original guvnor said:
Have you seen that Apple have apparently patented a charging system for the iPhone 5 that will mean all of your current accessories no longer work?
Apple need to be very careful - getting attacked on all fronts. They need to up their game.
The iPhone 4s was a massive disappointment.
Its just a new charging system, wider but thiner so they can make the devices smaller. The three main factors that now determine the depth of Apples devices are standard external ports, the simcard, charging port which is now over 10 years old, and the headphone jack. When it was designed Apple never expected to have such a game changer so the charging port was designed to fit with the original iPod. It just means that your old cables wont work but you get a new one with it anyway. If you have a sound system you can still plug it in with an external AUX just not through the docking port. It was a universal Apple port but times change and it is progress. This is the reason the iPhone has stayed its current form factor, they can do anything with the internal components, just not the standard output ports. Was inevitable really. Would hate to be any other mobile phone owner because every single phone has a different port so you would have to buy a new one for every phone you buy. Least with Ppples it has been universal across its product lines. So you can use an older nano, iPod touch, iPhone, iPod etc etc in all your sound systems.
The 4s also was just a general upgrade, you have to remember the new form factor came with the iphone 4 which was only around 18 months before the 4s so really the design will only be around 3 years. For a product that outsells every other single product mobile phone I dont think an 18 month turn around is really that bad. Also to remember Apple make one phone in different sizes Samsung nokia etc sell more than a dozen.
People have too much expectation with Apple products, if one company can produce one innovation in a decade they are lucky! Apple has designed more than half a dozen and people expect complete game changers every iteration. What I would say is people need to be realistic, and products on a cycle cant be complete game changers or complete redesigns every itteration. The 4s was twice as fast, better signal and the best camera on the market. IMO what more can you ask for and it fits with the product cycle. iPhone 1, iPhone 3G new form factor, iPhone 3GS improved performance, iPhone 4 new form factor, iPhone 4S improved performance.
The iPhone 5 will be the new form factor.
Half the problem with the digital industry is that patents are not powerful enough, and were not designed for digital media, so anyone can still copy the form like Samsung pretty much did which was the argument the GUI is ever so slightly different. But the overall product is very similar, Apple is an innovative company and at the end of the day just trying to protect their products. Steve Jobs was a complete control freak tho like a child throwing its toys out the pram.
Like i said innovation is very difficult and if you look at the whole market pre iPhone there was nothing anywhere close to it. Now look at the market and it is full of iPhone copies they are all the same there is no innovation at all and I suppose they were just arguing that these companies should be making their own unique product instead of cashing in on the same idea.
Liverpool
but the consumer products outsell the pro stuff like 100/1. So its a no brainer and which is the reason they are the wealthiest company, worth nearly twice microsoft! In just over 10 years! Just incredible when you think about it.