... regardless, was visiting a friend yesterday, noted that he is the first friend I've encountered with the new phone. Usually by now something like a quarter of my friends have upgraded devices. Uptake is definitely slow.
So the does the fact that I know several of my 'Apple" friends both personal and from work that have had the new phone since the first week change your uptake theory? I grabbed my 7plus the day after release as well.
it seems to me that the difference in physical appearance between the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 6 is in the same ballpark as the difference between the iPhone 5 and 4. True, there was a change in materials between the 4 and 5 and there really hasn't been a big change in materials since the 5, but I don't think the materials matter that much. Also, I actually think the iPhone 7 looks really good. I just don't think this is an issue.
If we define "design" more broadly than physical appearance (which I think we should), then the iPhone 7 has a lot going for it. The SOC is far and away the best on the market. The storage speed is phenomenal. The camera is very good -- whether it's the best depends on what you care about. Waterproofing is a good feature.
The biggest problem with the design is the omission of the 3.5 mm jack. I think that's really the crux of the bad sales. If AirPods had been released a year before the iPhone 7, and if they worked well and people loved them, then removing the 3.5 mm jack would have seemed like obviously the right thing to do. Instead, they remove the jack, promise these great new wireless earphones, but then delay them indefinitely. There were surveys showing interest in the AirPods running much higher than interest in the Apple Watch.
So my theory is that sales are weak because of the audio situation.
Isn't the audio situation mitigated by:
iPhone 7 In the Box
iPhone with iOS 10
EarPods with Lightning Connector
Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter
Lightning to USB Cable
USB Power Adapter
Documentation
The adapter is a Band-Aid solution to a self-inflicted wound. It is better to have a Band-Aid than not have a Band-Aid; but even better not to inflict the wound in the first place.
There are valid reasons (valuable space inside the iPhone, water-resistance, etc.) to ditch the 3.5 mm for Lightening.
Honest question: It seems to me that keeping a short adapter plugged into the end of your wired earphone cable is a very minor inconvenience... How many iPhone users have multiple, wired, 3.5 earphones -- where this would be as much of an issue as you say it is?
In any case, your issue will go away as the AirPods become availability... Over the years, Apple has done similar things (SCSI, ADB, FireWire, USB, Floppys, CD/DVD, etc.) and, historically, it is seen and abandoning existing, obsolete baggage in favor of gaining future tech advantages.
I don't disagree with the tradeoffs, nor do I disagree with the idea that it would eventually make sense do dump the jack.
My criticism is about execution, and that's not a small issue.
The audio jack should have been removed when doing so would result in a noticeably better experience for consumers.
People *love* to make the analogy to the original iMac and USB. Fine. But guess what -- the original iMac came with a USB keyboard and mouse in the box, and USB was on its way to becoming an industry standard.
Lightning is not now, nor will it ever be, an industry standard. Nor is lightning even Apple's preferred solution to replace the audio jack. The preferred solution -- the one that will actually make consumers better off -- is wireless. That's the analogy to USB in the original iMac. But Apple didn't include wireless in the box, and they don't even offer it for sale as an extra because they've screwed up execution.
The analogy to the original iMac would be that instead of including a USB keyboard and mouse, they included an ADB-to-USB dongle along with a keyboard and mouse that attached to the iMac using ethernet, with a promise to sell a USB keyboard and mouse as an optional extra at some point in the fuzzy future.
Bottom line is that Apple screwed up execution here big time. But they didn't have to. They could have made the iPhone 7 a little thicker and still included an audio jack. released the AirPods when they were ready (maybe January of 2017), and then -- assuming the AirPods turn out to be awesome -- remove the audio jack in the iPhone 8. That would have been a totally reasonable and feasible way to go. It would have made both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 more desirable products.
AirPods in the box would have created crazy sales. Let's hope Apple does this next year.
@sog35 you've had your say, now drop it... I won't let you hijack another thread!
Have the mods ever considered banning him for blatant trolling? He hijacks every thread to intentionally enflame and aggravate, usually off topic to boot. That's trolling. Others have been banned for less.
Yes, @sog35 has been banned several times by others (before I became a Mod).
One of a Mod's responsibilities is to try to keep the posts [mostly] civil and and on-topic. IDK, if @sog35 is trolling per se... He has strong feelings and tends to repeat them in any thread, regardless of topic... IMO, that is a rant and contributes nothing to a reasoned discussion of the topics being discussed.
Others then quote his rants and the thread gets hijacked. *
It's a tough call, but warning @sog35 early, after making several such rants -- he tends to make his posts more on-topic.
One thing I've found to be effective if you want to disagree with with an offensive post is to quote the poster's name but remove all the content of the offensive post -- something like this:
I expect significant design changes every 2 years with iPhone. iPhone4 vs 5 vs 6. Big design changes. So big you can tell instantly the difference.
