Apple considering cheaper - and larger - Android-like phones...

[EarlyMon]

I wonder if they'll use Windows Servers to update the new line of iPhones at the factory?



Actually - funniest thing we saw were Apple products being made in fabs where Windows was the standard for IT.

 

[mikedt]

I wonder if they'll use Windows Servers to update the new line of iPhones at the factory?



Actually - funniest thing we saw were Apple products being made in fabs where Windows was the standard for IT.

As Apple products are made by Foxconn in China, I would be extremely surprised to hear otherwise.

And here is proof...
Apple - Support - Small Number of Video iPods Shipped With Windows Virus
'We recently discovered that a small number - less than 1% - of the Video iPods available for purchase after September 12, 2006, left our contract manufacturer carrying the Windows RavMonE.exe virus.'
...ooops!!

EDIT:-

Earlier I was posting about Foxconn and infected servers.

Then just now I saw this red beauty popup on a Foxconn webpage ...

'This frame was blocked because it contains some insecure content.' ... oh this is just priceless.
http://www.foxconn.com/location_5.html

 

[EarlyMon]

Me, too. (edit - I work in the semiconductor industry)

So - we're talking about Apple products?

 

[Dark Jedi]

When they say cheaper versions does that mean they will come w/o features that their top line phones has? Like a $200 phone but no wi-fi, gps, and so on.

 

[ElasticNinja]

crap camera, no front facing camera, no Wifi-N, no BT3.0 (probably be in iPhone5), HVGA LCD (non IPS), no NFC (if its in iPhone5),
Sounds like a 3Gs to me

 

[IOWA]

My next phone MUST have BT 3.0. I've been waiting for that in a phone for quite a while. I even made sure my HP Probook had BT3.0 built in for this purpose.

 

[EarlyMon]

WSJ corroborates the mini-iPhone, says Apple may make MobileMe free (update: 'edge-to-edge' screen) -- Engadget

 

[Tre Lawrence]

Interesting... I am tuned in to this.

 

[Android Nubble]

Considering how well the iphone is selling, I'm kind of surprised Apple would make something like an iPhone Nano-like device unless they think a cheaper smaller iphone won't hurt their regular iphone sales. At any rate, if the rumors are true a smaller iphone would appeal to people like me who want a smartphone but don't want to carry around a 4.0+" monster.

 

[EarlyMon]

Small Androids aren't killing big ones, MacBooks aren't killing MacBook Pros.

 

[baillou2]

I agree with EarlyMon that this is a very "Apple" thing to do. I also think it's a smart thing to do. It will allow Apple to cover all carriers and a wider price range. Much in the same way their other products do.

I can see it already, little kids with iPhone nanos. LOL

 

[Snow_Fox]

Very unlike Apple but I think a smart move by them...get their product into more hands, maybe people who thought the iPhone was out of their range before.

I disagree..

Having sold phones.. I've seen people who are broke doing whatever it takes to get an iphone..

Part of what makes apple so alluring is that "hard to get" factor.. Even as popular as the iphone is now.. there is still a status symbol nature involved in it.

Actually.. I know a lot of people who have kinda lost interest in the iphone just based on the premise that everyone has one.

Apple was once cool and new.. It sold heavy, it sold hard.

The problem is, its not new anymore. Even if everyone doesn't have an iphone, they can get a smartphone, and it can be completely different from the iphone and still do everything they want it to.

Iphone will always have a market but, a lot of my friends have lost interest in it because, it is no longer unique really. There is something that did what it does, if not better then at least done differently meaning people can suit their individual needs.

I don't want to jump to conclusions based on Verizon Iphone sales however, I will say that I theorize that part of why Verizon iphone sales did not go BOOM like a lot of people were expecting, is because as I said, everyone realizes iphone isn't all that is out anymore, and no one wants to have the exact same thing as everyone else.

I think there is enough diversity in the android world that even though two people have two different phones with similar hardware, that you can feel like your phone is different from the next persons. Run the same apps, they have Handcent that pops up when they get text, I just have the notification bar.

We can still both play angry birds, access the market ect.

I can get an android on my network that my family is locking me into, she can get an android on the network she is on.

Android at least in my experience isn't a status symbol.

It is flexible, powerful and practical for a wide market.

Iphone by contrast is lacking in power. It is powerful enough to do a wide variety of task, it is considered "high end" but, the exclusive nature is disappearing fast.

With verizon getting the iphone, this means it is available to even more people.. I personally think that alone was a bad move for apple.

If apple really wants to stay in the lime light.

They are going to have to start appealing to more people.

Doing so means they lose their "status symbol" notion.

I think long term it is lose/lose.

Apple was the "rebel" fighting the "evil" microsoft.

Now that apple is bigger than microsoft who is the "evil coorporation"?

Android by contrast is backed by google yes..

but, it isn't one coorporation that is floating android.

You have
Google.
HTC.
Motorola
Huawei
Samsung
Verizon
Att
Sprint
Tmobile
+ more.

I don't deny that Microsoft has done some horrible things in the past. However, there is a flip side to that coin.

Apple by contrast has done some good but, now that they are popular, they are what they were fighting, and in some ways worse.

