Wednesday, June 15, 2011

The iPhone 5 News Blog News Feed

The iPhone 5 News Blog News Feed

Unlocked iPhone 4 Further Extends Sales Cycle, But Will the iPhone 5 Come Unlocked As Well?

Posted: 15 Jun 2011 09:01 AM PDT


unlocked iphone 4 and iphone 5

iPhone 4 - unlocked

Apple has once again offered a variation on the iPhone 4, this time with an “unlocked” version. Will Apple do the same with the iPhone 5 as well?

Perhaps in a bid to give its iPhone 4 one final, gallant rush of sales, Apple has albeit quietly released an unlocked version of the iPhone 4 on its website. The new unlocked version is contract- and carrier-free, giving users a sim-free slot to stick a GSM sim card of their choice into it — a much-needed option for business users. While Apple has done little promote their newest chapter in the iPhone 4 saga, our guess is that they have most likely reached out to corporations in a B2B marketing push that we average consumers are not seeing.

As Josh Lowensohn at CNET says that, “This new option allows companies big and small to buy phones that will work just about anywhere, and without a contract. This is likely to have a bigger impact on frequent business travelers who are hopping between countries and may not have a company roaming plan.” Due to the fact that “In its most recent quarterly earnings call, Apple noted that the iPhone was being tested or deployed by 88 percent of the Fortune 500,” meaning that businesses could buy up a ton of unlocked iPhone 4s this summer, boosting business sales. Even an increase in government sales of the iPhone 4 could be imminent with this new feature, based on an earlier report that more and more Federal agencies are embracing the use of iPhones.

At $649 and $749 for the 16GB and 32GB models, respectively, the new unlocked iPhone 4 isn’t a bad deal, and more importantly, it gives prospective iPhone users who travel extensively and seek to be untethered by contracts and carriers a certain degree of freedom that has been lacking in the otherwise proprietary iPhone experience.

You can check out the product page at apple.com here.

Will the iPhone 5 Come Unlocked From the Start?

The appearance of the unlocked iPhone 4 begs the question — will the iPhone 5 feature an unlocked version as well? There is no evidence to suggest either way if Apple will unlock the iPhone 5 from the start, but my opinion is that, at most, Apple will wait to offer the unlocked version at the end of the iPhone 5‘s sales cycle — just as they have with the iPhone 4.

Apple is famous for business and revenue models based on proprietary systems, in-house technologies, and close-bonded partnerships: iTunes, the aversion to third-party technology, and a limited palette of mobile carriers in the U.S. combines to form a tightly-woven tapestry of business infrastructure that keeps Apple customers locked in to their computing experience. A free-form, open-source, “unlocked” approach to doing business is not typical for Apple. That’s Android’s domain.

In additi0n, Apple relies on the leverage of its partnerships with AT&T, Verizon, and perhaps T-Mobile and even Sprint in the future, to tap into vast quantities of mobile phone subscribers who because iPhone users by purchasing them through their carrier. Would Apple sell nearly as many iPhones if it were not for these strategic partnerships? My guess is no.

The only development over the next three months that could change this prognostication would be if companies begin to adopt the iPhone en masse, and Apple sees huge gains as a result. And it isn’t impossible to imagine: Blackberry has been the go-to device for business smartphones for quite some time now, and in many ways, they are seen as “legacy” devices that lack the flexibility and reliability of the iPhone. As business 2.0 hits its stride, the iPhone may become the smartphone of choice for business users.

And now, Apple has given them an iPhone that likes to travel internationally.

Apple In More Legal Trouble — This Time Over “iCloud”

Posted: 15 Jun 2011 04:30 AM PDT


Apple would seem to own everything “i” in the world of branding — including “iPhone 5.” But a new lawsuit from an Arizona firm claims that Apple infringed on the copyright, calling into question if Apple will have to either overpay for the iCloud brand name or else change it altogether. Why does it seem like Apple is copying everything these days?

2010 may have been “The Year of the iPad” and “The Year of the iPhone” all rolled into one, but 2011 is proving to be “The Year Apple Crashed and Burned.” Few “wins” have been recorded on Apple’s PR score sheet this year, with the success of the iPad 2 and continued 40+ million sales of the iPhone 4 being eclipsed by a spate of lost legal struggles and disappointing releases (or lack thereof).

The recent settlement loss for Apple against Nokia for intellectual property rights for all things smartphone, which we reported on in another article, is seeing its news cycle overtaken by an even newer-breaking legal news story involving the copyyright and ownership of the iCloud brand name. As the IBTimes HK Staff Reporter reported today that, “Apple was stricken by an infringement case which claimed the company allegedly infringed on iCloud trademark. The lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court of Arizona by an Arizona-based computer communications company the iCloud Communications and demanded Apple to stop using the iCloud name and a unspecified monetary compensation.”

In an unimaginably embarrassing twist, Apple may “have to pay compensation and stop use the name of iCloud which indicated that Apple has to spend a certain time to revise its iCloud trademark and related services. It would lead Apple to put off  the release of iPhone 5.”

It remains in question whether or not an iCloud trademark snafu would necessarily derail the iPhone 5 release — the IBTimes HK Staff Reporter is either engaging in a bit of iPhone 5 hyperbole, or else is struggling with his English to the point of making little logic — but there is no doubt that any mea culpa on having to either change “iCloud” or else pay through the nose for it would be yet another PR black eye for Apple.

Steve Jobs must be hitting the roof at Cupertino.

When you think about it, trademark infringements have become a sort of pastime for Apple. The Apple logo itself was disputed with the Beatles’ Apple Corps for years, and more recently, Apple had to settle with golf club extraordinaire Ping for use of that word for its musical social network. While for the committed iPhone user these legal trials and tribulations may not account for much love loss with Apple, the continued perception that Apple is lacking in innovation and ingenuity erodes the company’s ability to prospect among new customers in the tech market. And an Apple that is not growing could have negative consequences on the company’s marketing approach over the long term — particularly in the smartphone market.

It’s hard to believe that 2011 could end on a positive note PR-wise for Apple, given the litany of problems that the company has faced over the past six month in the news. Perhaps the only hope will be an iPhone 5 that vastly exceeds currently declining expectations.

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