Some thoughts on the iPhone 4S
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tl;dr: Apple does evolution and keeps its old iPhone 4 customers happy
After yesterdays announcement, the blog-/twitter/G+ and most of all the comments to articles "sphere" exploded with disappointment. Disappointment that Apple choose to do an incremental update of their iPhone product instead of boosting its version number to 5.
Of course, most of the disappointment is home-grown. Apple never announced anything, so all the pundits that clamored for an iPhone 5 with (insert favorite feature that the iPhone 4S doesn't have) were mostly just disappointed that their dreams or desires didn't come true.
But is the iPhone 4S really the disaster that some people make it out to be?
Of course not. Even though it looks like the iPhone 4 (which I think is the best looking of the iPhone family so far, and one of the best looking phones overall), it's a different piece of equipment on the inside. From what was said at the presentation, every bit inside was redesigned – and from the specs available, I tend to believe that.
There is a new antenna system, new camera, new processor and GPU, new power management (to keep battery times similar even though the CPU needs more power), Bluetooth 4 etc etc. So in terms of engineering, this is an iPhone 5.
But perception wise, Apple didn't go that step. Why? Here's my take:
Apple cares about the millions of iPhone 4 users (many of them have bought their phones in the last few months – my family has for example). Nothing in the iPhone 4S screams "yo – your iPhone 4 just became obsolete". I've had my iPhone 4 since it first came out, and even though I like all bits of the 4S, there is no immediate urgent need for me to go out and buy one. (I had the same feeling with the iPad 2 – I'm still happy with my iPad 1 and looking forward to the iPad 3)
And that's good! How would you feel, if suddenly the device you had yesterday was crap today? (I'm not looking at you, geeks, I'm looking at the 99% rest of the population). If you want to upgrade – fine. If you have to wait another 12 or 18 months in your current contract – you are still fine, because you get most of the 4S features through iOS5 (you still have a good camera, can take good videos). The only thing you can't do with your 4 is talk to Siri.
And that's fine too. Apple has positioned this as Beta software. The market isn't quite ready yet (and the software probably neither). It's a fantastic technology demo (and the video with the blind woman using it is pure marketing genius). However, Siri will work even better next year, when the next generation phones from Apple come out.
In the meantime, everybody is happy (except for the nay-sayers) and Apple continues to do what it does really well: Improve their products with every iteration, seemingly in small steps, until suddenly, they are quite a few steps ahead again.
And by slowing down the pace of introducing new products constantly (as their competitors tend to do), they keep the millions of customers happy that they made a great decision by buying an iPhone.
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Yes – it reminded me of Windows 3 -> 3.1 (as opposed to 4). couch Just the version move. Not the actual Windows ;)
"Apple cares about the millions if iPhone 4 users"
You really believe that?
of course I do – they are the ones buying new products. Apple would be crazy to annoy them (over the usual annoyances of course). If you look back at the iPhone history, every model had a lifespan of more than one generation. (maybe except for the first iteration). The 3G could still be used, after the 3GS came out, the 3GS was ok, even after the 4 came out, the 4 is ok, even now that the 4S is out. Most people don't like to throw away stuff the bought after 12 months.
I don't know the idea that they held back in the face of the competition coming out in the next few days in order to keep their customers happy seems a little far fetched to me. If they really cared about their customers it seems they would give up a little of that huge profit margin they are getting and make the devices less expensive.
na – that would be too easy. There are enough customers around that are willing to pay the price (and the profit margin). At least the whole thing is interesting to watch and see how it pans out.
On a totally unrelated note, I had the feeling that the presentation and the launch were not quite up to Steve's standards. There was a slide (in the siri introduction) that contained two lines of text. Don't remember seeing that when Steve presented…
I would tend to agree with Eric, I don't think it so much about respecting the customers as amortising the design. Designing something like the iPhone 4 form factor costs money, and time, not to mention the risks of doing mistakes (like the antenna problem). So re-using the form factor is a good way to minimise cost and improve the phone's quality. Apple does the same for its computers. I would not be surprised that when a new form factor comes out, the iPhone 4 form will be used for the iPod line…