The Fall of iPhone

IPhone

Apple had us for quite along time. The iPhone 3 broke records with its sales, and the 3GS expanded on the original version breaking into mainstream and becoming a momentous social reinvention of the smart phone market. This a few key issues from the iPhone 4, and emerging competitors, the future of Apple’s iPhone product may be wavering.

Apple is notorious for innovating in an industry, but not dominating the market. Sure, the iPod was a massive revolutionary success that essentially defined the mp3 market, but there laundry list of past products proves that they don’t particularly become a dominant mainstay in a certain medium. Many fear this is the fate of the iPhone. As Google’s Android gains market share, only having recently passed Apple with their latest iteration and other competitors enter, their longevity is questionable. LG released their LG Voyager to wide acclaim, as it enters the smart phone industries upper echelon. And Microsoft is planning their Microsoft Windows Mobile 7, which essentially takes the PC entirely mobile. With tough competition, it is hard to see Apple remaining relevant for long in the field. And with the recent death of Steve Jobs, many reconsider Apple’s ability to compete.

The iPhone 4 was plagued with many minor issues; some simply baffle fans and industry members. For one, Apple chose to go forward with Bing for their searches, as opposed to Google. It seems like a small issue, but with the massive popularity and appeal of Google, it seems an odd choice. More importantly, the Wi-Fi use is sporadic at best, being often barely functioning despite a close Wi-Fi network. They have improved the technology on paper with a special steel band to pick up on Wi-Fi networks, but it doesn’t work too well in reality. It also hurts that Apple is insistent on limiting the amount of networks they work with, exclusively AT&T. If they truly are insistent on being the most accessible smart phone in the industry, their unwillingness to work with all networks remains contradictory to their marketing and branding.

A major difference is in user creation. Google’s Android has an app market that allows you to upload applications and content. There is little to no regulation, so anyone can upload what they see fit. With that said, there is a wide influx of poor content on the Android app store. Yet regardless of this, the free domain allows for creative forethought and less oversight that is appealing to users. Apple chose the opposite route. It is also worth nothing that Apple regulates all content posted, and get approval is not partiocuarly easy. You have to pass their regulations to get your content live, and it is inconsistent at best. It also deters people from delivering content, as you can see from the exponential growth on the Android market- eclipsing Apple’s iPhone market.

With the apparent flaws in Apple’s latest iPhone iteration, and the death of their main innovative, Apple lost a significant amount of headway. Also considering their track record of initial innovation-poor follow through, Apple may have found a collection of issues that may have deterred their ability to succeed in the future with the iPhone. Tough competition doesn’t help either.