Apple's Strategy of Small Version Smart-Phones: Is it a Good Strategy?
Apple's Strategy of Small Version Smart-Phones
Apple's launch event on March 21st with the roll-out of their new hardware continues a trend that has seen Cupertino move away from a single device to a huge range of devices trying to satisfy everyone in the smartphone ecosystem.The three products were nowhere close to even being considered 'new' products. The iPhone SE is nothing special but the iPhone 5S with just some new chips inside.The iPad Pro is just another addition to the iPad lineby offering you the Apple Pencil on a 9.7-inch tablet but only if you buy a new tablet.
In 2016 where every month some new technology and new hardware announced, people cheering for just a new nylon strap for their smartwatch seems more than questionable as to what's new in terms of "innovation" there. It also likely induces a thought about the attitude of the audience and whoever were behind the new product with only an additional strap.
The event had nothing to cheer about for the outside world apart from Apple fanboys who continue to rant about how Apple truly care for their customers etc. There was no passion indicating that Apple were simply looking to maximize their sales with as little effort as possible for their new products. The serial numbers of hardware in their phones indicated that they clearly wanted to get rid of their stocks in their inventories by adding all of those into an existing iPhone 5s but with the old stocks of new hardware and market it as "new innovation".
Apple is slowly fading away for an approach that brings a slightly above average product to every price point on the market. And it's challenging the one company that has made this approach work into the current smartphone market. But is that really what Apple is designed to do? It just induces a feeling where it's not about a single product anymore nor about a unique touch in their innovations or visions about the future but just a range of hardware in boxes for every price point and people craving to buy them too every year after year. It's no longer setting the trend for the market.
Small smart phones with the same power as the larger flagships have been around for many years for some examples being Sony's Xperia Compact and Samsung Galaxy Mini platforms. This clearly shows Apple's weakness in their current approach. The only thing that'll keep people happy are shareholders since it will keep production lines increasing and will also help the profitability of the company.