You expect Apple to fix something that isn't broken - bad idea. They change make big changes when there is a reason to do so and not simply for the sake of change. The Apple designs are part of their brand and have a great deal of value just in the fact that they can be easily recognized. If Coca Cola made major changes their design every 2 years, you would not be able to recognize a Coke, and when you saw one you wouldn't know if it was real or not. (And imagine if they changed the recipe every 2 years as well.) You're asking Apple to chuck out something that people love and are comfortable with. It's a big risk without that much upside.
it seems to me that the difference in physical appearance between the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 6 is in the same ballpark as the difference between the iPhone 5 and 4. True, there was a change in materials between the 4 and 5 and there really hasn't been a big change in materials since the 5, but I don't think the materials matter that much. Also, I actually think the iPhone 7 looks really good. I just don't think this is an issue.
If we define "design" more broadly than physical appearance (which I think we should), then the iPhone 7 has a lot going for it. The SOC is far and away the best on the market. The storage speed is phenomenal. The camera is very good -- whether it's the best depends on what you care about. Waterproofing is a good feature.
The biggest problem with the design is the omission of the 3.5 mm jack. I think that's really the crux of the bad sales. If AirPods had been released a year before the iPhone 7, and if they worked well and people loved them, then removing the 3.5 mm jack would have seemed like obviously the right thing to do. Instead, they remove the jack, promise these great new wireless earphones, but then delay them indefinitely. There were surveys showing interest in the AirPods running much higher than interest in the Apple Watch.
So my theory is that sales are weak because of the audio situation.
Isn't the audio situation mitigated by:
iPhone 7 In the Box
iPhone with iOS 10
EarPods with Lightning Connector
Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter
Lightning to USB Cable
USB Power Adapter
Documentation
The adapter is a Band-Aid solution to a self-inflicted wound. It is better to have a Band-Aid than not have a Band-Aid; but even better not to inflict the wound in the first place.
There are valid reasons (valuable space inside the iPhone, water-resistance, etc.) to ditch the 3.5 mm for Lightening.
Honest question: It seems to me that keeping a short adapter plugged into the end of your wired earphone cable is a very minor inconvenience... How many iPhone users have multiple, wired, 3.5 earphones -- where this would be as much of an issue as you say it is?
In any case, your issue will go away as the AirPods become availability... Over the years, Apple has done similar things (SCSI, ADB, FireWire, USB, Floppys, CD/DVD, etc.) and, historically, it is seen and abandoning existing, obsolete baggage in favor of gaining future tech advantages.
I don't disagree with the tradeoffs, nor do I disagree with the idea that it would eventually make sense do dump the jack.
My criticism is about execution, and that's not a small issue.
The audio jack should have been removed when doing so would result in a noticeably better experience for consumers.
People *love* to make the analogy to the original iMac and USB. Fine. But guess what -- the original iMac came with a USB keyboard and mouse in the box, and USB was on its way to becoming an industry standard.
Lightning is not now, nor will it ever be, an industry standard. Nor is lightning even Apple's preferred solution to replace the audio jack. The preferred solution -- the one that will actually make consumers better off -- is wireless. That's the analogy to USB in the original iMac. But Apple didn't include wireless in the box, and they don't even offer it for sale as an extra because they've screwed up execution.
The analogy to the original iMac would be that instead of including a USB keyboard and mouse, they included an ADB-to-USB dongle along with a keyboard and mouse that attached to the iMac using ethernet, with a promise to sell a USB keyboard and mouse as an optional extra at some point in the fuzzy future.
Bottom line is that Apple screwed up execution here big time. But they didn't have to. They could have made the iPhone 7 a little thicker and still included an audio jack. released the AirPods when they were ready (maybe January of 2017), and then -- assuming the AirPods turn out to be awesome -- remove the audio jack in the iPhone 8. That would have been a totally reasonable and feasible way to go. It would have made both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 more desirable products.
AirPods in the box would have created crazy sales. Let's hope Apple does this next year.
I guess another approach could also be to create discounted bundles, like an iPhone7+AirPods+Watch bundle in which the total price equals iPhone7+Watch (so, you effectively get the AirPods "for free"). I mean, it's an ecosystem, right?
it seems to me that the difference in physical appearance between the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 6 is in the same ballpark as the difference between the iPhone 5 and 4. True, there was a change in materials between the 4 and 5 and there really hasn't been a big change in materials since the 5, but I don't think the materials matter that much. Also, I actually think the iPhone 7 looks really good. I just don't think this is an issue.
If we define "design" more broadly than physical appearance (which I think we should), then the iPhone 7 has a lot going for it. The SOC is far and away the best on the market. The storage speed is phenomenal. The camera is very good -- whether it's the best depends on what you care about. Waterproofing is a good feature.
