Tuesday, 30 September 2014

Bend? or just bending the truth?



As everyone is probably more then aware, in recent times, iPhone releases have come hand in hand with some type of controversy, the iPhone 4, had antennagate, the iPhone 5 was coming out of the box with dings and scratches (scratchgate), and now the iPhone 6 seems to suffer from bendgate.

The first two issues were verified and dealt with accordingly by Apple, but at the moment it is too soon to suggest that bendgate is a real issue that Apple will need to target head on. From the videos flooding the internet, one thing which is clear is that the forces that are being applied to iPhones to get them to show any signs of bending would be impossible to replicate if the phones were being used for their intended purposes. Although some users have suggested that such bending has occurred while their phones have been in their pockets, looking objectively at how and where the devices are giving way and how reviewers have replicated such bending on their videos, what becomes questionable is the ability for such forces to be applied while an iPhone is contained within a pocket.

All materials have weak points, I am pretty sure I could also bend an iPhone 5, a samsung galaxy, or a HTC one, if I really tried. Bearing this in mind one should look pragmatically at the claims that the iPhone 6 is bendy, especially when the persons facial expression from trying to bend an iPhone seems to replicate a person desperately trying to induce bowl movements while having a severe case of constipation...    


Thursday, 11 September 2014

Here come the newbies... iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, Apple Watch, and a U2 freebie



Behind the curve but ahead of the game -

While Apple has been accused of playing catch up by a host of competitors and early on Apple stock has taken a 1.5% dive, what remains beyond doubt is the fact that Apple is a game changer, unless you go back to the Apple I  everything in Apples modern history has been a reincarnation of some technology that failed to launch. Smart phones existed prior to the iPhone, MP3 players before the iPod and tablets before the iPad. But with the release of each of these products a market was defined and consumer wants were turned into consumer needs.

What Apple have a knack for is building products that people want. It's true that NFC has been included in numerous high and mid range android devices over the past few years, but the fact remains that using mobile phones to make payments at a point of sale never really took off, but with Apples drive towards using NFC for its Apple Pay platform, we are sure to see a surge in the number of people using the technology for this purpose.


A perfect example of this resonates in the newly uncovered and well received Apple Watch. Its fare to say that smart watches existed prior to the unveiling of the Apple Watch yesterday yet, Apple have finally legitimised the market for such a device, a year ago, the device category existed, yet I'm pretty sure that you would have been hard pressed to find someone who owned one, and even if on a rare occasion you did come across someone with one, I'm also pretty sure you would have written off the experience to the person being an eccentric. What this tells us is that the clout that Apple has far outweighs the power of its competition, just because the competition adopt a new technology does not mean that they are able to make game changing moves, this therefore reveals not Apples ability to give consumers new technology when they want it (as many commentators suggest) but rather Apples ability to tell consumers exactly what they want.

Many businesses succeed because of the excellence of their services - they simply do everything better then everyone else, others because of the simplicity of their products and finally the last group because they bring products and services into the market that change our lives so much that we systematically change the way we live our lives and therefore are bound to such advancements. What Apple does is all of the above but at the same time their focus remains on telling us what we need, so long as the company can woo the masses and create a desire for its products the company will remain at the pinnacle of the industry.

I guess in light of all the press, the good and the bad,  one is always reminded of the little but impactful story of the tortoise and the hare...





Tuesday, 9 September 2014

The one more thing moment..... Apple Watch...

"The Next Chapter in Apples Story" (Cook)