Microsoft has been out of the box more flexible than apple.

Apple got a chance at a come back with the iphone but, even now, they suggest you do not just some but, everything their way.

The ipods and iphones have brought them back into the lime light and gotten a few people who would have never considered mac to give it a try.

Mac may continue to gain some popularity. It doesn't matter that the pc's in highschool are 300$ cheapo dells that run relatively poorly.. that is the *only* experience some people have.

So when they go to buy a laptop for college, they buy a mac.

Even if mac is is over priced, it is still a 300$ vs 1000$ computer.

However, that same 1000$ could allow you to custom build a comp that would blow the mac away.

it is a recurring theme of "you pay more" For whatever it is worth, I am not saying apple is the only one who over prices computers, but, I am saying that when you buy the mac, ipod, or whatever else even if you way over pay, you receive hardware that works to average joe's expectations or better.

If apple releases smaller iphones, they will do it well, and it will probably still meet average joe's expectations.

But, it is going to be hard to go for a second tier apple product, when there are first tear options that are going "hi, I don't have the apple logo, but, I do have the same storage, bigger screen, plus I am same price or cheaper, with better specs"

 

[EarlyMon]

We have to keep in mind that ATT/Verizon is far from Apple's whole game - its worldwide acceptance is high, and this move will only improve things.

Were I responsible for the final numbers in Cupertino, I'd care little about any one region, leaving that to regional management - as long as the move drives the overall profits up, it's the right move from a corporate perspective.

 

[byteware]

We have to keep in mind that ATT/Verizon is far from Apple's whole game - its worldwide acceptance is high, and this move will only improve things.

Were I responsible for the final numbers in Cupertino, I'd care little about any one region, leaving that to regional management - as long as the move drives the overall profits up, it's the right move from a corporate perspective.

Yes, but will this undercut many of Apple's arguments against Android (i.e. Fragmentation)?

This may end up coming back to bite Apple.

 

[EarlyMon]

My understanding of Apple's claims of fragmentation against Android is low - I don't really care.

Google seems to think - quite irrationally to me - that fragmentation is due to various APIs over various revisions.

I seem to think that fragmentation means different users get stuck with non-current OS revisions and don't have access to basic features. I'm looking at you Samsung, and a whole class of phones hamstrung without the JIT compiler, copy and paste or the ability to deal with Flash websites.

Whatever Apple's on about with respect to fragmentation, I'll trust you to clarify for me if you want my opinion - I'm not going to look up fevered marketing claims, having a bad day, sorry.

 

[A.Nonymous]

If I recall correctly, Apple's claims about fragmentation are tied to the fact that you go down to your local store right now and buy phones running Cupcake, Eclair and Froyo brand new.

 

[EarlyMon]

That's been my complaint, too.

 

[Chidori602]

If linux was shipped with new computers, it have more users then apple.

 

[EarlyMon]

You believe that - but no one can know what would happen if the past was different.

Besides, they tried to ship Linux with new computers and screwed it up.

What does that have to do with Apple selling a new line of phones?

 

[mikedt]

If linux was shipped with new computers, it have more users then apple.

They tried to sell Linux netbooks 2 years ago, in big box stores, supermarkets etc. They where just horrible.

 

[baillou2]

They tried to sell Linux netbooks 2 years ago, in big box stores, supermarkets etc. They where just horrible.

Funny, because I would prefer the linux netbook. But then again I use linux. I think that the poster-from-a-few-posts-up was just saying that Linux is a much better OS and if the world were as familiar with it as it is Windows then Macs would only have their hardware as a selling point.

 

[EarlyMon]

OS X is a BSD port, and Fink exists. You can switch off their stuff and run pure X; I have a friend with Gnome on his.

Hate from Linux users is irrational.

 

[bluenova]

Funny, because I would prefer the linux netbook. But then again I use linux. I think that the poster-from-a-few-posts-up was just saying that Linux is a much better OS and if the world were as familiar with it as it is Windows then Macs would only have their hardware as a selling point.

The problem is a lot of them were not shipped with Gnome, KDE or any other half decent desktop environment but instead with their own very crappy DE that was very limited and people were crying out to have their Windows back.

 

[mikedt]

Funny, because I would prefer the linux netbook. But then again I use linux. I think that the poster-from-a-few-posts-up was just saying that Linux is a much better OS and if the world were as familiar with it as it is Windows then Macs would only have their hardware as a selling point.

If they'd had come with something like Ubuntu, and the sales staff had been properly trained in Linux PCs. Things might be different. The Linux netbooks I saw had this awful Taiwanese thing called Linpus*. Buggy as hell and horrible to use.

* sounds like a skin desease.

 

[byteware]

Whatever Apple's on about with respect to fragmentation, I'll trust you to clarify for me if you want my opinion - I'm not going to look up fevered marketing claims, having a bad day, sorry.

Also, their claim that they have one screen size to deal with (2 with the iPad, but that's a different class of device).

Their claim that their developers only have to code for 1 screen size will now go the way of Android, and I can't imagine that Apple would make it as easy as it is for Android Devs.