The biggest problem with the design is the omission of the 3.5 mm jack. I think that's really the crux of the bad sales. If AirPods had been released a year before the iPhone 7, and if they worked well and people loved them, then removing the 3.5 mm jack would have seemed like obviously the right thing to do. Instead, they remove the jack, promise these great new wireless earphones, but then delay them indefinitely. There were surveys showing interest in the AirPods running much higher than interest in the Apple Watch.
So my theory is that sales are weak because of the audio situation.
Isn't the audio situation mitigated by:
iPhone 7 In the Box
iPhone with iOS 10
EarPods with Lightning Connector
Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter
Lightning to USB Cable
USB Power Adapter
Documentation
The adapter is a Band-Aid solution to a self-inflicted wound. It is better to have a Band-Aid than not have a Band-Aid; but even better not to inflict the wound in the first place.
There are valid reasons (valuable space inside the iPhone, water-resistance, etc.) to ditch the 3.5 mm for Lightening.
Honest question: It seems to me that keeping a short adapter plugged into the end of your wired earphone cable is a very minor inconvenience... How many iPhone users have multiple, wired, 3.5 earphones -- where this would be as much of an issue as you say it is?
In any case, your issue will go away as the AirPods become availability... Over the years, Apple has done similar things (SCSI, ADB, FireWire, USB, Floppys, CD/DVD, etc.) and, historically, it is seen and abandoning existing, obsolete baggage in favor of gaining future tech advantages.
I don't disagree with the tradeoffs, nor do I disagree with the idea that it would eventually make sense do dump the jack.
My criticism is about execution, and that's not a small issue.
The audio jack should have been removed when doing so would result in a noticeably better experience for consumers.
People *love* to make the analogy to the original iMac and USB. Fine. But guess what -- the original iMac came with a USB keyboard and mouse in the box, and USB was on its way to becoming an industry standard.
Lightning is not now, nor will it ever be, an industry standard. Nor is lightning even Apple's preferred solution to replace the audio jack. The preferred solution -- the one that will actually make consumers better off -- is wireless. That's the analogy to USB in the original iMac. But Apple didn't include wireless in the box, and they don't even offer it for sale as an extra because they've screwed up execution.
The analogy to the original iMac would be that instead of including a USB keyboard and mouse, they included an ADB-to-USB dongle along with a keyboard and mouse that attached to the iMac using ethernet, with a promise to sell a USB keyboard and mouse as an optional extra at some point in the fuzzy future.
Bottom line is that Apple screwed up execution here big time. But they didn't have to. They could have made the iPhone 7 a little thicker and still included an audio jack. released the AirPods when they were ready (maybe January of 2017), and then -- assuming the AirPods turn out to be awesome -- remove the audio jack in the iPhone 8. That would have been a totally reasonable and feasible way to go. It would have made both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 more desirable products.
AirPods in the box would have created crazy sales. Let's hope Apple does this next year.
Considering the difficulty Apple is having delivering the AirPods as a stand-alone device, imagine the iPhone sales backlog if they were included in the box.
I expect significant design changes every 2 years with iPhone. iPhone4 vs 5 vs 6. Big design changes. So big you can tell instantly the difference.
You expect Apple to fix something that isn't broken - bad idea. They change make big changes when there is a reason to do so and not simply for the sake of change. The Apple designs are part of their brand and have a great deal of value just in the fact that they can be easily recognized. If Coca Cola made major changes their design every 2 years, you would not be able to recognize a Coke, and when you saw one you wouldn't know if it was real or not. (And imagine if they changed the recipe every 2 years as well.) You're asking Apple to chuck out something that people love and are comfortable with. It's a big risk without that much upside.
Another example is the Porsche 911. It has retained its basic, yet iconic, design since the 60s. And it's easily recognizeable.
it seems to me that the difference in physical appearance between the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 6 is in the same ballpark as the difference between the iPhone 5 and 4. True, there was a change in materials between the 4 and 5 and there really hasn't been a big change in materials since the 5, but I don't think the materials matter that much. Also, I actually think the iPhone 7 looks really good. I just don't think this is an issue.
If we define "design" more broadly than physical appearance (which I think we should), then the iPhone 7 has a lot going for it. The SOC is far and away the best on the market. The storage speed is phenomenal. The camera is very good -- whether it's the best depends on what you care about. Waterproofing is a good feature.
The biggest problem with the design is the omission of the 3.5 mm jack. I think that's really the crux of the bad sales. If AirPods had been released a year before the iPhone 7, and if they worked well and people loved them, then removing the 3.5 mm jack would have seemed like obviously the right thing to do. Instead, they remove the jack, promise these great new wireless earphones, but then delay them indefinitely. There were surveys showing interest in the AirPods running much higher than interest in the Apple Watch.
So my theory is that sales are weak because of the audio situation.
Isn't the audio situation mitigated by:
iPhone 7 In the Box
iPhone with iOS 10
EarPods with Lightning Connector
Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter
Lightning to USB Cable
USB Power Adapter
Documentation
The adapter is a Band-Aid solution to a self-inflicted wound. It is better to have a Band-Aid than not have a Band-Aid; but even better not to inflict the wound in the first place.
