Apple and the "real people" breakaway !
VTech
Posts: 4,736
In the UK, 5S prices start at £549, while the cheaper 5C phone costs from £469. A 64 gigabyte model comes in at a hefty £709.
In comparison, the flagship model from rival HTC costs £484 and Samsung's top-of-the-line Galaxy S4 is around £420.
This was billed as Apple entering the cost efficient market to gain entry to India and China yet the prices have increased and are further ahead of the competition with regards high costings.
I know of many companies now banning iPhones from the product lines due to cost to the company !
I am an Apple fan, have been for ages but the pricing is surely going to cost them in the end.
In comparison, the flagship model from rival HTC costs £484 and Samsung's top-of-the-line Galaxy S4 is around £420.
This was billed as Apple entering the cost efficient market to gain entry to India and China yet the prices have increased and are further ahead of the competition with regards high costings.
I know of many companies now banning iPhones from the product lines due to cost to the company !
I am an Apple fan, have been for ages but the pricing is surely going to cost them in the end.
Living MY dream.
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Noted.0
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Indeed the 5C is billed as the 'cheap' iPhone and yet is hardly any cheaper than the expensive version and still more expensive that the top of the range phones from rivals. And yet if you have one you're saying "this is a cheap phone" when it's anything but.0
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Apple market share has been heading south for some time and those prices will just send more people over to Android and the likes of Samsung. The lack of innovation is hurting them as well of course.
The price of the 5C is beyond daft.You only need two tools: WD40 and Duck Tape.
If it doesn't move and should, use the WD40.
If it shouldn't move and does, use the tape.0 -
The 5c is not billed as a cheap iPhone. Apple have specifically said they have no interest in producing a cheap phone. Analysts who don't know what they're talking about said it was going to be a cheap iPhone before it was released. They were wrong.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... e-strategyBusiness Week wrote:To Cook, the mobile industry doesn’t race to the bottom, it splits. One part does indeed go cheap, with commoditized products that compete on little more than price. “There’s always a large junk part of the market,” he says. “We’re not in the junk business.” The upper end of the industry justifies its higher prices with greater value.0 -
Daz555 wrote:Apple market share has been heading south for some time and those prices will just send more people over to Android and the likes of Samsung. The lack of innovation is hurting them as well of course.
The price of the 5C is beyond daft.
Indeed, I watched the 5S announcement with interest and it's sparked my interest in the Galaxy S4 which looks like a nice device.0 -
Graeme_S wrote:The 5c is not billed as a cheap iPhone. Apple have specifically said they have no interest in producing a cheap phone. Analysts who don't know what they're talking about said it was going to be a cheap iPhone before it was released. They were wrong.
It doesn't matter. The 'C' might stand for Colour but most will think it stands for Cheap. And using plastic etc marks it out as the cheaper alternative. So the iPhone 5C is the cheap iPhone if you or Apple likes it or not.0 -
Well in that case it is cheaper than the 5s, so what's your problem?markhewitt1978 wrote:It doesn't matter. The 'C' might stand for Colour but most will think it stands for Cheap. And using plastic etc marks it out as the cheaper alternative. So the iPhone 5C is the cheap iPhone if you or Apple likes it or not.
All they've really done is bunged the 5 internals in a new shell so they can flog a "new" phone at the same price point they're usually selling a year old phone to make it more attractive.0 -
Graeme_S wrote:The 5c is not billed as a cheap iPhone. Apple have specifically said they have no interest in producing a cheap phone. Analysts who don't know what they're talking about said it was going to be a cheap iPhone before it was released. They were wrong.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... e-strategyBusiness Week wrote:To Cook, the mobile industry doesn’t race to the bottom, it splits. One part does indeed go cheap, with commoditized products that compete on little more than price. “There’s always a large junk part of the market,” he says. “We’re not in the junk business.” The upper end of the industry justifies its higher prices with greater value.
