Apple After iPhone 4S

iphone 4s

At the “Lets talk iPhone” event, most of the people were expecting the long awaited arrival of the next-gen iPhone 5. Instead, they got the iPhone 4S, same design as the iPhone 4 with better processor and camera, one can easily say that it’s an updated iPhone 4. This was disappointing for many for number of reasons.

Toughening Competition

First of all, Android. The iPhone 4 was falling down the list of best phones available in the market. Before the announcement for the iPhone 4S, there were at least half a dozen phones that were much better bang-for-buck than the iPhone.

Even Sony Ericsson had people excited with their new phones running on Android. The iPhone 4 simply wasn’t as good as the HTC Sensation’s and the Samsung Galaxy S ll’s. And that led people to think that Apple would release something (iPhone 5) that would blast away the competition but this clearly didn’t happen.

Check below comparison yourself – Green background is for the winner.

 

comparison

iPhone 4S is obviously not the best phone in the market, there are better Android phones out there which outperform it. Sure, they’ve innovated with Siri, the personal assistant, but it isn’t revolutionary to the point that people will flock to buy the iPhone 4S because of it.

Long Wait for Next iPhone

There’s also the fact that the time between new releases for Apple is much more than the Android competition. With phones like Galaxy S ll HD, HTC Titan and Droid Bionic slated for release in the upcoming months, the iPhone 4S might fall down the pecking order fast.

Expectations Were Not Met

Another reason is that Apple has managed to grab plentiful of fan-boys, with top possible expectations. Obviously, from a company like Apple, they will expect high. But they got shattered when an ordinary product surfaced. You will agree that the similar smartphone from a different company could have received different kind of feedback altogether.

So Apple is always at the cutting edge of stuff and the iPhone 4S simply failed to “wow” everyone. Speculations about the iPhone 5 were reaching a frenzy point before the event. A report suggested that more than half of North America would buy an iPhone 5. But what people got was the iPhone 4S, whose rumors, by the way only surfaced and picked up steam few days before the launch from sources that are not the usual and reliable ones.

Stock Effect

Reflecting the disappointment of the announcement, Apple stocks fell 5% after the announcement on Tuesday with the stock being down 9% at one point (see picture below). The fall however was recorded when the market itself was down. Right now, the stock seems to be recovering and will continue to do so as sales reports for the iPhone 4S come in. But that would not please Apple and their fans.

apple_stock

Usually after major announcements, one expects stock to explode which didn’t happen. Recently Amazon stock went up 2.5% on the announcement of the Kindle Fire. And also, as Apple stock was going down, Microsoft and RIM stock went up. So have we got a comeback from these companies on our hands on the back of the new BlackBerry lineup and Windows Phone updates? Only time will tell.

The fall in stock for Apple can be attributed to a number of things. Apple has a history of its stock falling after major announcements (except for the iPad 2). Their stock fell more than 5.5% when the iPhone 4 was announced and it went on to become a huge money maker for the company and one of the most successful smartphones of all time.

There is also the fact that Apple is very secretive about their products. There are no prototypes, no statements. We see the products when they are near to sale or close to sale. And with Apple’s success, that leads to rumors everywhere and unrealistic expectations.

Also, there are people who are trying to make money by buying stock and selling it just before the announcement of the product; Apple just might be a victim of its own success.

So will Apple be able to continue their domination and post huge profits? Or did the company make a mistake by disappointing their fans by releasing the iPhone 4S instead of the iPhone 5?

Feel free to share you opinion in the comments!

Note: This opinion was written before the death announcement of Steve Jobs.

Spec comparison via Engadget


  • Would you please stop it? Its not Apple’s fault that there was so much hype abt new iPhone. They want same design for another year, same as they did with the 3G & 3GS.

  • Well it’s been decided way before, that they will first launch updated ver of iPhone 4 and most probably in next couple of weeks they gonna launch iphone5 along with iCloud and IOS 5 event.