There are valid reasons (valuable space inside the iPhone, water-resistance, etc.) to ditch the 3.5 mm for Lightening.
Honest question: It seems to me that keeping a short adapter plugged into the end of your wired earphone cable is a very minor inconvenience... How many iPhone users have multiple, wired, 3.5 earphones -- where this would be as much of an issue as you say it is?
In any case, your issue will go away as the AirPods become availability... Over the years, Apple has done similar things (SCSI, ADB, FireWire, USB, Floppys, CD/DVD, etc.) and, historically, it is seen and abandoning existing, obsolete baggage in favor of gaining future tech advantages.
I don't disagree with the tradeoffs, nor do I disagree with the idea that it would eventually make sense do dump the jack.
My criticism is about execution, and that's not a small issue.
The audio jack should have been removed when doing so would result in a noticeably better experience for consumers.
People *love* to make the analogy to the original iMac and USB. Fine. But guess what -- the original iMac came with a USB keyboard and mouse in the box, and USB was on its way to becoming an industry standard.
Lightning is not now, nor will it ever be, an industry standard. Nor is lightning even Apple's preferred solution to replace the audio jack. The preferred solution -- the one that will actually make consumers better off -- is wireless. That's the analogy to USB in the original iMac. But Apple didn't include wireless in the box, and they don't even offer it for sale as an extra because they've screwed up execution.
The analogy to the original iMac would be that instead of including a USB keyboard and mouse, they included an ADB-to-USB dongle along with a keyboard and mouse that attached to the iMac using ethernet, with a promise to sell a USB keyboard and mouse as an optional extra at some point in the fuzzy future.
Bottom line is that Apple screwed up execution here big time. But they didn't have to. They could have made the iPhone 7 a little thicker and still included an audio jack. released the AirPods when they were ready (maybe January of 2017), and then -- assuming the AirPods turn out to be awesome -- remove the audio jack in the iPhone 8. That would have been a totally reasonable and feasible way to go. It would have made both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 more desirable products.
AirPods in the box would have created crazy sales. Let's hope Apple does this next year.
... regardless, was visiting a friend yesterday, noted that he is the first friend I've encountered with the new phone. Usually by now something like a quarter of my friends have upgraded devices. Uptake is definitely slow.
this is what happens when the biggest feature of the phone is "hey my headphones don't work on this anymore" and "now it comes in black"
What headphones don't work with the phone anymore? How many more times do I have to hear and read this nonsense? Unreal.. There is an adapter..you may not like said adapter, but that is WAY different than not being able to use your headphones anymore.. that would be a lie.
Headphone jack removed from iPhone 7 and adapter provided by Apple with the new device to continue using legacy wired 3.5mm headphones = truth. Apple removed headphone jack on iphone 7and I no longer can use my legacy 3.5mm headphones = non truth.
Do folks seriously not recall the days when some phones had a 2.5mm jack ( for headsets ) that needed an adapter, and how it was a big thing back when iphone came out that it had a 3.5 mm jack standard? That was less than 10 years ago.. I was a Nokia user prior to iPhone.. I used a 2.5 - 3.5 adapter for my Nokia E71x.
Why would people want to buy a phone with a 3 year old design? I mean seriously. If someone holds their phone for 2 year, this phone will have a 5 year old design at the end of their ownership cycle.
To release the same phone design THREE YEARS IN A ROW is the height of Apple's arrogance. But that's Tim Cook's Apple for you. The amount of mistakes this idiot CEO has made is ridiculous.
I hope this iPhone 6SS sells like crap. Hope the stock tanks hard by early 2017. And the board/shareholders wake up and fire Tim Cook. With a competent CEO who actually cares about growing the business and brand (instead of going on some dumb ass social crusade) this stock would be at $200 by now.
This coming from the guy who think mining people's personal information and selling the information is better way to make money. I am still waiting for you to share with me all your email accounts and passwords and Bank account information so I can see if you really do not have anything to hide.
BTW have you looked around at the competitors in the last 3 or 4 years all their phones look the same, and perform worse than an Apple phone. Okay a few took out the SD card and put them back in so people thought they were getting something new. A few other are playing the specmanship game or check list buying game of the 90's to make people think they got a new better product. Grant I do not buy ever new phone that comes out I trend to get them replace every 3 to 4 yrs since the apple phones are tough as nails and just work for a long time. But apple does not kill the last product with the next release of software.
I dare you to name one product which the actually visual design have changed significantly enough every year that you can tell which module year it is with a quick look. Even cars which relay in trying to look different all the time only cycle every 5 yrs, all the other changes are color choose from year to year or some subtle trim change. No company is evolving their designs as fast a apple is, in 9 Yrs they gone through 3.5 design platform on the phone. Who in 10 yrs has done more then more than this. Keep in mind that all cell phone today pretty much look like an iphone, I think that is your real issue.
