If Apple gave a shit solely about marketshare, they would do alot of things differently.
They don't "solely" care about market share. But there is much more to that statement. There is money to be made off of their ecosystem. Every Android phone sold contributes nothing directly to that end. A really, really cheap iPhone? Probably not. But a lower priced model to get more Apple products into the hands of consumers...sure.
. I'm sure BMW doesn't really care how many cars Hyundai sells and I'm pretty sure Apple doesn't care how many smartphones the others sell, especially since Apple rakes in the majority of the profits.
BMW's target sales numbers may not relate to Hyundai, but it would be naive to think that BMW group is not actively seeking to increase the number of units sold. In fact they are aiming to be the #1 luxury nameplate in the U.S., seeking to increase unit sales by 25%.
From a company press release:
"The BMW Group will continue to focus on the premium segment. "Premium is and remains our business model and the basis for the BMW Group's future success. In terms of innovation, design, sustainability and efficiency, our vehicles will continue to set standards in the premium segment", emphasised Reithofer.
Profitable growth will be achieved by launching new products in all vehicle segments and by engaging in new markets. "We are targeting a worldwide sales volume of more than two million vehicles in 2016 and hence significantly earlier than originally planned for 2020", stated Reithofer.
The company remains committed to its long-term profitability targets and aims to achieve a sustainable EBIT margin of between eight and ten percent in the Automotive segment. Depending on political and economic developments, however, actual margins may end up being above or below the targeted range."
None of these comments addressed the biggest issue of making a TD-SCDMA compatible iPhone. Forget the price for a moment. If Apple wants to sell in more countries they are going to have to increase their SKU's quite a bit. As other countries also starting turning on their various flavors of LTE around the world, and there are a lot of them, the number of iPhone models will have to increase. What is the maximum number of LTE bands supported on current chips? I think only 5 maximum.
SEE?! No matter how cheap Apple makes their mythical "cheaper iPhone", people will still be whining about it. They believe that they deserve an iPhone TRULY for free.
Which is why this year Apple needs to take the iPhone 4S to $299 off-contract, unlocked (while still offering it for $0 on-contract, locked), and say, "Here you go; shut up."
According to the firm, nearly 40 percent of all 3G smartphones shipped in China are TD-SCDMA, a figure up 15 percent year-over-year. Currently, however, none of Apple's iPhone models support the protocol.
Just FYI: TD-SCDMA is China Mobile's proprietary variant of the CDMA 3G protocol. Phones using only the TD-SCDMA protocol won't work on any other network.
Another fact: China Mobile is working on their own proprietary variant of LTE: TD-LTE, which apparently won't be compatible with the LTE (aka 3GPP Long Term Evolution) protocols of any other network.
Wild speculation: If Apple wanted to ship a lower-cost iPhone in China that wouldn't cannibalize higher-cost iPhones in other countries through gray market "exports," they could do so by building a special 3G iPhone for China Mobile that only supports TD-SCDMA. Later, Apple could do the same with a TD-LTE China Mobile-only phone.
Wild extrapolation: But if Apple ships a lower-cost iPhone that only works on China Mobile, what could they do to address the (perceived) need for a lower-cost iPhone in the rest of the world (and on other Chinese cell carriers)? Could they somehow lock the low-cost models to specific carriers to prevent gray-marke exports / cannibalization?
Can Apple make a great $300 phone? Sure. Will it be identical to the iPhone? Nope. Will it be concentric with the iPhone, with a smaller function set and integrated with the iOS ecosystem? Yep. Will Apple make one? Dunno. Outguessing Apple is a fool's game.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by Constable Odo
. Samsung is Wall Street's new champion and smartphone leader.
Interesting comment considering Samsung stock does not even trade on Wall Street. Kinda outs your true motive in the post doesn't it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slurpy
If Apple gave a shit solely about marketshare, they would do alot of things differently.
They don't "solely" care about market share. But there is much more to that statement. There is money to be made off of their ecosystem. Every Android phone sold contributes nothing directly to that end. A really, really cheap iPhone? Probably not. But a lower priced model to get more Apple products into the hands of consumers...sure.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lkrupp
. I'm sure BMW doesn't really care how many cars Hyundai sells and I'm pretty sure Apple doesn't care how many smartphones the others sell, especially since Apple rakes in the majority of the profits.
BMW's target sales numbers may not relate to Hyundai, but it would be naive to think that BMW group is not actively seeking to increase the number of units sold. In fact they are aiming to be the #1 luxury nameplate in the U.S., seeking to increase unit sales by 25%.
From a company press release:
"The BMW Group will continue to focus on the premium segment. "Premium is and remains our business model and the basis for the BMW Group's future success. In terms of innovation, design, sustainability and efficiency, our vehicles will continue to set standards in the premium segment", emphasised Reithofer.
Profitable growth will be achieved by launching new products in all vehicle segments and by engaging in new markets. "We are targeting a worldwide sales volume of more than two million vehicles in 2016 and hence significantly earlier than originally planned for 2020", stated Reithofer.
The company remains committed to its long-term profitability targets and aims to achieve a sustainable EBIT margin of between eight and ten percent in the Automotive segment. Depending on political and economic developments, however, actual margins may end up being above or below the targeted range."
None of these comments addressed the biggest issue of making a TD-SCDMA compatible iPhone. Forget the price for a moment. If Apple wants to sell in more countries they are going to have to increase their SKU's quite a bit. As other countries also starting turning on their various flavors of LTE around the world, and there are a lot of them, the number of iPhone models will have to increase. What is the maximum number of LTE bands supported on current chips? I think only 5 maximum.
Big difference in the LTE bands here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks
and the iPhone 5 supported LTE bands here: http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/
Originally Posted by samirsshah
No, $200.
SEE?! No matter how cheap Apple makes their mythical "cheaper iPhone", people will still be whining about it. They believe that they deserve an iPhone TRULY for free.
Which is why this year Apple needs to take the iPhone 4S to $299 off-contract, unlocked (while still offering it for $0 on-contract, locked), and say, "Here you go; shut up."
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
According to the firm, nearly 40 percent of all 3G smartphones shipped in China are TD-SCDMA, a figure up 15 percent year-over-year. Currently, however, none of Apple's iPhone models support the protocol.
Just FYI: TD-SCDMA is China Mobile's proprietary variant of the CDMA 3G protocol. Phones using only the TD-SCDMA protocol won't work on any other network.
Another fact: China Mobile is working on their own proprietary variant of LTE: TD-LTE, which apparently won't be compatible with the LTE (aka 3GPP Long Term Evolution) protocols of any other network.
Wild speculation: If Apple wanted to ship a lower-cost iPhone in China that wouldn't cannibalize higher-cost iPhones in other countries through gray market "exports," they could do so by building a special 3G iPhone for China Mobile that only supports TD-SCDMA. Later, Apple could do the same with a TD-LTE China Mobile-only phone.
Wild extrapolation: But if Apple ships a lower-cost iPhone that only works on China Mobile, what could they do to address the (perceived) need for a lower-cost iPhone in the rest of the world (and on other Chinese cell carriers)? Could they somehow lock the low-cost models to specific carriers to prevent gray-marke exports / cannibalization?