No iPhone 5 this Year? Suck it Up!
Tim Cook & Co. unveiled iPhone 4S yesterday along with a slew of product announcements. Fanboys were disappointed because they didn't get their form factor redesigned iPhone 5 yesterday.
I am getting tired of hearing my friends on Facebook and a lot media blabbing about how Apple disappointed fans, and how iPhone 4S is a stop gap solution. One of my friends on Facebook even claimed that Apple is running out of innovation (well, he works for Samsung).
I would just like to voice my opinion because I think these comments are very unfair.
First of all, nobody says that the iPhone needs to have a form factor redesign every year. In fact, if you look at successful products across industries, the opposite is true. Look at the BMW 3 series, which is commonly seen as the gold standard of sports sedan. BMW takes great care to only have a redesign every 3-5 years, and when such redesign happens, they are evolutionary. Let's even look at other Apple products. Macbook Pro is another great example. The current unibody design has been already around since 2008, and I will say this very loud. Macbook Pros are stil the best laptops out there. So if these very successful product lines don't get form factor changes every year, why are people expecting Apple to come out with a new iPhone form factor every year?
Industrial design takes a lot of time and effort. Industrial design for phone is a even more complicated matter as you need to take into componenet sizes, battery life, cost of manufacturering, ergonomics, durability, and many other factors. It's simply unrealistic to expect Apple to launch a new form factor every year.
Now, the iPhone is hardly "the same iPhone". Apple has been innovating under the hood with the breakthrough voice assistant, Siri (which they acquired earlier). The improved 8MP camera, 1080p video and world phone capability are enough to get anyone still using iPhone 3GS to upgrade. And if you are on iPhone 4 and you are not upgrading, that's ok. Chances are, you are not out of your carrier contract yet anyway.
I won't lie and say that, as a consumer, I wasn't disappointed that a large screen iPhone was not announced. But as someone who works in this industry, I think what Apple is doing completely makes sense. We just need to tame the fanboy rumor mills next time.