Samsung.
Compare the S5 to the S7. Huge difference between the 2 years.
I expect significant design changes every 2 years with iPhone. iPhone4 vs 5 vs 6. Big design changes. So big you can tell instantly the difference.
I hate responding to trolls, but change for change's sake isn't what Apple does. That curved phone is stupid anyway.
It's pretty simple and has nothing to do with aesthetics. These phones are so good now The incremental improvements aren't enough to get people to upgrade every 1 or 2 years. The screen is good enough and the phone is fast enough for what most people do. A significant improvement in battery life would be a huge selling point but Apple has apparently decided the current battery life is sufficient so that's most likely not going to change anytime soon.
nothing to do with aesthetics? So why the hell is the Jet Black phone constant being sold out?
People want an iPhone that says 'hey I got the new one' not 'hey I got a 3 year old phone'
I bought it because it feels good, and I like black.
It's an expensive phone. In Europe the phone starts at $825 including 23% tax. $635 excluding tax.
I reckon if the phone started at €649 instead of €779 it'd be an awful lot more popular for new phone buyers here.
Gee 23% tax, in the US it more like 6% to 8%. No wonder the EU is in trouble you have to tax the hell out of people so they can pay for all the free services people coming to the EU want. Now you know why the UK decided to exit
Believe me. The UK is waking up to some harsh realities of Brexit and nothing real has actually happened yet. V.A.T is 20% (general) and will probably rise as a result of Brexit. Sales tax varies across the EU depending on the member state. Some items are subject to reduced tax or zero tax. Sales taxes are necessary but when they go over 20%, can be the difference between purchasing something or not (or choosing a lower priced item). If your currency is strong, the situation can be somewhat mitigated but if it is weak, you are in trouble (the buyer that just cannot afford the item, and the manufacturer that can't get the sale). All the manufacturer can do is reduce margins or release cheaper products. Pound Sterling has taken a battering because of Brexit. V.A.T is on the 20% point and Apple is not currently producing ANY new affordable machines. I fully expect Apple sales to implode in the UK and see significant falls in the rest of the EU. That in itself is cause for concern but the other cause for concern is lost market share. Apple will say that while it's products are sold at high margins, volume is not an issue. This is a crass error. A large part of the current user base are not 'Mac users'. They are 'users' who use Macs and or iDevices. There is a massive difference. They might be buying Apple products today but tomorrow they could just as easily be buying from competitors. If your market share starts to dive you will be in trouble quickly unless you have enough critical mass to keep things going. The fall in share price will be the first issue.
iPhone 8 might not be enough if they stick to ultra premium pricing.
The ignorance displayed on this site is appalling.
Hiring/training new employees is difficult and expensive. Laying them off four months later is stupid. "Demand in China and other markets has scaled back substantially"
Once Apple commences model production it continues its production rate for approximately 10 months, after which production lines are rejiggered /tested for the next iPhone and employees are trained for its production. Full speed "RAMP" is achieved by the end of the initial production month (generally starts last 30 days of FY).
Apple does not estimate quarterly sell through, it estimates and manufactures for full year sell through.
Straight line manufacturing as described above maximizes resource utilization and by extension reduces production costs. It benefits everyone up and down the supply chain. Deviating from an agreed upon supply agreement results in price penalties. Those pemalties are part of the charge Apple took during FQ3/2016.
The proof in this is the ratio [full year sell through divided by December quarter sell through multiplied by 3 (months per quarter)].
FY2012 (iPhone 4S) ratio 3.38 (10 months 4 days) FY2013 (iPhone 5) ratio 3.14 (9 months 13 days) FY2014 (iPhone 5S) ratio 3.32 (10 months 0 days) FY2015 (iPhone 6) ratio 3.10 (9 months 9 days)
Average model FY production duration ratio 3.24 (9 months 7 days), add three weeks from end of prior year startup production = 10 months.
FY2016 was an anomaly (depressed sell through) that resulted in an inventory write down. You cannot write down inventory if you have not manufactured it. In actuality Apple wrote down the value of its iPhone 6S channel inventory that exceeded its 5 - 7 week target.
it seems to me that the difference in physical appearance between the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 6 is in the same ballpark as the difference between the iPhone 5 and 4. True, there was a change in materials between the 4 and 5 and there really hasn't been a big change in materials since the 5, but I don't think the materials matter that much. Also, I actually think the iPhone 7 looks really good. I just don't think this is an issue.
If we define "design" more broadly than physical appearance (which I think we should), then the iPhone 7 has a lot going for it. The SOC is far and away the best on the market. The storage speed is phenomenal. The camera is very good -- whether it's the best depends on what you care about. Waterproofing is a good feature.
