Apple 'slashes iPhone 5 screen orders', tight-fisted fanbois blamed Demand for iPhones is plummeting, according to two supply-chain sources. The suggestion of weak sales knocked about three per cent off Apple's pre-trading stock to just above $500 a share. Orders for iPhone 5 touchscreens for January to March 2013 have been cut in half by Cupertino bosses, reports Japanese news service Nikkei …
I suspect that the iPhone phenomenon is an example of an Internet bubble we will just have to get used to. Instant dissemination of opinion to a billion people won't be free of unexpected effects. The original iPhone was groundbreaking - but it is now in the mid range of technical specifications. Apple is just one of a number of tech companies. An adjustment is called for.
Please, lessen our boredom: Why not tell us what you would want to see in a phone?
I suspect that your boredom is a consequence of phone technology (screens, battery, radios, CPUs) being fairly mature, rather than any fault of Apple's. If you want excitement, then study an immature technology suchtouchless finger-tracking control (the forums on leapmotion.com are interesting) or try TED.com, instead of looking for novelty in an article about an existing phone. You won't find it here.
I don't know what other (existing) technologies could be squeezed into a phone that wouldn't result in it being the phone equivalent of the car Homer Simpson designed. Extra functionality can already be added with extra hardware, such as keyboards, microphones, 24bit DACs, battery packs etc
I tend to see a fair few iPhones in the hands of older, and perhaps a bit wealthier, people who no one could accuse of being cool or a hipster. They have the cash, and the phone has a reputation in their broadsheet newspaper-of-choice as being easy to use. Cool don't have to come into it. People are beginning to see hipsters under the bed, like Cold-War era paranoiacs.
Erm, so what would you add to a smartphone to make it groundbreaking again?
Apple fixed the flaws in the smartphone, they added usability, slick interface and a great way of interacting with a phone, using your fingers not some stupid plastic stick.
Everything since then has been improvements to screen, cpu, network speed and software. There are very few innovations you can add to a smartphone now.
Funny, I already had phones that did that before the first iphone 3G (the first iphone wasn't a smartphone, couldn't run apps).
Plus even if we acknowledge some things as Apple strengths in 2007, your argument is biased by cherry picking those things. In fact, there were plenty of things that had to be fixed by Apple - e.g., 3G, apps, basic UI functionality like copy/paste. I could just as well cherry pick other features, and say some other manufacturer like Nokia fixed smartphones by adding Internet, apps, wifi, maps, GPS (e.g., N95), and everything since then has just been making it faster.
I don't know at what point a smartphone had all of the things that we take for granted today - and I'd argue that such a point is a matter of opinion in deciding what's important, and a moving target as new things get introduced. But it *certainly* wasn't 2007. And given that I would rate free built-in sat nav as one of those important innovative features, and not simply "making it faster", Apple didn't fulfil that until 2012.
"using your fingers not some stupid plastic stick"
You could always use your fingers. Pens are an optional extra, which only went away as capacitive screens couldn't support them, but I'm glad to see they're now a possibility again thanks to Samsung etc. Apple were only first with multitouch, not touch.
As for suggestions on innovations today, how about being able to use capacitive screens with gloves again (Nokia), or for the future, flexible screens (a recent Samsung concept video suggests a smartphone that opens up to be a large tablet).
How about a better user interface? Apple's is reliable, but that's about all you can say. It's clunking, clumsy and w-a-a-a-y behind the competitors now. As I've posted before, here's how you open a new private browsing tab:
iOS: home button, settings, Safari, private browsing on, home button, Safari.
Android: long press on tab, select "Open new private tap".
And virtual keyboards that don't change to uppercase when you shift? Goddammit, Apple, this isn't 2007 anymore.
"Erm, so what would you add to a smartphone to make it groundbreaking again?"
Nothing, It's a phone, so long as it makes phone calls, sends messages and maybe allows a few games and a bit of browsing that's good enough for 98% of people. Apple are telling us how ground breaking their latest tech is and how you will be a nobody if you don't buy it, well the only people daft enough to fall for that marketing guff are usually kids under 25, the key demographic that has cash on the hip and no responsibilities.
