Apple’s rise to greatness

By on Oct 5, 2011 at 12:45 PM
Featured October 5, 2011

People are disappointed. What else can I say? With all of the hype, and even our own reporting, Apple should have released a real iPhone 5. But it didn’t, and the fact that Apple is releasing the same exact model with internal upgrades is upsetting to a lot of people. You know what, though? The overwhelming majority of people probably couldn’t care less.

Let’s look outside the bubble and think about the general consumer. Apple introduced a new phone that’s upwards of twice as fast as its predecessor, has better graphics performance than any other portable gaming device, features an upgraded camera that can take photos as good as a stand-alone camera, and capture video that’s better than a Flip camcorder. One device that works anywhere in the world with even better battery life, the ability to display your photos, videos, games, web browsing and more on your big screen HDTV, and a revolutionary virtual private assistant that can find you places to eat, book calendar appointments for you, read and reply to all of your messages and emails, and look up the answer to practically any question for you.

Who’s disappointed again?

To the general consumer, Apple just made the best-selling — and let me add, best — smartphone in the world leaps and bounds better. The design of the original iPhone 4 is not only an engineering feat but a design masterpiece, and there’s no reason why we should expect a brand new case for every phone Apple releases. Has the exterior of the MacBook Pro changed dramatically in the last few years? Has the exterior of an iMac changed dramatically in the last few years?

The hype machine was out of control this time around, and many people in the tech world wanted Apple to not only hit a home run, we wanted the company to hit it out of the park because we’re used to Apple doing that. In reality however, Apple did hit it out of the park, and we’ll all get to see it in the sales numbers of the iPhone 4S, which will be the best smartphone Apple’s ever made, and best smartphone in the world.

By offering the iPhone 3GS free on contract, the iPhone 4 for $99 on contract, and the iPhone 4S starting at $199 on contract, there isn’t any reason to buy a competitor’s phone anymore. With iCloud, iOS 5 and all of Apple’s new features and services, Apple isn’t treading water, it’s making the water evaporate while its competitors still try to match its innovation in hardware, software, ecosystem, apps and services.

Being available at three major carriers in the U.S. is also huge. With AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint all offering the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S starting October 14th, in addition to the global launch, I think we’ll see that only a very small minority of people (who are probably still going to buy the iPhone 4S anyway) were disappointed. Consumers in general, however, will be in line with a latte and cinnamon swirl coffee cake waiting for the stores to open at 8:00 a.m.

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  • Anonymous

    This post is pretty fail, 90% of the features mentioned here can be said of the iphone 4 (not S).
    Who’s disappointed again? everyone.
    Besides, isn’t the iphone just a tax on dumb people?

  • http://www.facebook.com/hazydave Dave Haynie

    Apple’s got a working formula, and they’ve basically stuck to it. The only real difference this time isn’t Apple, it’s the rest of the world. There hasn’t been an iPhone, ever, that put the iPhone ahead of every other smartphone in every way. But there have been enough areas in which the iPhone ruled, to make Apple’s carefully orchestrated iPhone introductions lots of fun for all, even if you’re not an iPhone user. 

    It’s just this year, other companies have caught up. Or gone past Apple, at least in hardware. Of course, this wasn’t all about hardware. Some of this was about iOS 5, and in part, it was Apple showing they can actually compete against a strong competitor, even adding things from Android (PC-freedom, notifications, voice control)… possibly even improving on them… not rejecting them, simply because Apple didn’t think of them. That’s actually a very good thing for everyone. 

    The real news should be this: global share of smartphones, 2Q2011: 18.5% for Apple, 17.5% for Samsung, 15.2% for Nokia. That’s Android on the rise, and Nokia… remember when they owned 60% of the global smartphone market. Then 50%, and so on. That’s the price of not responding to the competition. And part of the reason Apple’s star rose so fast with the iPhone. Nokia didn’t compete. Neither did Palm, or Microsoft, or RIM. Seriously… look at RIM or Nokia’s offerings for 2011. Ok, Nokia had a few Linux phones that didn’t totally stink, but most of theirs and RIMs still look like iPhones or Androids from two years ago. If that. Even in the face of the iPhone and the rise of Android, these guys haven’t departed from their once-but-no-longer-successful formula. 

    Of course, Nokia in fact has… they’re going all Windows, Real Soon Now. Thus, everything they sell is already a zombie, which explains why they aren’t selling much in 2011. There’s a fairly good chance they’ll stop calling this phenomena “The Osborne Effect” and re-label it “The Elop Effect”. 

    And keep in mind… new PCs and new desktop OS announcements used to be as exciting as the mobile introductions are today. Things changed. Some of that was the market maturing, but some of that I think was really that these guys, like RIM and Nokia, got complacent. That’s Microsoft, and even Apple on the desktop. They found their niche, and spend more time doing things in the OS to protect that niche than to make things better for users. Microsoft in particular forgot all about the user in Vista.. that was the fundamental failure of Vista. And they may well be doing this again in Windows 8, having entered the worst panic state they’ve been in since they forget about the internet — mobile is replacing a huge chunk of the desktop, and Microsoft isn’t there. 

    Apple and Google need to spend some time looking at these things. Then go back to one-upping each other. That kind of competition helps keep a market vibrant and interesting. 

  • Tuscano77

    Stood in line for an hour and a half and bought my white 32gb iPhone 4S yesterday. Paid a hefty price too because I’m not eligible for an upgrade for another year ($806 was the total at the Apple store). The verdict? So far, LOVE IT. I have had 3 iPhones in the past (original, iPhone 3 and 3S) and this is definitely the best to date! Took it home and immediately put ZAGG film covers on the front/back and wrapped it in an Artisan Leather case from Restoration Hardware (drool). Siri is phenomenal and recognizes my voice commands perfectly. Now it’s time to throw my crap-berry 3G in the trash!

  • http://twitter.com/Denni_Kay Dennis Koustoubardis

    Its a bit off from Apple imo. We waited for this phone for another 3/4 months after the usual June date.. to get what? A phone that is exactly the same as the one from a year and a half ago, and one we can now compare technically to a May released Samsung Galaxy S 2?

    Its faster? So what. Same screen. Almost same crap battery. same screen size. same shape. Its dual core now. Cause hanging with friends and Angry Birds needs a fucken Nvidia GTX295 to run doesnt it.

    Whatever.. its the same phone and very late.

  • http://twitter.com/purobox Puro Box

    90% buy iphone because it’s a trendy phone.
    10% buy iphone because they still don’t realize Android is better.  

    • Anonymous

      How is it better?  I am curious.  Most people can’t figure Android out, let alone which phone to buy.  You and I as fellow Goofans (aka Apple Haters) have the intellectual prowess to deal with Android, but not the regular people.  

  • Anonymous

    who is the idiot that wrote this article ? 
    someone is in heavy DENILE. 

  • Benjamin Moser

    okay people, sales do not lie. Only the most picky of Apple users or the most stingy of android users truly despise the iPhone 4S. It will destroy any other phone in terms of number of phones sold (worth noting that only one carrier was initially selling the device, and for the last 8 months two and for the last two weeks three carriers) and/or return rate. I agree with the writer in that people continue to buy the iMac and Macbook Pro without Apple having to continually update their aesthetic features. We can debate to the end of time about what it is not but we can do the same for what it is….. or rather what she (SIRI) is….. :)

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