    As Google/Samsung Nexus Prime also coming on 11th of this a real battle from two giants.

    We know the winner but just wait and see…

  • Hey Techie have you ever heard of disposable razors?

    Why they were invented because the guy has something interesting in his mind the same thing is apple doing and nothing special every time you will use something new. But if you are sticking to design then i don’t think its a big deal to change a design if you can put a 8 mega pixel camera in it and a iOS 5 processor then design change is not a big deal.

    Don’t use your mega mind just see the world from the eyes of them what they trying to do. Every time they have separated them from others in every aspect then why you are trying to match them with Samsung and Motorola who wants every with their name like shaving machine washing machine and every home appliance. Apple Means Computers, Smart Phones, Tabs & Music don’t drag them with these fools.

    They are simply genius

  • Just 1 point. You are basing the comparison b/w phones on the basis of hardware alone. Sure the Galaxy S 2 might be a beast in terms of hardware when compared to the iPhone 4S. But seriously, who cares about the hardware? The end user is always concerned with the utility of the phone, which can only be increased by installing applications.

    I’m sure no one will disagree that in terms of applications, no other mobile platform can compare to iPhone. What does the average user care if the Galaxy S 2 has a 1 GB RAM, if he can’t use it to enjoy his favorite applications? And considering that the application base of the iPhone is MUCH more robust than that of Android or Windows Mobile, iPhone is usually the clear winner in most comparisons.

    • iPhone has sales just because of its popularity. iPhone 4S was a fail from the beginning. It was already defeated from a six-month old Samsung Galaxy S2. And dont forget the fact that Apple is biggest customer of Samsung. 26% of iPhone 4 components are made by Samsung which includes A5 chip, displays etc.

      • “iPhone has sales just because of its popularity.”
        This would be the answer of your comment XD. And in 24 Hours sales have been exceeded more than 1 million which clearly reflects its success. Who said Galaxy have beaten it? first of all iPhone is not about the hardware its about its apps and OS. iOS makes it perfects. What would you do of your Galaxy S2 hardware when you’re OS is not using enough resources of that hardware?. Then ofcourse companies have to add such a high profiled hardware for a device. Apple designed its own S/W and own H/W and they know exact requirements of their OS. The thing that cant samsung do is improvement in OS so they just focus on improving hardware which is not necessary.

        • First! Yes! It had 1 million sales just becuase its popular. Second! What Android can do, iOS cannot. Just see how open Android is, you can do anything you want. Hardware is slightly better in Galaxy S2 (Iphone’s 800Mhz vs GS2 1.2 Ghz)(Check this link: http://t.co/Pmkr5QKn) Plus there are widget in Android so you can see stuff without even opening an app. OK! if you think iOS is better, than why iOS 5 copied Android notifications, homescreen shortcuts and counting….!!!

          • You can’t say they copied android. Every OS has notifications. So, if in future some one would give copy and paste function in OS. would you say that its copies from android because android has copy and paste functionality? Apple does not copy they do the same but in their own style that someone never did before. One thing. iOS was introduced earlier than android. When google created android they added threaded SMS style same like iPhone..

            They added Android market like Appstore and many if i started to mention. Now if i follow your point of view then ofcourse android copied many things from iOS from the date of its first development. Apple added these functions just to compromise on jailbreak and minimize it. in iOS those things natively added for which people were jailbreaking it. Shortcuts, themes and many tweaks were already in Cydia. In cydia there were many apps to add functions in iPhone like this and those functions you mentioned, when even android was not created. These are minor functionalities an OS can’t be compared on these. Main thing is how efficiently it works. Android fans are those people who never used iOS and don’t know how to use it or not concerned with Apps.

            “Yes! It had 1 million sales just becuase its popular.”

            My friend only a good product gets popularity. Why iPhone is popular because its good and has more customer satisfaction than any other. Search for iPhone customer satisfaction you’ll get it. If a product satisfies customer then definitely its gets popularity as well as more sales.