Then why did they quote themselves as making these phones to gain an impact into India and China where less than 2% use Apple ?
They maybe didnt use the word cheap but they said affordable and mentioned wanting to break into china.Living MY dream.0 -
Read a great article on Apple's innovation woes the other day and can't remember the author. He basically imagines that Steve Jobs quit after the release of the first iPhone, and envisions the attitude there would have been around their releases if he hadn't been around:
iPhone 3G - just a plastic version of what came before
3GS - same but a bit faster
iPad - roundly derided at the time
iPhone 4 - good, but people complained so much about the antenna issue that the headlines would have been 'Apple can't even make a functioning phone since Jobs left'
The author basically suggests the cult of personality around Jobs masked the fact that Apple haven't truly innovated for years. Now they've deviated from the simple style that made them unique, releasing a flat OS and coloured phones.0 -
Surprised the Google Nexus 4 hasn't been mentioned yet, currently reduced from 279 to 199 for the 16Gb version. Mate's wife has one and it's really nice. My wife and I both have Nexus 7 tablets and they're lovely - my top of the range model with 32Gb, 3G and Wifi was only 239 last year. Apple is taking the mickey.http://www.strathspey.co.uk - Quality Binoculars at a Sensible Price.
Specialized Roubaix SL3 Expert 2012, Cannondale CAAD5,
Marin Mount Vision (1997), Edinburgh Country tourer, 3 cats!0 -
It was Jon Gruber.ShauNuff wrote:Read a great article on Apple's innovation woes the other day and can't remember the author.
That's not what he said at all:ShauNuff wrote:The author basically suggests the cult of personality around Jobs masked the fact that Apple haven't truly innovated for years. Now they've deviated from the simple style that made them unique, releasing a flat OS and coloured phones.Jon Gruber wrote:Here’s the thing. The arguments of the “Apple can no longer innovate” bears could be applied just as aptly to the products Apple released under Steve Jobs. Imagine if Jobs had left the company in late 2007, after the release of the original iPhone — the one product that at least in hindsight everyone can agree was truly revolutionary. Now further imagine that Apple had then gone on, in Jobs’s absence, to do everything else exactly the same as they did in the real world, where Jobs remained CEO until 2011.
The iPhone 3G in 2008? Nothing but the original iPhone with a plastic case — an aesthetic step backward from the gorgeous metal of the original iPhone — and the addition of 3G cellular networking — which these naysayers all argued the original iPhone should have shipped with in the first place back in 2007. The 3GS in 2009? Just a slightly faster 3G. No innovation in two years. The original iPad, now hailed as one of the Jobs-led Apple’s historic innovations? In reality, it was widely panned upon release as “just a big iPhone”. Take that response to the original iPad and multiply it by jackass-finity to measure the response in my hypothetical scenario where Jobs had left Apple in 2007.
It might have been hard for anyone to argue that the retina display in 2010’s iPhone 4 wasn’t innovative, but Apple’s naysayers — in the real world, not my hypothetical one — looked right past it as they worked themselves into a frenzy over Antennagate. Now imagine how Antennagate would have played out if Jobs had then been out of the company for three years. These critics would have apoplectically jumped from “Apple can’t innovate without Steve Jobs” to “Apple can’t even make a functioning cell phone antenna without Steve Jobs”.
The square-pegged facts have been hammered to fit the round-hole narrative, and there’s no better example than Antennagate. The GSM iPhone 4 remained on sale until this week, with no changes to its antenna, and no ongoing complaints from users.
