Hello! And welcome to our Friday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!
And without further ado:
Shocking news surfaced this week that Apple had cut component orders for its recently launched iPhone 5, indicating that the company’s flagship device was not selling in numbers expected from an Apple flagship product. This news sent the interwebs into a tizzy with speculation ranging from Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy due to poor iPhone sales to claims that the cuts were planned and that Apple was set to unveil an iPhone 9 … a device so advanced it jumped right from 5 to 9. (It should be noted that none of this speculation was actual speculation, but you get the idea … people freaked.)
The news also came at a time when Apple’s stock, which for most of the past 10 years appeared to double on an hourly basis, was somehow plunging to depths not seen since before Apple’s stock actually existed. The stock plunge also brought on an about-face from many financial analysts who just months ago were predicting Apple’s stock price to hitch a ride on Superman’s cape, only to have to back track once they realized Superman is not high on hitchhikers.
This talk of Apple’s impending demise also came at about the same time that I received a demo model of Samsung’s recently launched Galaxy Camera. This device somehow manages to mash together a high-end tablet with a real camera, into some sort of platypus-like device that I for the life of me can’t figure there is really a market for. It’s sort of hard to explain what it really is, but I find this seems to help with the explanation.
While I am planning on writing up a real review of the Galaxy Camera in the next week, my first reaction when playing with the device was pure joy. That joy came from the fact that someone actually spent the money to make a device that I can’t seem to figure out where it fits in the realm of consumer electronic devices.
This sense is compounded when I show the device to others and then try to explain to them what it can and cannot do. The whole “it’s a camera-smartphone-tablet that takes awesome pictures, lets you play games and post to any social networking site, but doesn’t let you make a basic phone call” typically leaves people thoroughly perplexed. Perplexed to the point of hilarious face contortions that just add to the joy. It’s really a pretty cool device.
Now, how does this all relate to Apple’s current predicament?
Well, here we are with Apple, which with only a handful of devices that I can only assume have been market-tested to the hilt before launch, has ridden the glorious dragon of coolness to the pinnacle of the consumer electronic world. But, within the past few weeks has seen that dragon lose its ability to soar.
On the other hand, we have Samsung, which has ridden the smartphone/tablet space to the clouds by throwing out new devices on a daily basis, and by looking at the Galaxy Camera, with no concept at all if there was actually a market for such a device.
Some have noted that this switch has been a long-time coming and that it was inevitable that people would eventually tire of the Apple lore. Heck, a recent survey claims that teens no longer see Apple products as cool. And we all know that teens are the ones that truly rule the world. Even worse, that survey indicates that teens now have an affinity for Microsoft. Microsoft?!?
I for one am not yet ready to jump on the Apple is dead bandwagon, as there is still way to much market opportunity for the company. Apple basically has only one smartphone and two tablets, leaving a lot of room for new models targeting different demographics. Apple is also just getting its foot into the door of the Chinese market – at least in terms of selling devices.
Plus, Apple has yet to try its hand at melding more consumer electronic devices into one super device. Sure, people love to hold up their iPad’s in social events in order to take pictures, much to the chagrin to those of us now faced with having to look at that event through an iPad screen thrust into our view, but just imagine the havoc that can be reeked by combining a smartphone and a printer. Or better yet, a smartphone, a platypus and a dragon. There may not be much of a market for such an abomination, but if what people want nowadays is something different, that should just satisfy.
OK, enough of that.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. And now for some extras:
–Facebook yet again did not launch a Facebook phone this week, despite the pleading of many who find the current Facebook mobile application not Facebook-y enough for them. (Facebook!)
Why does everyone seem so gung-ho on Facebook rolling out a Facebook phone? What the hell does Facebook need its own phone for and why would it want to even deal in the hardware space where margins are thin and competition is fierce?
I say “good on-ya Facebook” for continuing to frustrate those that are just convinced you are going to launch a Facebook phone any minute.
–Oh wireless industry, why are you so much fun!?!
–Sprint Nextel continued its s-l-o-w roll out of LTE services, this week announcing it was “progressing” in expanding the network to 28 current 3G markets. That “progressing” is expected to result in a hopeful “launching” of service in the coming months. Nothing like being vague when rolling out LTE.
The 28 markets Sprint Nextel said are part of the “progressing” include such exotic locations as Paris (the one in Texas), Glasgow (the one in Kentucky) and Oxford (the one in Mississippi). In fact, the list of upcoming market launches seems a bit sparse on the size-front, though that is not to say that people in The Village, Fla.; Nacogdoches, Texas; or Lake Havasu City, Ariz., are not entitled to access to LTE services.
Heck, this could be a good move for Sprint Nextel going forward. Instead of trying to compete with its rivals in covering the most number of people with its LTE network, Sprint Nextel should go for covering the most number of places with the fewest number of people, but with awesome names. Brilliant!
Sure, Sprint Nextel also teased that there were some 172 other markets where it plans to launch LTE services, but those markets include such over-populated, boringly named places like Boston, Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia. Yawn.
I welcome your comments. Please send me an email at dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.
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