Apple have drummed up this image of being the hipsters techy friend, you only have to look at the opening videos on their app software. River Island/GAP clad young twenty somethings in Apple emblazoned t-shirts teaching you how to get creative with your new copy of Aperture, iPhoto, etc. People are seeing Apple for what they are, just another successful tech company making pretty good products. People now compare them to others like Samsung, they see that no one product or company is actually any better than any other, they're all make OK products and actually it's down to personal choice in the end.
Maybe I'm the odd one since I don't replace my phone unless it breaks or starts to have problems.
So why would I go out and buy a new iPhone if I don't need it?
Maybe that's killing part of the demand, along with competition from other vendors?
Sorry, but I don't think that its a question of build quality, but more of the fact of supply and demand.
There are more smart phones to choose from these days.
The problem with the iPhone 5 is that the screen was just not big enough.
It's the phones with the briefcase sized displays that are selling like hot cakes, people no longer want to be understated and sophisticated, instead they want to stand out from the crowd be gaudy and vulgar.
What better way than to pull out a 'massive'' and flash it round a darkened bar. The fashion for men with clothes that have map pockets and combat style trousers where a phone can be secreted halfway down your trouser leg in a pocket meant for ammunition just stokes the sales. Even though the closest they get to the Great Outdoors is crossing the road to get a sandwich. For women the choice is easier, they can carry the 'massive' in a massive handbag (note how little bags are not so 'in') even when wearing skinny jeans they remain connected.
The next generation of 5",6" and probably 7" phones may yet be developed, they probably won't sell well though, you'd look like such a pr*ck getting that out in a bar.
For some reason Obviously prefers to think many of his fellow humans are contemptible halfwits, yet he can't grok that there are a good number of people who don't really give a shit about phones, and for whom an extra couple of hundred quid (spread out over a couple of years) isn't going to leave them skint.
Its really not too hard a concept.
Generally, owning things like a Volvo, a Bang and Olufsen stereo, a fancy watch and a Mont Blanc fountain pen is a way of displaying to others that you have reached a level in your career, (certainly it fulfils the stereotype of doctors). It might not be tasteful, but it usually requires some competence to acquire expendable cash. They are not half wits, they are merely well-off. True, there might be better things to spend their money on, but its their money.
Given that a fair few doctors use iPhones (around 60% in the US), it would't be in Obviously's interests to tell each and every iPhone user he meets that they are a idiot to their face. He hasn't got the guts, anyway.
*http://www.viterahealthcare.com/company/Pages/pr_ViteraHealthcareSolutionsStudyIndicatesThattheMajorityofHealthcareProfessionalsAreInterestedinaMobileEHRSolution.aspx
I was with you until you said 'Volvo'.
I thought owning a Volvo generally showed people you were a middle aged accountant, probably called Gerald?
As opposed to my car (a modified subaru impreza), which generally shows people I'm a semi-literate, fake tracksuit wearing, burberry loving peasant. Mostly right, especially the 'peasant' bit
Years since I had a Volvo. Brialliant, did the ton and more down the motorway (and other roads) with too many people in the back.. I just loved the look on people's faces as they were overtaken by a large Volvo Estate. Brilliant, apart from the look on the policeman's face a couple of times, though his words of wisdom were sometimes neat if expensive. Absolutely reliable in all weathers too, even after a quarter of a million miles. Shame about the petrol bill.
No, do n't knock Volvos, nor iPhones for that matter. As you say, successful people seem to like them. So the rest should ask themselves what makes them less successful?
Not knocking Volvos... stating facts. We had a 15 year old Volvo estate which was great, then we changed to new model in 1990 and toasted some marshmellows. So we packed in Volvos and got a Toyota Previa that was just out and it was awesome. Toyota > Volvo. Samsung > Apple. Fact.
And, if you actually need a road vehicle, normal car > 4x4.
I have driven both a Volvo S60 D5 and a Volvo XC90 D5. These share essentially the same floorpan and engine / transmission. The S60 was the most compact body available with those mechanicals.
However I can tell you now, one was swift, solid, had lightning reactions, rock-solid body control and huge acceleration. The other was the 4x4.
One tangential observation: it may be that doctors ended up with iPhones because of some very specialist apps specifically targeted at their needs; for example, an MD friend has been carrying a Palm-based thing for years since it had a variant of some pharmaceutical reference product, and it let him check dosage and contraindications, etc.