Refinement, in the eyes of these naysayers, does not count as innovation. Only revolution counts. But the iPhone needs no revolution. It continues to sell better year-over-year, year after year, without lowering its prices. Every step of the way between 2007 and that lone original iPhone — running an OS with no third-party apps, no multitasking, not even copy-and-paste — and today’s world, where Apple is on the cusp of selling its 700 millionth iOS device and the lineup ranges from the iPod Touch to the iPhones to two sizes of iPad, has been about just that: refinement.0 -
Well yeah, if you take his point literally he doesn't say that at all. I was inferring a conclusion
(I couldn't remember the point of the article)0 -
Yes, but for that price you can buy an iPod Touch! Which is almost a phone! Well, except for the actually making calls bit. Or connecting to 3G. Not to mention the smaller screen, which is kind of important for a 'media player'.Surprised the Google Nexus 4 hasn't been mentioned yet, currently reduced from 279 to 199 for the 16Gb version.0 -
VTech wrote:I am an Apple fan, have been for ages but the pricing is surely going to cost them in the end.
I think that's the thing, you're a fan and that's what leads you towards buying their products rather than some other companies.
I know people who have been apple fans a long time but even they are now starting to question the fact that you pay top whack for their product and then just a few months or a year later they replace that with something apparently even better :roll:
I suspect that there will always be enough die hard followers who buy apple stuff no matter what
"Arran, you are like the Tony Benn of smut. You have never diluted your depravity and always stand by your beliefs. You have my respect sir and your wife my pity"
seanoconn0 -
I switched to the Samsung S4 last month, after being an iphone user for over 3 years. Apple seem backwards in comparison, and set to slip further behind with the new releases0
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APIII wrote:I switched to the Samsung S4 last month, after being an iphone user for over 3 years. Apple seem backwards in comparison, and set to slip further behind with the new releases
Did the same. Galaxy S4 is a much better experience. Android can be a bit too deep, but its choice and if you wish to leave it so be it. I get far more out of my new phone. No more sticking with iTunes. No more glitchy connections to wifi, View web pages in flash. I could go on. I loved my iPhones when I used them, but it, for me,changing to a Samsung was like owning a Well built, economical car that did what I wanted, Then suddenly getting behind the wheel of a Bugati.0 -
Problem is trendy people don't like their products being mainstream. Apple was trendy when everyone used Microsoft or Nokia but now it is just the norm. You can't stay fashionable forever and if you aren't fashionable people begin to wonder why they are paying more for your stuff than anyone else's. I'm still using my S2 as I've decided upgrading to a new phone is just a waste of time, the improvements are so marginal. I was always a bit anti-Apple but do quite like my iPad and my work iPhone4 is a big step up from the PoS I had before, it's also far nicer quality than the S2 but if I were buying out of my own pocket I wouldn't get one.0
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How does the S4 compare? Especially with the likes of Strava etc? Is it not a bit laggy?0
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Pross wrote:upgrading to a new phone is just a waste of time, the improvements are so marginal.
This^ There really isn't the need to pay top dollar unless there really is a new useful feature that you will specifically benefit from.
Mid range phones are now fast, reliable and have OK cameras. For me and I suspect most others, the rest is just gimmicks. I do like a nice phone but the diminishing returns are a nonsense unless the cost really doesn't matter to you.
I personally don't like Apple stuff; iTunes put me off for good, but having said that, all the top phones do enter the market at £500+ before quickly finding their level at low- mid 400s so this does need to be taken into consideration.0 -
How do all the non apple smart phones work with an Apple laptop / computer?
So for me an i phone would work best. I don't have a smart phone, every one else in the family has an iPhone. (5, 4s and 4)0 -
This is one of the fundamental cornerstones of Apple philosophy. Everything works well together but this in turn ties you into their product range (at not insignificant cost). If you're happy with that tie in and like the products, Apple makes sense. Personally I hate that closed environment.FatTed wrote:How do all the non apple smart phones work with an Apple laptop / computer?
So for me an i phone would work best. I don't have a smart phone, every one else in the family has an iPhone. (5, 4s and 4)0 -
FatTed wrote:How do all the non apple smart phones work with an Apple laptop / computer?
