Discussion on:

Apple iPhone 5: Guaranteed to disappoint

Without all of Apples patents stifling innovation, we could be 20 years ahead.

is carbon-copy cloning. They stopped the Franklin ACE back in 1980 which was a literal carbon copy of the Apple II motherboard and used Apple's programming languages. They have noted multiple times how Microsoft effectively copied nearly every new feature Apple added to its OSes over the years. And even the courts in many countries have at least acknowledged that certain features of other companies' phone and tablet products very closely mirror Apple's features in iOS devices. No, I'm not saying Apple has totally won every lawsuit, but neither have they totally lost them, either. Samsung, Motorola, HTC; each has been found to infringe on things Apple patented and introduced first in courts around the world.

If these other companies were innovating, then why are their products so much LIKE Apple's products? They should be quite visibly different in how they work and perform, even if the basic form factor looks somewhat similar. Apple's way is NOT the only way--but apparently it's the best way according to those copycats.

That's just stupid to think that.
Otherwise:
Every facet maker can't use valves
Every car can't use a key that turns
Every computer can't have a screen
Every window can't open
every door can't open
Every mirror can't be reflective
Every candle can't burn
Every TV can't use Red, blues and greens to make its colours.

And certainly none of those things can be square with round corners.

Really? What's your track record? Guaranteed? Just like the iPod, the Touch, the iPad, and the last 4 iPhones? Disappoint? I guess that's why they are THE LARGEST COMPANY ON THE PLANET AND ARE SITTING ON 120,000,000,000 BUX. They do nothing but disappoint.

If this thing sells 10,000,000 units in a week (which is not out of the question considering that the last one did 4,000,000 in three days AND there is HUGE pent up demand), please, by all means. disappoint me some more.

Long AAPL here, and far from disappointed already, thank you. Dingbat.

The point being made isn't that the iPhone is a disappointing or poorly selling device only that this next iPhone doesn't seem to have a 'big bang' feature that Apple can use to spruce up the ads and change the face of smartphones with (again).

All Apple really need to do is make the 4GS unit more powerful, change the aesthetics a little to differentiate it and BANG! Instant seller. Nobody here (least the author) is trying to say the sales have been disappointing of any iPhone or that this one will do really badly.

No need to hurl the insults.

there would be no hype at all. Think about that. All those 'leaks' you hear about are pandering to the naysayers so they can claim their favorite product is better; all giving Apple free advertising.

Yep, I heard you the first time but as I said, you have me confused with someone who cares

My favourite product? The one the works for me. If your favourite product is an Apple product and it works for you, more power to you and enjoy. The only thing I find distasteful is the blind love of the Apple product from some sections of the tech world because, to turn your point on it's head and prove that there would still be hype, the Apple fanboys still go on about how great the new iWhatsit is when they too haven't seen the specs or features for the product.

It's a marketing strategy, like limited availability. Don't tell them much, leak a few rumours and watch the world froth up, popping your name up everywhere. Quite clever, really.

While I can't say with certainty they don't, Apple's penchant for secrecy until release is famous. This alone would encourage outsiders to dig and try to glean that information from wherever they can--true or false.

....so whether intentionally or from outside sources, rumours will always abound both true, and false.

We should try and start an iPad 4 rumour on the web to test that out

... and by the way.. the stuff on Apple's products works. It works with other Apple products. It's shipping, not a wet dream of Balmer, Nokia, RIM, and unlike Samsung's profit free knockoffs, makes money. Legally.

Did I mention dingbat? Jeez.

Yeah, not for me. Keep your comments about Apple stuff 'working'

And stop chucking insults about, please.

"Looking down the list, its not a hugely exciting inventory of new hardware features."

Oh, really? Even after you outlined them in the post? Just because 4G LTE hasn't been fully adopted in the UK, doesn't mean it doesn't kick 3G's butt. Big upgrade there.

Sim card? That is something that iPhone's have needed since day one but since the core audience is already used to having no removable media in their iPhone's this is a huge plus of the iPhone 5.

Quad-core processor? FTW!

WIth these three upgrades alone, all signs point to this phone blowing the iPhone 4S out of the water...

Disclosure - I have a Sammy Android (SGS 1), but the jury is out on what will be my next phone. Nothing really excites me - not the SGS 3, not WP8 and not the rumors in the upcoming iPhone. I don't have 4G/LTE where I live, I already have a 4" phone, and don't care for a larger one, and NFC is still years away from being useful.

The only thing that Apple can do to rock my world is expose a kick-ass battery. They've got a patent on a fuel-cell based battery, that should theoretically increase its time tenfold. Is it ready? Is it just another patent that is supposed to kill competition? Nobody really knows.