The biggest problem with the design is the omission of the 3.5 mm jack. I think that's really the crux of the bad sales. If AirPods had been released a year before the iPhone 7, and if they worked well and people loved them, then removing the 3.5 mm jack would have seemed like obviously the right thing to do. Instead, they remove the jack, promise these great new wireless earphones, but then delay them indefinitely. There were surveys showing interest in the AirPods running much higher than interest in the Apple Watch.
So my theory is that sales are weak because of the audio situation.
Isn't the audio situation mitigated by:
iPhone 7 In the Box
iPhone with iOS 10
EarPods with Lightning Connector
Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter
Lightning to USB Cable
USB Power Adapter
Documentation
The adapter is a Band-Aid solution to a self-inflicted wound. It is better to have a Band-Aid than not have a Band-Aid; but even better not to inflict the wound in the first place.
There are valid reasons (valuable space inside the iPhone, water-resistance, etc.) to ditch the 3.5 mm for Lightening.
Honest question: It seems to me that keeping a short adapter plugged into the end of your wired earphone cable is a very minor inconvenience... How many iPhone users have multiple, wired, 3.5 earphones -- where this would be as much of an issue as you say it is?
In any case, your issue will go away as the AirPods become availability... Over the years, Apple has done similar things (SCSI, ADB, FireWire, USB, Floppys, CD/DVD, etc.) and, historically, it is seen and abandoning existing, obsolete baggage in favor of gaining future tech advantages.
I don't disagree with the tradeoffs, nor do I disagree with the idea that it would eventually make sense do dump the jack.
My criticism is about execution, and that's not a small issue.
The audio jack should have been removed when doing so would result in a noticeably better experience for consumers.
People *love* to make the analogy to the original iMac and USB. Fine. But guess what -- the original iMac came with a USB keyboard and mouse in the box, and USB was on its way to becoming an industry standard.
Lightning is not now, nor will it ever be, an industry standard. Nor is lightning even Apple's preferred solution to replace the audio jack. The preferred solution -- the one that will actually make consumers better off -- is wireless. That's the analogy to USB in the original iMac. But Apple didn't include wireless in the box, and they don't even offer it for sale as an extra because they've screwed up execution.
The analogy to the original iMac would be that instead of including a USB keyboard and mouse, they included an ADB-to-USB dongle along with a keyboard and mouse that attached to the iMac using ethernet, with a promise to sell a USB keyboard and mouse as an optional extra at some point in the fuzzy future.
Bottom line is that Apple screwed up execution here big time. But they didn't have to. They could have made the iPhone 7 a little thicker and still included an audio jack. released the AirPods when they were ready (maybe January of 2017), and then -- assuming the AirPods turn out to be awesome -- remove the audio jack in the iPhone 8. That would have been a totally reasonable and feasible way to go. It would have made both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 more desirable products.
Pretty much a perfect post. Apple (late 2016) is out of sync with itself and many of its users.
I expect significant design changes every 2 years with iPhone. iPhone4 vs 5 vs 6. Big design changes. So big you can tell instantly the difference.
You expect Apple to fix something that isn't broken - bad idea. They change make big changes when there is a reason to do so and not simply for the sake of change. The Apple designs are part of their brand and have a great deal of value just in the fact that they can be easily recognized. If Coca Cola made major changes their design every 2 years, you would not be able to recognize a Coke, and when you saw one you wouldn't know if it was real or not. (And imagine if they changed the recipe every 2 years as well.) You're asking Apple to chuck out something that people love and are comfortable with. It's a big risk without that much upside.
what is broken with the 6, 6s, and 6ss is the massive forehead and chin bezel.
fixing that alone and making the phone look more sleek would have been enough for me to upgrade
Don't agree about the 11/16" "massive" forehead and chin but you're entitled to that opinion., If or when Apple gets rid of those iconic iPhone details, it will look more like other phones rather than less.
“a report claims...” and every swinging dick in this comment section takes it as fact, then proceeds to spin it to their own personal bias and blather on about what Apple must do or not do to survive this “fact.” Throw in a few “If Steve were alive” incantations and voila, we have a five page thread going. This place is amazing.
It's an expensive phone. In Europe the phone starts at $825 including 23% tax. $635 excluding tax.
I reckon if the phone started at €649 instead of €779 it'd be an awful lot more popular for new phone buyers here.
Gee 23% tax, in the US it more like 6% to 8%. No wonder the EU is in trouble you have to tax the hell out of people so they can pay for all the free services people coming to the EU want. Now you know why the UK decided to exit
Believe me. The UK is waking up to some harsh realities of Brexit and nothing real has actually happened yet. V.A.T is 20% (general) and will probably rise as a result of Brexit. Sales tax varies across the EU depending on the member state. Some items are subject to reduced tax or zero tax. Sales taxes are necessary but when they go over 20%, can be the difference between purchasing something or not (or choosing a lower priced item). If your currency is strong, the situation can be somewhat mitigated but if it is weak, you are in trouble (the buyer that just cannot afford the item, and the manufacturer that can't get the sale). All the manufacturer can do is reduce margins or release cheaper products. Pound Sterling has taken a battering because of Brexit. V.A.T is on the 20% point and Apple is not currently producing ANY new affordable machines. I fully expect Apple sales to implode in the UK and see significant falls in the rest of the EU. That in itself is cause for concern but the other cause for concern is lost market share. Apple will say that while it's products are sold at high margins, volume is not an issue. This is a crass error. A large part of the current user base are not 'Mac users'. They are 'users' who use Macs and or iDevices. There is a massive difference. They might be buying Apple products today but tomorrow they could just as easily be buying from competitors. If your market share starts to dive you will be in trouble quickly unless you have enough critical mass to keep things going. The fall in share price will be the first issue.