The key here is that there are some cases, still, where the old situation that existed with minicomputers still holds sway: the application-specfic software is the sole key, and whatever hardware runs it comes along for the ride.
(And, as an application provider, the idea that I can deliver my solution on a hand-held and a tablet without thinking about it works nicely. Against which, giving some channel 30% of my purchase price seems abhorrent).
>One tangential observation: it may be that doctors ended up with iPhones because of some very specialist apps specifically targeted at their needs; for example, an MD friend has been carrying a Palm-based thing for years since it had a variant of some pharmaceutical reference product, and it let him check dosage and contraindications, etc.
Yeah, the source for the 60% figure came from a developer of software for health services. I read somewhere (probably the Reg) that the NHS had considered using iPhones (fewer nooks and crannys than many designs, so easier to sterilise) in hospitals to deliver/collect health information to staff... but rejected it for the lack of a swappable battery.
Our local doctor is contemptuous of the imposed NHS IT system, but claims that the one used in his practice is good, because it was specified by the people who would be using it on a day-to-day basis.
Swappable battery is a joke when in the other breath they want something with "fewer nooks and crannys".
Do they really imagine doctors / staff are going to carry spare batteries around with them and when it requires the device to be powered off etc. The idea of people just pulling the battery off with apps open etc. just sounds like a joke to me.
My experience of many doctors is that there are many in the profession without an ounce of the intelligence that they are credited for.
My experience at university was also that medical students were out on the booze a lot more than us engineers, with fewer hours and only requiring a mere pass in their exams.
I said Volvo because of the doctor stereotype, and they similarly priced to the usual 'premium' car brands such as BMW and Mercedes. There was an aversion to buying premium cars from Germany amongst a certain group for some time after the WWII (guess why), or maybe its to do with the reputation Volvo had for secondary-safety systems.
The retired doctor who drinks in our pub drives a Porsche and his HiFi is the more traditional high-end separates system. He does wear a Rolex though, but not the model that was aimed at doctors which had discreet seconds-hand movement.
Exactly right. I would add "pratmobiles" to that list, y'know luxury 4x4 owners that never seen to get dirty as going up a curb is about as far off the road as they go.
But you can take the piss out of these people all you want, but be careful as they may be your next boss, customer or father-in-law.
Mount a curb in an offroad capable vehicle? You are kidding right? I pass many on the single lane country roads around here and it's me in my little hatch that has to drive up and into the hedgerow while the 4x4 is half a yard away from the verge on their side. Maybe it's because most are women drivers, maybe they just find it harder to judge distance from such a vantage point, who knows? One thing is for sure the last thing drivers of your typical Chelsea tractor will contemplate is to mount a curb!
For the sake of us country dwellers, don't give into them. Just sit and glare at them. If necessary get out, point out they have a 4by4 and offer to guide them to the verge. If we do it enough they will demand sensible cars next time, like the neighbour who has swapped a hugemobile for a Yaris and couldn't be happier about it. Mostly it's the husbands who want a status symbol, anyway.
AAPL is down over 200 points from its 52wk high of 705.07 (they are at 504.14 as I type this). There has been a minor bounce-back from it's 52-wk low of 418.66, so id say, if you didn't get out already, you maybe missed the boat.
Frankly, if you wait a little bit longer, AAPL might be a good opportunity. Overall, if they can deal with the blow-back from the maps issue (which I think has mostly passed), they have a lot of brand loyalty. If you had the 51,000 USD burning a hole in your pocket, it wouldn't be bad to pick up 100 shares if it drops to, say 500 again, then write covered calls against it. Overall, I think it's likely the market has already corrected for many of AAPL's current issues.
Full disclosure: I hold no market position on AAPL. This is not a recommandation to buy or sell. All securities involve risk. The projections or other information regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, are not guaranteed for accuracy or completeness, do not reflect actual investment results, and are not guarantees of future results.
Or this could be the beginning of a down swing for AAPL, lower iPhone sales won't make investors happy, iPhone 5S which I am sure we will see at some point this year won't be anything revolutionary, more competition from the likes of Nokia, RIM, Samsung, HTC won't help matters and it appears that the iPhone is not all that popular in most of the "developing world" nor in China probably a lot down to cost.
Perhaps people should wait for it to go further down to buy as this could be the top of the mountain for Apple that we have reached.
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