Thursday, August 4, 2011

The iPhone 5 News Blog News Feed

The iPhone 5 News Blog News Feed

The iPhone 5 Cometh To Sprint

Posted: 04 Aug 2011 02:41 PM PDT


It looks like all but a foregone conclusion that Sprint is getting the iPhone 5, according to a new report. Read why Apple bringing Sprint onboard will be a big piece in their bid to use the iPhone 5 to dominate the smartphone marketplace.

For Sprint users out there who have had to settle for outmoded Blackberrys and ever-crashing Android phones, you’re in luck: it looks like a lock that Sprint is indeed getting the iPhone 5. A new report today from Beatweek all but confirms it: “The iPhone 5 is about to become a three-horse race. Sprint customer support is now definitively telling customers that the iPhone is indeed coming to the carrier.” Beatweek then goes on to try and talk themselves out of believing their own story (Pulitzer Prize-winning stuff over there), but the fact remains that Sprint is telling its customers to stand pat for the iPhone 5 release.

The fact that Sprint customer service is spilling the beans on the iPhone 5 is no snafu, or the result of enthusiastic customer service reps: it is most definitely a preemptive strike on the part of Sprint to get the news out to iPhone users and would-be users.

Hey world: we’re getting the iPhone 5, and we’re bringing our unlimited data plan with it.

Plenty of avid AT&T users will scoff at the news of Sprint getting on board the iPhone 5 train for no other reason than that Sprint offers service on a CDMA system, which is often panned by users of AT&T’s slick GSM network. Those folks aside, there are plenty more people out there — both in the ranks of Sprint subscriberdom, as well as customers on both AT&T and Verizon — who will at the very least take a long, hard look at jumping on board Sprint’s iPhone 5.



As you know, the iPhone 5 News Blog has long since been a proponent of Sprint getting the iPhone 5, and have predicted as such. We’ve written a slew of articles about it, and we have specifically targeted the open-ended issue of data usage on the iCloud-friendly iPhone 5, and how Sprint’s unlimited data plan — the only one of its kind left in the U.S. marketplace —  might even help the other two big iPhone mobile carriers stay honest in their data pricing, considering that we still don’t know what data usage is really going to look like in the new Apple ecosphere.

In a very real sense, Sprint is the last bastion of hope in the U.S. for competition in the wireless market, since AT&T and Verizon comprise a duopoly that isn’t good for consumers. Sprint will even help AT&T and Verizon users save a little money. But you’ve heard us say this before.

Sprint may be a distant third in terms of U.S. subscribers, but their role in Apple dominion will be key. In some ways, the advent of the iPHone 5 on the sprint product rolls may end up saving the company from demise amidst the powerful binary of AT&T and Verizon. And in other ways, Sprint may not only survive, but thrive, since now they’ll be able to give iPhone users a value-priced option on service. It may not turn out to be the best service for the iPhone, but it will most definitely be the cheapest.

With the New China Telecom Rumor, The iPhone 5 May Be Accompanied by an Affordable Alternative

Posted: 03 Aug 2011 07:30 PM PDT


A persistent theory postulates that Apple may co-release an iPhone 5 and iPhone 4s, offering a choice between premium- and value-priced next-generation iPhones that could meet the budgets of users worldwide. A new rumor from China suggests that this theory may not be so far-fetched — but what are the ramifications of a cheaper iPhone being released in the world market?

When it comes to pricing, Apple has never been known as a price leader. Steve Jobs has long modeled his business to be a product leader, which by definition means higher prices for the consumer. While users in economically-developed countries are willing to shell out the big bucks for iPhones, MacBooks, and iPads, many in the developing world have found the pricing of devices like the iPhone prohibitive.

Some might even use the term “marginalized.”

In the early going of the iPhone 5 rumor mill, however, some theories suggested that Apple may in fact begin to market to the developing world by co-releasing both a premium-priced iPhone 5 and stripped-down, value-priced iPhone 4s, which would be immensely affordable and accessible even for folks in countries where, up to this point, few have been able to afford the iPhone. This rumor even grew to include the 4s working as a contract-free, pay-as-you-go smartphone, akin to the kind of mobile phone you can by for $19.99 at your local supermarket. The theory and accompanying rumors were rather audacious and not at all “Apple-like,” considering that some would even ascribe the term elitist to the Apple brand.

To be sure, this approach would be a major sea change for Cupertino.



Word out of China today, however, reveals that a similar plan may be enacted with the up-coming launch of the iPhone 5 in China, in order to onboard as many Chinese iPhone users as possible. The rumor comes from Apple Insider, who tell us that: “China Telecom would offer both the as-yet-unannounced iPhone 5 and a “more economical version” of the iPhone 4 specifically designed to help Apple pick up share in developing countries such as China. He estimates that the introduction of an entry-level iPhone on the China Telecom wireless network could present a $30 billion opportunity for the company.”

The idea of a dumbed-down iPhone 4 is a bit different from the old iPhone 5/4s theory, but only slightly: the crux of the idea is to sell a lot of iPhones in a country that otherwise cannot afford to buy a lot of iPhones. and the dumbed-down approach isn’t all that dumb — some believe it could help Apple rake in $30 billion in sales alone, thanks to China Telecom’s 108.4 million wireless subscribers, which comes out to roughly 12 percent market share. Even more impressive, they garner a 27 percent share of the 81 million 3G subscribers in China.

Could Demand For a Cheap iPhone Spread To the U.S. and Beyond?

What is striking about the idea of a value-priced iPhone for China is that Apple would most likely have to fudge not only the functionality, but also the quality of the device in order to push its price point down far enough to be affordable to the average Chinese citizen. Is that a PR risk that Apple is willing to take? For $30 billion, I guess so. But one would think that, even if the cheap, Chinese iPhone 4 is released via China Telecom along with the iPhone 5, couldn’t that lead to an outcry for a similar device in the U.S. and beyond?

This has to be a concern for Apple, since one can argue that their research and design choices over the past decade or so speak to how they want to keep their premium devices . . . well, premium. Take the “netbook,” for example: is there anyone out there who doesn’t believe that, if Apple had wanted to, they could have made the best damn inexpensive netbook on the market? Of course, Jobs has always remained repulsed by the whole notion of the netbook, and that repulsion is probably based less on technology and more on money: he knows, just as we do, that if he makes a great netbook, then Mac users may buy less of his quite expensive Macbooks, MacBook Airs, and MacBook Pros.

So, what did he do? He built the iPad, assuming its a netbook killer (which it is), but different enough to not invade the Macbook segment (for now). But even the iPad is being kept at arm’s length from being too much like a real computer to invade the MacBook segment — note the fact that there is still no USB input on the iPad 2. Strange, huh?

Not really.

So goes it, too, with the iPhone series. Apple should be afraid — very afraid — to open Pandora’s Box and start offering cheap iPhones — even in very segmented markets like China — since word will get out. Sure, you, the iPhone 5′er, would most likely never even consider buying the el cheap-o version of the iPhone. But you are most likely not representative of the average smartphone user, either: most people are looking for a good deal on that Apple logo, and they’ll forego quality and features to get it.

And even if you yourself would only settle for the premium-priced iPhone 5, maybe you’d buy the el cheap-0 model for your kids on their birthday? Or, if no kids, maybe as Christmas presents for loved ones or friends?

You can begin to see how slippery the slope gets in introducing a lesser-priced iPhone — even if it debutes in China only.

I’d like to cast my typically cynical eye at this rumor and say definitively that it ain’t gonna happen, but truth be told, it is a very real possibility that could have a profound impact on the smartphone market in the U.S. in the medium- and long-term.