iPhone 8 might not be enough if they stick to ultra premium pricing.
The Mac, as it currently stands, exists for 4 major markets.
1. FCPX users 2. LPX users 3. Software Developers (iOS or otherwise) 4. Post-secondary students
All four have strong and growing communities. There are many other Pro apps that pro users use on a Mac (ie: Adobe / Autodesk) but those also run equally well on Windows. So if you don't fall into one of those 3 categories, there's a good chance that you don't NEED a Mac.
As a side note, as "PC" sales decline, laptops / desktops are moving to the premium end of the market and becoming specialized tools. The smartphone, and in a more limited way the tablet, have taken over the mainstream computing market.
Edit: Added post-secondary students as major market
... regardless, was visiting a friend yesterday, noted that he is the first friend I've encountered with the new phone. Usually by now something like a quarter of my friends have upgraded devices. Uptake is definitely slow.
this is what happens when the biggest feature of the phone is "hey my headphones don't work on this anymore" and "now it comes in black"
What headphones don't work with the phone anymore? How many more times do I have to hear and read this nonsense? Unreal.. There is an adapter..you may not like said adapter, but that is WAY different than not being able to use your headphones anymore.. that would be a lie.
Headphone jack removed from iPhone 7 and adapter provided by Apple with the new device to continue using legacy wired 3.5mm headphones = truth. Apple removed headphone jack on iphone 7and I no longer can use my legacy 3.5mm headphones = non truth.
Do folks seriously not recall the days when some phones had a 2.5mm jack ( for headsets ) that needed an adapter, and how it was a big thing back when iphone came out that it had a 3.5 mm jack standard? That was less than 10 years ago.. I was a Nokia user prior to iPhone.. I used a 2.5 - 3.5 adapter for my Nokia E71x.
Not sure about your last point there ...
What was a big deal when the original iPhone was announced is that it would be compatible with the iPod -- 30-pin dock connector and 3.5mm headphone jack. It wasn't until the original iPhone actually landed in the hands of customers that the headphone jack became a huge problem -- turns out that while Apple used a 3.5mm headphone jack, they recessed the port so that only the included Apple EarPods would fit into the hole without an adapter. Have you forgotten what a huge outcry there was that in order to use your own headphones an adapter dongle was needed -- an adapter that added nothing to the experience, it didn't even enable a thinner device, but merely allowed the plug to be inserted far enough into the hole to make the proper connections.
With the removal of the headphone jack, a similar adapter is needed to use one's preexisting headphones, and similarly, it doesn't really do anything more than the headphone jack did in terms of quality, or versatility -- in fact it actually limits a customers ability to charge and listen to wired headphones at the same time, or share an audio program with another set of headphones. One can argue that removing it did allow Apple to add some additional features, like a bigger taptic engine, and stereo speakers -- but that's an entirely subjective gain that isn't necessarily even used, much less appreciated by everyone. At least a thinner iPhone is something everyone experiences whether they like it or not.
The bottom line here to your objection is that this is hyperbole -- of course the removal of the jack doesn't prevent people from using their old headphones. But, it does prevent them from easily using them in the manner they previously used them, without additional equipment, and in some respects, flat out prevents them from doing some things (eg. some headset features have been shown to be incompatible with the adapter). Not only that, but it's been shown to be a slightly lesser quality output, which so far has offered little else of value from third party developers, not even a hint of what might be coming on the horizon -- and we're now almost 3 months into it.
exactly. And for a phone that looks EXACTLY like a 3 year old phone.
I mean who the hell does Apple think they are fooling?
Tim Cook's Apple is so arrogant and so removed from reality it is sickening.
The part of the iPhone you see is there to show you stuff and l let you input commands via touch. All the important parts of the phone are inside. What kind of visual changes are you expecting? You can always get a bright pink case or maybe something with faux leopard spots if you want it to look different.
Comments
So the does the fact that I know several of my 'Apple" friends both personal and from work that have had the new phone since the first week change your uptake theory? I grabbed my 7plus the day after release as well.
One of a Mod's responsibilities is to try to keep the posts [mostly] civil and and on-topic. IDK, if @sog35 is trolling per se... He has strong feelings and tends to repeat them in any thread, regardless of topic... IMO, that is a rant and contributes nothing to a reasoned discussion of the topics being discussed.