If the iPhone *does* expose it - I'm going to buy it. Otherwise - everything is "meh".

Yes, I'm probably going to buy the iPhone5, even if I own a good android machine from Samsung and even if there will be no memorable breakthru in the technology, but interesting improvements "only". Because of the cheap, useful and innumerable software available with this hardware, of the working voice management and of the quality of the Retina screen.
I use Apple computers since 2006, my main machines beeing a "new-new" Macbook Air and a "new" Mac Mini; after many years of MS Winx, I felt the shift to Apple and OSX was a wonderful improvement, that I use in concurrence with Linux on my oldest hardware, if only for the pleasure of trying so many distributions and their frequent improvements.
Now, I'm looking for a complete integration smartphones-tablets-computers, and Apple offer it, hardwares and softwares, despite their despicable proprietary connexions and the constant evolutions of these connexions and in the OSXes, making not so old previous versions obsolete and incompatible.
We, the users, need compatibility, common standards, giving us choice and more freedom.
Dan-r

but you've proven the point that Apple fans will buy their new products even when they have decent ones already and/or no need for a new device. Most apps in the store are also available on Android, so you've stated what a lot of us already know - you buy Apple because you like it. Good for you - I have an iPad and an old iPhone 3G. However, I won't be buying any more Apple items as the Android ecosystem has matured past Apple in my opinion.

thomascwaters.... you're demontstrating your ignorance of the phone market. The only truly revolutionary thing about the iPhone was the touch screen. I'd been able to buy apps from Nokia's software market years before this, so the app store wasn't a new concept. There wasn't anything else revoltionary- but the reason people think this is down to marketing, and the single product (another of Apple's strengths, but not brilliance).

Everything Apple makes is backed by fantastic smoke and mirrors marketing- there's no substance behind the claims but, because it's shiny and black (or white) and people are gullible they fall for it. It's the same marketing that means a lot of names we take for granted today didn't invent the products they're famous for, it's just they had vastly suprior marketing.

That said and it will still set sales records and have a bunch of cool features and we will all want this new one. After two months we will NOT say, "Apple iPhone: Guaranteed to Disappoint"....

There are extreme unrealistic expectations for everything Apple does. There are also unrealistic glorifications of everything Apple does. Both stem from the same problem: the belief that Apple is better than every other company out there. While I do think Apple makes some fine products, I've also used some fine products by other companies that, for whatever reason, didn't take off.

The iPhone 4s is a great phone and I expect the 5 to be a great phone. Will it be the best on the market when it is released? If not, Apple is in big trouble because there are other really good smart phones on the market, and more coming out every day. The Apple expectations will only carry the company so far, then (if they can't deliver) will become an anvil instead of a glider for the company.

With Steve Job's innovation gone, what becomes of Apple is still very much up in the air.

I'm eagerly awaiting 4G LTE and it has made the difference between having a great Droid phone and going with the iPhone for me. However, what I use constantly on my Droid is speach-to-text. I speak into my phone to text and write emails regularly. It would be great if this were a native feature to the iPhone. I don't know of an app that integrates smoothly to make this be easily achieved. Not having the iPhone right now, I hope for it in iPhone5.

I guess that's why I've gravitated towards Androids in the past few years. The application model of service providers and requests allow any application to integrate with any other based on the content type (like opening a PDF or a URL or making a phone call, or navigating to an address).

With Apple purposefully denying developers the ability to attempt to "top" the features that Apple provides (compare keyboard replacements, text messaging, etc.), it is unlikely that we wil be able to extend Siri to work with apps of our own design.

With Android it is pretty much guaranteed to be possible - especially with the operating system's source code being freely available.

So in short integration = Android.

Here's the thing: Apple releases one iPhone per year. For a few years, they were head and shoulders above every other smartphone company. Lately, no so much. And that hasn't hurt them at all... they have a very large fan base, and still make a good device. But until it's released, of course, the new iPhone IS the best phone ever possible, according to fans. There have been sites filling with the smallest rumor, conjecture, etc. for months. Apple makes "iPhone Day" a media event, via leaks, a big presentation, and carefully controlled limits on devices available that first day. They try to both sell out and set a Day One sales record -- that guarantees the best press coverage. And of course, long lines. There's so much fantasy leading up to it, how could any release satisfy the dreams of the users and media.

On the other hand, they're still going to sell a ton of these. Apple fans are not even close to the most demanding tech buyers. They lived with the super expensive iPhone 1, 2G and not even a real smartphone in an era of 3G smartphones. Mid-range Android devices went LTE last fall; the iPhone 4S didn't, and yet, set sales records, even with a fairly minor hardware boost (mostly for faster gaming) and some exclusive software.

