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Apple's one to watch, for all the wrong reasons
Tens of thousands of tweets have been posted after Apple launched its latest smartphone models and introduced its first smartwatch on Sept
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ens of thousands of tweets have been posted after Apple launched its latest smartphone models and introduced its first smartwatch on Sept. 9. One stands out.
'Bigger screen. Better performance. Elegant design. Welcome to the party #iPhone6,' Taiwan's smartphone maker HTC Corp. wrote on the microblog website, along with a picture showing a corner of the HTC One M8 flagship phone and a blurred image of Apple's iPhone 6.
The Apple iPhone 6 lineup includes a 'phablet' with a 5.5-inch display, similar in size to the 5-inch HTC One M8. Even before the Sept. 9 launch, many have noted the similarity between the iPhone 6 (seen from leaked-photos from numerous websites) and the HTC flagship phone. In its hashtagged jibe, the Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer made sure people take note of that similarity.
The fact that an Android phone maker would be able to ridicule Apple for copying its design shows how far the world has come from 2007, when the U.S.-based company practically created the smartphone market overnight by launching the first iPhone. For much of the past decade Apple has been running a mouthwatering profit margin of at least 20 percent thanks to its hugely profitable smartphones and tablet devices. It seems invincible in its markets, introducing game changing products that are imitated by its rivals.
With the introduction of its own phablets ' a phone-tablet hybrid Apple's late CEO Steve Jobs ridiculed as 'Hummers' no one would like to buy ' the technology giant is heralding a new, less-glamorous era when the smart-device trailblazer starts to play catch up. In addition to larger displays, the NFC (near field communication) contactless payment system, much heralded by the media, is also a feature that has been around for some time in the non-iOS smartphone market.
Even the Apple Watch, the long-anticipated Apple product and the true star of the Sept. 9. event, came after South Korea-based Samsung Electronics introduced its sixth smartwatch.
While it is worth pointing out that Apple's strong suit has never been invention but the reinvention of products, the company's recent strategies are much different from those that led to the first iPhone. While there were smartphones before the iPhone, Apple was the first to break from the pack and create a smart device that truly works. On the other hand, the latest Apple smartphones offer no breakthrough, just feature updates that double as a concession to its rivals' ideas. In the smartphone market at least, the company has officially lost its position as the unquestioned leader.
Apple's new watch is more of a market-creating product like its 2007 smartphone but even it came up short. The company seems to be able to come up with a better interpretation of smartwatches than many of its competitors (which have yet to produce a successful smartwatch), but it seems to have prematurely launched a product that shares some of the key problems of the smartwatch flops of other manufacturers.
Similar to Samsung's smartwatches, the Apple Watch has to be tethered to a smartphone (an iPhone in this case) to work. For all the talk of building a device to encourage exercising, Apple is basically asking people to bring along one more device during their work-outs.
The company also glosses over details on the watch's power usage even though the need to frequently charge is one of the main reasons for the unpopularity of the current crop of smartphones. Simply put, Apple is just to come up with a 2007 iPhone equivalent of smartwatch that 'just works.'
Apple is still a company that can produce objects of desire in the smart device age. The company might also regain its innovative spirit in the future. Yet as Taiwan-based Apple suppliers constitute a substantial potion of the nation's economy, the success or failure of the U.S. giant is a matter of consequence to Taiwan. Policymakers should watch the company closely and advise contingency plans accordingly. (***)