Others then quote his rants and the thread gets hijacked. *
It's a tough call, but warning @sog35 early, after making several such rants -- he tends to make his posts more on-topic.
One thing I've found to be effective if you want to disagree with with an offensive post is to quote the poster's name but remove all the content of the offensive post -- something like this:
My response to offensive post.
Headphone jack removed from iPhone 7 and adapter provided by Apple with the new device to continue using legacy wired 3.5mm headphones = truth. Apple removed headphone jack on iphone 7and I no longer can use my legacy 3.5mm headphones = non truth.
Do folks seriously not recall the days when some phones had a 2.5mm jack ( for headsets ) that needed an adapter, and how it was a big thing back when iphone came out that it had a 3.5 mm jack standard? That was less than 10 years ago.. I was a Nokia user prior to iPhone.. I used a 2.5 - 3.5 adapter for my Nokia E71x.
You know this. thus the trolling.
I bought it because it feels good, and I like black.
Thanks for the link -- good read! Especially the nascent Swift implementations outperforming Node.js.
iPhone 8 might not be enough if they stick to ultra premium pricing.
Hiring/training new employees is difficult and expensive. Laying them off four months later is stupid. "Demand in China and other markets has scaled back substantially"
Once Apple commences model production it continues its production rate for approximately 10 months, after which production lines are rejiggered /tested for the next iPhone and employees are trained for its production. Full speed "RAMP" is achieved by the end of the initial production month (generally starts last 30 days of FY).
Apple does not estimate quarterly sell through, it estimates and manufactures for full year sell through.
Straight line manufacturing as described above maximizes resource utilization and by extension reduces production costs. It benefits everyone up and down the supply chain. Deviating from an agreed upon supply agreement results in price penalties. Those pemalties are part of the charge Apple took during FQ3/2016.
The proof in this is the ratio [full year sell through divided by December quarter sell through multiplied by 3 (months per quarter)].
FY2012 (iPhone 4S) ratio 3.38 (10 months 4 days)
FY2013 (iPhone 5) ratio 3.14 (9 months 13 days)
FY2014 (iPhone 5S) ratio 3.32 (10 months 0 days)
FY2015 (iPhone 6) ratio 3.10 (9 months 9 days)
Average model FY production duration ratio 3.24 (9 months 7 days), add three weeks from end of prior year startup production = 10 months.
FY2016 was an anomaly (depressed sell through) that resulted in an inventory write down. You cannot write down inventory if you have not manufactured it. In actuality Apple wrote down the value of its iPhone 6S channel inventory that exceeded its 5 - 7 week target.
1. FCPX users
2. LPX users
3. Software Developers (iOS or otherwise)
4. Post-secondary students
All four have strong and growing communities. There are many other Pro apps that pro users use on a Mac (ie: Adobe / Autodesk) but those also run equally well on Windows. So if you don't fall into one of those 3 categories, there's a good chance that you don't NEED a Mac.
As a side note, as "PC" sales decline, laptops / desktops are moving to the premium end of the market and becoming specialized tools. The smartphone, and in a more limited way the tablet, have taken over the mainstream computing market.
Edit: Added post-secondary students as major market
Not sure about your last point there ...
What was a big deal when the original iPhone was announced is that it would be compatible with the iPod -- 30-pin dock connector and 3.5mm headphone jack. It wasn't until the original iPhone actually landed in the hands of customers that the headphone jack became a huge problem -- turns out that while Apple used a 3.5mm headphone jack, they recessed the port so that only the included Apple EarPods would fit into the hole without an adapter. Have you forgotten what a huge outcry there was that in order to use your own headphones an adapter dongle was needed -- an adapter that added nothing to the experience, it didn't even enable a thinner device, but merely allowed the plug to be inserted far enough into the hole to make the proper connections.
With the removal of the headphone jack, a similar adapter is needed to use one's preexisting headphones, and similarly, it doesn't really do anything more than the headphone jack did in terms of quality, or versatility -- in fact it actually limits a customers ability to charge and listen to wired headphones at the same time, or share an audio program with another set of headphones. One can argue that removing it did allow Apple to add some additional features, like a bigger taptic engine, and stereo speakers -- but that's an entirely subjective gain that isn't necessarily even used, much less appreciated by everyone. At least a thinner iPhone is something everyone experiences whether they like it or not.
The bottom line here to your objection is that this is hyperbole -- of course the removal of the jack doesn't prevent people from using their old headphones. But, it does prevent them from easily using them in the manner they previously used them, without additional equipment, and in some respects, flat out prevents them from doing some things (eg. some headset features have been shown to be incompatible with the adapter). Not only that, but it's been shown to be a slightly lesser quality output, which so far has offered little else of value from third party developers, not even a hint of what might be coming on the horizon -- and we're now almost 3 months into it.