If you read any tech site today or over past few days, you will find that there are opinions, news and tit bits about the latest launch from Apple, the iPhone 5C. Most of it is based on rumours and analysis but some of it may be true. There is one thing for sure, Apple is guarding the iPhone 5C insides as well as outsides with the precision US of A guards the Fort Knox.
Why this sudden flurry of activity in Apple Headquarters in the US and Foxconn factories in China. Why all the rumours and why all the analysis about iPhone 5C. One thing the readers may note is that some of the information is often leaked by the manufacturers, in this case, Apple, to create a hype around their launch. But why does Apple need the hype. After all, it is THE manufacturer of iPhone range of smart phones running on iOS.
If you read between the lines, you can note that there are many reasons for Apple to create the hype. Over the months after launch of iPhone 5 in September 2012 it has been grappling with stagnant sales. Since the iPhone 5 was launched the sales have dropped dramatically. Apple placed new orders for iPhone from its suppliers which were 50 % in the quarter ending March 2013 from the previous quarter.
In the smart world of smart phones, innovation and new launches make most hay while the sun shines. Google and Samsung have found the key to lock with Google coming out with Android updates and launches like the all new Google Play website, Google Maps and a all new Google Play Games for Android on the software side and Google Nexux 7 with Android 4.3 on the hardware side. Samsung too has been busy with as many as 4 launches in the Jan to March quarter. The Android 4.3 pretty much sums up what Google is trying to do with its next generation of OS which is Android 5 called Key Lime Pie.
In the same context, the iOS 7 has never really taken off the way Apple wanted. Moreover the iOS 7 has been condemned by many die hard Apple, iOS and iPhone fans as being a cheap imitation of Android. The falling sales have also reflected on the stock prices of Apple on Nasdaq. The shares which rose to a high of $705.07 (Rs.42300.00) to $512.36 (Rs.30700.00) as of today. Though right now the stock price is trading with a gain of 2 percentage points on the rumours of proposed launch of iPhone 5C and overall US market sentiments.
The next mistake Apple committed was marketing iPhone 5 which I call mismarketing. Apple branded iPhone 5 as a niche product and willingly made it expensive to the other Android high end brands. This Apple did as strategic market plan for the markets of US and Europe. What the Apple strategists forgot was the real growth in smartphone users was in India and China and not in the US and Europe. And with the new found wealth the Indians and Chinese went ahead purchasing the Samsung's offerings with glee because Samsung branded its products based on pricing rather then niche. It had a phone for every kind of budget whereas Apple only had a high end iPhone 5 to market. So even if Samsung Galaxy S IV wasn't selling there was always a Samsung Grand or Duos ready to captivate the user. Further it didn't promote iPhone 5 in Indian and Chinese markets aggressively enough.
By the time Apple got its act together in March 2013, the Samsung had already been crowned the king of smart phones. That very moment a cheaper variant of iPhone looked like a distinct possibility. And now the possibility has become a fact.
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