So for me an i phone would work best. I don't have a smart phone, every one else in the family has an iPhone. (5, 4s and 4)
I use an app called synctunes,which syncs my iTunes wirelessly with an Android phone. I don't think it's available for mac yet, but there seem to be a number of alternatives that may be mac compatible. There are also apps to let you play content through an Apple TV, but haven't got around to trying them out yet. I think this closed system apple have is not so closed anymore0 -
morstar wrote:Pross wrote:upgrading to a new phone is just a waste of time, the improvements are so marginal.
This^ There really isn't the need to pay top dollar unless there really is a new useful feature that you will specifically benefit from.
Mid range phones are now fast, reliable and have OK cameras. For me and I suspect most others, the rest is just gimmicks. I do like a nice phone but the diminishing returns are a nonsense unless the cost really doesn't matter to you.
I personally don't like Apple stuff; iTunes put me off for good, but having said that, all the top phones do enter the market at £500+ before quickly finding their level at low- mid 400s so this does need to be taken into consideration.
My smartphone died a few months ago and I had to resort to an old handset as a back-up at the time...which I'm still using now! Turns out once you get used to not having some of the features you don't miss them and going back to a phone that needs charging once every 5-6 days was quite nice too.0 -
verylonglegs wrote:morstar wrote:Pross wrote:upgrading to a new phone is just a waste of time, the improvements are so marginal.
This^ There really isn't the need to pay top dollar unless there really is a new useful feature that you will specifically benefit from.
Mid range phones are now fast, reliable and have OK cameras. For me and I suspect most others, the rest is just gimmicks. I do like a nice phone but the diminishing returns are a nonsense unless the cost really doesn't matter to you.
I personally don't like Apple stuff; iTunes put me off for good, but having said that, all the top phones do enter the market at £500+ before quickly finding their level at low- mid 400s so this does need to be taken into consideration.
My smartphone died a few months ago and I had to resort to an old handset as a back-up at the time...which I'm still using now! Turns out once you get used to not having some of the features you don't miss them and going back to a phone that needs charging once every 5-6 days was quite nice too.
I'm envious of you there. I actually find this idea very appealing as smartphones are very distracting in quite an unsocial way really. Have often considered, should I drop it?, but I do like the camera in my pocket at all times and the map technology is useful when you need to find where something is when you're already out and about. Beyond those two features, I could easily go back to basics but can't quite make that leap. Fortunately I do have a phone that easily lasts a day and a half with heavy use. For me this was a more important feature than some random fingerprint or voice software that would be completely forgotten about after the first week of ownership.0 -
A Galaxy S4 is actually £549 ish. Not £420. So perfectly comparable with a 5S. Only benefit is you can pop an sd card in the back for buttons and increase capacity.
The S4 is a tremendous phone but the OS is a bit lame. Basic android is nice on it though.0 -
paul_mck wrote:A Galaxy S4 is actually £549 ish. Not £420. So perfectly comparable with a 5S. Only benefit is you can pop an sd card in the back for buttons and increase capacity.
The S4 is a tremendous phone but the OS is a bit lame. Basic android is nice on it though.
http://www.valuebasket.com/en_GB/Samsun ... ked-(White)/mainproduct/view/12890-AA-WH?AF=GOOGB&gclid=CI68--Cw3LkCFfMQtAod5RoAPALiving MY dream.0 -
More to the point.......
UK iPhone 5s 64Gb = £709.
US iPhone 5s 64Gb = $399.
$399 = £266.
WHY??????None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.0 -
daviesee wrote:More to the point.......
UK iPhone 5s 64Gb = £709.
US iPhone 5s 64Gb = $399.
$399 = £266.
WHY??????
They have pricing plus tax whereas we have it inc tax.
Having said that, tax in most states sits around 8% so still massively cheaper.
I rarely buy in the UK for most things tech and clothing.
I can get a flight to Dubai, buy a new macbook, stay for 2 days and fly back for less than it costs over here !
Levis 501's in the UK = £80
Levis 501's in the US = $22 (£15)Living MY dream.0 -
$399 will be on contract Id imagine.0
