Apple’s Marketing Is Losing it. Or Losing to Apple’s Finance Dept.

Just what you needed, another comment on Apple’s phone launch!  But it does look like another sign that Apple is losing it.

The low-end phone launch isn’t the issue.  It was a necessary move (although it makes clear that Apple has saturated its core market).  The problem (for Apple investors), was the higher end product launch.

  • When they came out with a low-end product, they should have launched highly differentiated high-end product.  Something visibly different/special.  That would give status conscious users a way to stay ahead of the masses – much less the untouchables and their plastic iPhones (eeeew!).
  • They had/have a no-brainer route to that sort of differentiation.  A bigger screen.  They could have kept the same physical dimensions, but extended the screen to the edges (like the Moto X, for example).  Voila!  A visibly different, cooler, and “better” high-end product.  Happy fan-boys and a “real” upgrade cycle.

I am assuming that plans for a larger screen are in the works.  iPhones are starting to look a little old-fashioned in that regard and the marketing types there must know that.  So why didn’t they launch a larger screen now?

  • Arrogance?:  Apple takes pride in its ability to drip-feed innovations in order to keep that upgrade treadmill going.  You can imagine the head of marketing sitting, fingers tented, with a smirk saying that a fingerprint sensor and colors should be “enough” for this go-round. Seen from the outside, it looks pretty niggardly.
  • Greed?:  Alternatively, the finance department made the call.  Maybe they need a high-margin refresh based on the same physical device to balance out margin on the low-end phone launch?  Maybe they need a bigger upgrade cycle next year to smooth revenues?  Regardless, Finance shouldn’t be making these calls.
  • Stupidity?  Have they convinced themselves that their smaller screen with a big bezel is somehow “better” as is?

I have no idea why they didn’t launch of a physically different and “better” device, but that non-event speaks more loudly than today’s hoopla.  Apple is losing it.

Share
This entry was posted in tech-telecom-markets-macro. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.