            • Ok! Every OS has notifications but in a different way. Symbian has it on top bar, WP7 has live widgets but iOS 5 widget is total copy. Threaded style SMS is nothing new! It was there in chat clients ages ago. Take Windows Live Messenger as an example. Just the conversation bubbles are something new! Voice command system was also there in Nokia And Android. Ohh! as if I have never used iPhone, common, accept it icons after icons look very boaring.

              You know what, Galaxy S2 defeated iPhone 4 for best phone award 2011, so please dont say that iPhone is better.

              iPhone has more customer satisfaction because it produces 1 phone. And thats the flagship device. Samsung, HTC, Nokia produces variety of phones. So a customer with 10k phone will demand wifi and a customer with 20k phone will demand 780p video. Just because of this customers are not satisfied.

              As a senior member of HTC said, iphones were good and they are not cool anymore. I accept his statement. When iPhone, 3g, and 3gs were launched they were an innovation, they changed everything. But now 3.5 inch is very small. Icons after icons is very lame. Siri doesnt works well on street, road due to noise. Dual-Core, huh, so late, nobody is happy.

              • “Ok! Every OS has notifications but in a different way. Symbian has it on top bar, WP7 has live widgets but iOS 5 widget is total copy.”
                I explained it enough…

                “Threaded was there in chat clients ages ago. ”
                Ofcourse there would be .. but currently you were talking about Mobile OS..So on mobile OS it was new. There were many mobile Os already but nobody else came up with that idea. =

                “Galaxy S2 defeated iPhone 4 for best phone award 2011..”
                Awards are nothing..There would be hundreds of awards. If GS2 won this one then iPhone would have won another one, Motorola another. even iPhone 4 was the best business phone in your mentioned awards and you know iPhone 4 was an old phone in comparison to GS2 but it still held this competition against the Samsung’s latest product im not gonna explain it ask yourself y? Coz its best. So, don’t compare something on the basis of awards.

                “iPhone has more customer satisfaction because it produces 1 phone. Samsung, HTC, Nokia produces variety of phones……..”
                Simply..y everyone is buying that only one phone? There’s a group of people who always buy iPhone and they will not buy any other. So, do u think that this group will be much bigger than all other people who own variety of mobile phones?. Android would get more users because its available on much cheaper hardware and on different hardware profiles just like Windows, windows have more users than mac because not everybody can buy mac and its not available on customizable hardware like windows and in same way iPhone has limited users than android but still enough to compete with them all. Sony Ericsson CEO admitted that they should have taken iPhone more seriously. There are many mobile vendors but iPhone still on its position. Every company just competing iPhone instead of any other phone? y ? coz its best!

                But now 3.5 inch is very small. Icons after icons is very lame.
                its clearly a single person statement. You admitted that? who cares about you?. if its true then why iPhone still numbered more than 100000 “Pre-Orders” in just 24hours only in America.
                You know what does it mean by pre-order? No body even tested a single iPhone 4S before buying but they bought.

                “Siri doesn’t works well on street, road due to noise.”
                It’s in beta. Speech recognition was already invented and many devices have this functions too but no body did it like that way it doesn’t require specific kind of speech like earlier speech recognition software were doing. Its a device not a human.And you see that sooner or later your samsaung gonna add this function and you would call it innovation.. Some people always criticize without any reason, without any logic and they will keep doing it so never mind ;)
                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mNcnj2l6RE

                “Dual-Core, huh, so late, nobody is happy.”
                Regarding dual core i explained already in my first comment that this one is the only improvement that Samsung could do because he can’t improve the OS. Read it again. Apple has many things for consideration not the processor only. No body is happy? actually you are not happy..and the world not only concerned with you. 100000 already glad to get it. And im not here to explain you again which i explained already. And don’t want to cast pearls before the swine.


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