So, on to the predictions. I'll bet on LTE. Apple could more or less argue against LTE last year, making silly claims about power or whatever (none of which are actually true -- my Galaxy Nexus tends to last longer on 4G than 3G, and substantially longer per byte transferred). This year, if you don't have LTE, you're not even trying.

Much has been made of the new connector, and plenty will hate it. If it's just to let Apple put the headphone jack on the bottom, I suspect it'll be blasted. And Samsung will sue for Apple infringing on their trade dress (phone jack on the bottom, small dock connector). But let's see what the connector actually does. The big connector pretty did everything a phone needs to do on a connector (though the digital video conversion was so pricey, you're better off buying Apple TV if you do much iPhone-on-the-screen stuff).

Better camera? I'd rate that doubtful. To add more pixels, they need a larger sensor -- the current 8Mpixel sensor is already on the edge of being diffraction limited, and unlike some companies, Apple hasn't been selling "marketing pixels" on cameras, they're all useful. To go larger, they need a larger sensor or wider aperture, neither of which is consistent with Apple's traditional goal of making the device thinner every year.

Quad-core, also a little doubtful. It depends a bit on whether Apple's really fixed multiprocessing in iOS 6. If they're still doing their "kinda-sorta-cooperative" thing (the only background processing is available though OS-driven events), they're not going to be able to use that much of a quad-core processor. On the other hand, all of the flagship devices will have quad-core over the next year, and Apple will eventually need to scale there, for better performance and lower power (yeah, you get both). I think they'll need this for the iPad even more, so maybe it shows up now. The other SOC question: what do they do for gaming? Every recent iPhone release has been focused as much as anything on improved gaming -- no surprise, given that iOS has totally destroyed Sony and Nintendo in mobile gaming. More or faster GPUs, not unlikely.

New look: pretty much a given. They change the look with every "tick", not on the "tock". This is definitely the big change, versus the 4S. It pretty much has to be... many of the fans were expecting that last year.

Display: I'm betting a more modern aspect ratio, if not all the way up to 16:9. That does along with the rumor of a larger display -- this lets them get longer without getting wider. But of course, it's a new resolution, and will get weird if not related to older resolutions, since Apple's so bitmap-heavy in the applications API. Thus, I think they keep the current density and 640 pixel width, but go with more vertical pix. So they don't exactly match last year's 720p (much less this year's higher resolutions slowly showing up).

Software: I think Apple did very well on locking new software features (SIRI) to the new hardware, even though there was no reason the older devices couldn't have used it (like Google's voice recog, the heavy lifting happens on the server). I wouldn't be surprised if iOS 6 on the iPhone 5 offers things you can't get from the general upgrade for everyone else. That's a cheap way of making the new model effectively better, without spending anything on hardware.

Thin: yeah, expect it to be thin. And slippery... Apple seems to have cornered the market on slippery devices. If you look back to very similar pre-iPhone devices, like the Palm T|X... big screen, thin metal case, but a little wider on the bottom, so as not so easily dropped. Motorola put rubber on the back of the O. G. Droid to get a similar no-droppiness. Their current RAZRs are a bit easier to drop, but since the don't break when drop them, that's ok. Samsung devices (not sure about the SIII) are made of such thin and scratchy stuff, you need a case (I hate phone cases, but I NEED a very silicone-rubber case for my Galaxy Nexus, or it would be scratched to bits in a few weeks). I think Apple's fixing a little of this, going from glass on the back (hey! it cracks 100% of the time when dropped now, just just 50/50) to metal again... also good for thickness and weight. Apple has often been very serious about being the thinnest device in-class on release. That was by all accounts driven by Mr. Jobs, but it seems part of the culture now.

one of the most honest responses.. thank you.

I sure hope that Apple goes with a larger screen.....I want the largest screen size I can carry on my waist. I suspect that may be about the size of a 3" x 5" index card.

I love my iPhone....But, my 3GS works fine and without a larger screen I see no reason to upgrade yet. But, I am seriously considering Galaxy. Maybe even the Galaxy Note.

Brian: Look, you've got it all wrong! You don't need to follow me. You don't need to follow anybody! You've got to think for yourselves! You're all individuals!
Crowd: [in unison] Yes! We're all individuals!

Glad to hear about your retirement account, now I can sit here and laught at you with you being solely driven by money! Why do you make yourself look so vapid and shallow?I

I'll just take my superior knowledge of software (BeOS) and hardware (DEC Alpha x64 chips) and go. As usual, Apple can buy up superior companies (AuthenTec) and let others do the R&D. WIFI? We didn't need to call it airport because there's no need to have multiple names for the same technology ("The AirPort card (a repackaged Lucent ORiNOCO Gold Card PC Card adapter)..." & " Apple introduced AirPort Extreme, based on the 802.11g...").

