outselling the iPhone 5S by 2-1 and the 5S was not affected. Of course that would be a world where the iPhone 5C were cheaper.
So, imagine a fictional world where the 5C is doing even better than the 5S? Sure- it's always easy to image something selling even more. But that's never been in Apple's DNA. They don't push their chepaest products the hardest. They don't WANT they cheapest products cannibalizing sales of their pricier ones. They want their "flagship" products to be the most lusted and sought after. The current scenarios is pretty damn close to ideal for Apple. I doubt they'd want 5Cs flooding the market while the 5S becomes more of a niche product. The 5S contains tech that Apple wants to push- Touch ID, 64bit, ultra-high build quality, etc.
"Imagine a world where the iPhone 5C was outselling the iPhone 5S by 2-1 and the 5S was not affected."
So imagine a world where a shitload more people were buying iPhones? Um, ok. That doesnt mean that was a realistic scenario, today. Total iPhone sales are smashing all previous records, so your alternate reality is pretty fictional. My point is that there's no way the 5C can be considered a "failure" if any other company produced ONLY the 5C in their product line, and nothing else, they'd still be insanely successful.
I just bought my ex a new 5c yesterday from Walmart for $29 she was using a 4 before that, I think that was a great price this is a much better phone that what she had.
Quote:
The problem with 5C is the price model: in Italy a phone is usually purchased off-contract (because overall expense is lower), the iPhone 5C 16GB is sold (after all taxes) at 629€ that is about 850$. To be compared for example with a Nexus5 at 349€ that is about 450$. I don't want to say what is better, my clarification just to explain why in Europe iPhone is quickly losing market share.
I understand that. But there are a lot of people like mwhiteco in the US for whom the 5c wasn't a bad deal, so I disagree with some of the negative posts about the 5c in the States. Here there's a major part of the cell phone users who don't consider buying a phone off contract. When you have a family plan with five and every few months one of the lines is up it's really no terrible thing to go with a contract phone on an upgrade. Last year my college age daughter had her 4 stolen so I gave her my upgrade and she got a 5c. I don't remember offhand what the price was but it was around $50 and another 2 years, and I do remember that it was more of a difference than comparing the off contract phones (which were too high $$$ for the situation). IIRC it was more than the current difference of around $150. I used the yardstick of what my reality was, which was comparing the contracts. I was happy with the cost and she still loves it six months later. In four months she can take my wife's upgrade, pass the 5c to her younger sister and get a 5s or whatever seems best at the time for the upgrade cost. (My wife still refuses to have a smartphone but I can guarentee that if she had to she'd get the cheapest iPhone available unless the difference was less than maybe $75 and she would also find it perfectly fine.)
Whatever people's opinions are about the 5c, I think Apple needs to not have only a single new model available, with only storage size choices. Their 5c mistake, IMO, was in not giving it a better monetary introduction, getting the costs further apart either by subsidizing or margin, while they were making everyone lust after the barely available 5s. Nothing wrong with the hardware.
Finding a decent case was a PITA though, I'll tell you : )
I've seen the 5C in public and some Olympians have them as well.
What's your point?
We have all seen the 5c in public, whether it be teenagers at the mall or Olympians.
Bartenders, SI swimsuit models, truck drivers and Fortune 500 CEOs carry around the 5s.
Last I heard, the 5C was the second most popular phone on the planet, second only to the 5S. But that doesn't stop them all from calling it a flop, despite the fact that each and every one of them would give anything they had to produce such a "flop".
Weird, because I see the 5c all over the place! Shows how worthless anecdotal data is, I guess.
Yet you added some of your own.
I've seen anecdotal evidence that has been totally correct. Or, at least, it seemed that way to me at the time...
I said that I didn't think they would have seen any cannibalisation, as people who have bought the 5S would do so anyway.
Despite the rhetoric Apple do want to increase sales in developing countries and a cheaper 5C will be the way.
I just bought my ex a new 5c yesterday from Walmart for $29 she was using a 4 before that, I think that was a great price this is a much better phone that what she had.
If she's your ex, why didn't you buy her an Android?
I think Tim Cook needs to shut the doors for good%u2026Apple is clearly doomed and this is further proof of their impending demise. I'll be sure to sell my positions on Monday.
Why so pessimistic?
I have a neice (age 16) and a nephew (age 30). Both have blue iPhone 5c's and love them. Myself, I prefer my daughter's iPhone 5. Maybe this has told Apple that Apple users aren't interested in plastic phones?
So out of your tiny survey of three people, two thirds of them prefer plastic phones, and from this you deduce that Apple therefore aren't interested in them?
Maybe you need to lie down.
I think one of the reason Apple made the 5c was to make a product that looked inferior to the 5s. Then when customers were given the choice they would always pick the 5s. A `steering product' if you will.
Yep, Apple were determined to make a product that no-one would want to buy. Clearly, the iPhone 5s was so unattractive that they had to make another product that was even worse, in a desperate attempt to lure the bottom of the barrel customer. Bloody hell.
Because we still get along and I wouldn't give an Android to my worst enemy!!!! Also she had Android before and it was the worst pile of crap ever and I am the one who gave her the 4.
Because he's not ready to be celibate.
What does that mean, most people I see have cases.
The Apple honeycomb covers are ludicrously priced and so I have no intention of buying one, and I reckon using one would detract from the tactile experience which I believe is one of the 5c's USPs.
I'm on O2 and don't use 4g because 4g isn't available in my area. But as far as I know the 5c is 4g capable.
It's not a flop, but it shows a clear misjudgment of the market from the Apple brass. Tim Cook as much as admitted to this fact.
Just goes to show that the people who run Apple are also human (and before the "SteveJobs wouldn't have" folks chime in, Jobs was also prone to many mistakes).
It's not a flop, but it shows a clear misjudgment of the market from the Apple brass. Tim Cook as much as admitted to this fact.
Just goes to show that the people who run Apple are also human (and before the "SteveJobs wouldn't have" folks chime in, Jobs was also prone to many mistakes).
Time Cook merely said Apple underestimated the market for the 5S, and over estimated the market for the 5C. Considering the margins are higher for the 5S, it wasn't really a bad problem for Apple to have. Moreover, there were other nonintrinsic benefits, such as taking over more retail space in third party stores, and giving customers a choice.
From my perspective a six percent market share amongst all operating iPhones seems pretty good for the 5C after less than a year, and twenty percent for the 5S seems incredibly good.
My girlfriend bought a 5C, and I have played with it quite a bit. I think it is a great phone. It is not the 5S, but still a great phone. I think Apple misjudged people's vanity. If you buy a year old iPhone 5, it looks like you are just waiting for your contract to expire, whereas with the iPhone 5S it looks like you just wanted to save a hundred bucks.
Glad you like the 5c. Although I've only held it in a Store, it seemed a lovely phone.
I think Tim Cook needs to shut the doors for good. Apple is clearly doomed and this is further proof of their impending demise. I'll be sure to sell my positions on Monday.
Why so pessimistic?
I'm not…it's sarcasm.
I wouldn't call the 5c a flop. I love the colors, but it is heavier...Apple has always been about the "premium brand." The 5s is the only way to go!
Just my thoughts.
In theory, i think the 5C was a good idea but it seems to have caused a high amount confusion among buyers. Even many people who read and post about tech on the internet seem to keep comparing the 5C sales to the 5S instead of comparing it to previous gen iPhone sales going into their second year. If you're going to run out to buy an iPhone opening weekend it was never likely going to the 5C with 2012 HW. For those reasons I wouldn't be surprised if Apple kills it and simply does one new iPhone per year (for a given display size).