I think there is a red herring argument within this article. Anna claims there are better phones than the iPhone. So the argument goes, Apple does not build the best phone software or hardware, that there is better technology with different phone makers. Note: Phone makers. Apple is not only a phone maker. In fact, the iPhone is almost a misnomer — it is a phone-sized computer with a great phone app. Furthermore, Apple is leading the industry in mp3 players (iPod), smartphones (iPhone), tablet computers (iPad), and personal computers.
Look at the numbers and remember Apple’s business model is larger than a smart phone. Microsoft has tied itself to yesterday’s cell phone giant — good for consumer choice — but don’t expect Apple’s market power to diminish just because of the Lumina 9000 (that is still without a release date and a demo for analysts to try).
A smartphone is comprised of software and hardware. There is, and has been, better hardware than Apple’s for some time. Larger screens, more megapixels, faster processers, etc. have been on competing phones well before iPhone. For instance, I had an HTC Incredible a full year before Apple released a phone with an 8 megapixel camera. The newest iPhone is indeed just catching up on the hardware front. I agree with the article that the changes to the new iPhone are just incremental.
Furthermore, on the patent front, Samsung had a full touch screen phone 10+ years ago. I had one. Palm did so as well. Apple has done the best job at marketing all of its products and services (iTunes).
Now, as far as Apple being “more than iPhones,” one must look at the product line risk in Apple’s business model. Have you looked at a pie chart of where Apple’s revenues come from? I believe you will find > 50% are from iphones alone. Also, claiming they are the leader in personal computers is false. There are far more Windows-based PCs out there than Apple. I would bet that is true by a wide margin. Yes, Windows runs on multiple hardware platforms, but I would venture a guess there are still more Dell personal computers in use than Apple personal computers.
Okay, but “shipped” is not the same as “sold.” I have been following these trends for the past two years and have seen this argument used and debunked a few times.
So you are suggesting that the Samsung phones were manufactured, shipped, and are collecting dust on a loading dock somewhere with Samsung never to receive any revenue? Or, are you suggesting Samsung is giving the phones away for free? Please cite the article that has irrefutable evidence that Samsung is giving phones away for free or they are still sitting in boxes on loading docks.
I saw a guy last year during Halloween in a Steve Jobs “costume.” He had a Samsung smartphone.
Personally I think the iPhone 5 is a great phone…if it were still early 2011. The phone is still behind what some of the Android and Microsoft phones do already. Apple replaced the Google Maps to their own app but the program couldn’t tell north from south… literally. NPR did a story the other day about the phone and their guest, who got the phone for testing, literally said the app did not know that he was traveling south and kept saying he was going north.
The phone does not have NFC support and for many users who connect their phone to their dock for music, well they can’t do that any longer because of the changed ports.
Overall the only MAIN difference the phone has from its predecessor is the increase in height by 0.5 inch…Enjoy the extra row of apps.
Efficient Minds™ 
Have to admit I was hoping this would happen and am not suprised that it did. Looks like Apples fad could start to fade away.
I think there is a red herring argument within this article. Anna claims there are better phones than the iPhone. So the argument goes, Apple does not build the best phone software or hardware, that there is better technology with different phone makers. Note: Phone makers. Apple is not only a phone maker. In fact, the iPhone is almost a misnomer — it is a phone-sized computer with a great phone app. Furthermore, Apple is leading the industry in mp3 players (iPod), smartphones (iPhone), tablet computers (iPad), and personal computers.
Look at the numbers and remember Apple’s business model is larger than a smart phone. Microsoft has tied itself to yesterday’s cell phone giant — good for consumer choice — but don’t expect Apple’s market power to diminish just because of the Lumina 9000 (that is still without a release date and a demo for analysts to try).
A smartphone is comprised of software and hardware. There is, and has been, better hardware than Apple’s for some time. Larger screens, more megapixels, faster processers, etc. have been on competing phones well before iPhone. For instance, I had an HTC Incredible a full year before Apple released a phone with an 8 megapixel camera. The newest iPhone is indeed just catching up on the hardware front. I agree with the article that the changes to the new iPhone are just incremental.
Furthermore, on the patent front, Samsung had a full touch screen phone 10+ years ago. I had one. Palm did so as well. Apple has done the best job at marketing all of its products and services (iTunes).
Now, as far as Apple being “more than iPhones,” one must look at the product line risk in Apple’s business model. Have you looked at a pie chart of where Apple’s revenues come from? I believe you will find > 50% are from iphones alone. Also, claiming they are the leader in personal computers is false. There are far more Windows-based PCs out there than Apple. I would bet that is true by a wide margin. Yes, Windows runs on multiple hardware platforms, but I would venture a guess there are still more Dell personal computers in use than Apple personal computers.
MP3 players, yes. Tablet computers, yes. But smartphones and personal computers I say you must present data to claim Apple is the leader. For instance, in a cnet article (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57480412-37/samsung-ships-52.1-million-smartphones-in-q2-doubles-iphone/) earlier this summer, it was shown that Samsung shipped twice as many smartphones as Apple.
Okay, but “shipped” is not the same as “sold.” I have been following these trends for the past two years and have seen this argument used and debunked a few times.
So you are suggesting that the Samsung phones were manufactured, shipped, and are collecting dust on a loading dock somewhere with Samsung never to receive any revenue? Or, are you suggesting Samsung is giving the phones away for free? Please cite the article that has irrefutable evidence that Samsung is giving phones away for free or they are still sitting in boxes on loading docks.
I saw a guy last year during Halloween in a Steve Jobs “costume.” He had a Samsung smartphone.
Personally I think the iPhone 5 is a great phone…if it were still early 2011. The phone is still behind what some of the Android and Microsoft phones do already. Apple replaced the Google Maps to their own app but the program couldn’t tell north from south… literally. NPR did a story the other day about the phone and their guest, who got the phone for testing, literally said the app did not know that he was traveling south and kept saying he was going north.
The phone does not have NFC support and for many users who connect their phone to their dock for music, well they can’t do that any longer because of the changed ports.
Overall the only MAIN difference the phone has from its predecessor is the increase in height by 0.5 inch…Enjoy the extra row of apps.