Maybe an open mind can help your desperate need to conform to a restricted, blinkered use of technology? I still laugh at people who insist on using a particular technology based on its social status rather than any actual functionallity (which, of course, they don't know how to take full advantage of). Self-obssessed, confirmation bias-prone individuals decided Apple products must be great because everyone else they know who loves Apple says so. Bad reasoning, huh? Lookup "Technological change" to learn what the rest of the world enjoy, and then throw off your tunnel vision.

Tags: Haiku (Operating Sysyetm), VMS, BetaMax, Ken Olsen, "well-engineered products would sell themselves" (which begs the question: does the reverse apply to Apple?:-)

Contrary to popular iFan belief,the world doesn't neatly divide into Apple lovers and haters or iPhone lovers and haters (really, it's not the same thing, weird as it may seem).

Personally, I have a very low opinion of how Apple treat competitors or developers. It's worse than Microsoft in the good ol' browser-wars era (if you're old enough to remember it).

I will give Apple one thing - nobody in the whole world knows how to create a market, or to hold on to customers like them. As far as I'm concerned, Jobs was a marketing god.

Thing is, the product, which may be great for teens, and less technically inclined people, truly fails to impress people who aren't dazzled by buzzwords like "LTE" and "NFC" and "Quad-core". For those who understand what the impact, benefits, and limitations of these technologies, and can balance them with the rest of the product, the story is truly "meh".

In the end, the poor battery kills the usefulness of all of the sparkly-shiny features that the average consumer swallows hook, line and sinker.

Of course, none of this will stop you or other fanboys from buying the next iPhone. You're bought. Apple has you in its grasp. Its fine, really. They are amazing.

Oh, and I'm so glad that you can now retire and laugh. I'm impressed. I wish I could retire when I'll be 58. I'm even more impressed that you managed to keep the mannerisms of a 15 year old.

when a comment like this gets overwhelmingly voted down while the worst a hater gets is a break-even.

no text

Anybody who says they hate Apple?
Anybody who says a negative word about Apple?
Anybody who doesn't gush about Apple's latest, greatest marketing coup?
Anybody who doesn't own an Apple anything?
Anybody who hasn't drunk the "nothing is, was, has been, or ever will be better than Apple" kook-aid?

So what's an "Apple-hater"?

I wouldn't call myself a "hater," but I'm not afraid to say what I don't like about them, so I guess you might put me in that category (I just don't like the word "hate" - it's far too strong). But I direct my comments to talking about the topic at hand, and I try to do it as respectfully as possible to my fellow man. His comment was deliberately abusive and insulting to the people here, and that's unnecessary and unacceptable. When I make comments, I imagine myself in the same room with the others in the thread - but maybe that's how he acts even when he is in the same room.

My iPhone 4S is on contract with Sprint until October 2013 so there is no point in even contemplating an upgrade. On top of that, as the article notes to some extent, I have found the "S" models to be superior than the non-"S" models. Add to that this "new" iPhone being the first generation model to support LTE and I suspect battery life issues and other problems will make waiting for the 5S a good idea.

All this hoopla over the phones. So what? If you can't get a connection that is worthy of the piece of equipment unless you live in New York City or Dallas Or Houston, you are still pushing a car with a rope. Everyone may like the Freakin' phone; but there are millions that aren't happy with their connections available. They keep putting out products that are becoming obsolete by the time they can fully support them.

Does the iphone 5 have Micro USB ? No ? That's Disappointing
Does the iphone 5 have Micro SD ? No ? That's Disappointing
Does the iphone 5 use Flash ? No ? That's Disappointing
Does the iphone 5 use Java ? No ? That's Disappointing

Does the iphone 5 still use itunes ? Yes ? That's the most Disappointing of ALL.

I'm sure it will be touted as the best thing ever, blah, blah, blah. truth is Apple is now behind Samsung in Market share for a reason.

Yup. Buyers are waiting for the next iPhone to blow the Galaxy's sales out of the water.

Do you really believe a measly million or so Galaxys in a month are going to withstand the multiple millions of iPhones Apple will sell each month for the next 9?

You say that as if the Galaxy will stop selling once the new iPhone comes out.

I'm not fool enough to say that the iPhone won't have a big surge when the new one comes out, but people are figuring out that they can get a good product in the Galaxy (and some of them would argue it's a better product) at a fraction of the cost of an iPhone. Suddenly Apple's not a lap ahead of the field, and they're going to have to run a lot harder to maintain the pace.

Frankly, I think Apple shot themselves in the foot when they sued Samsung. The only thing they truly accomplished in the process was creating a lot more publicity for Samsung. Sort of like free advertising for the competition.

... while again the iPhone sales will skyrocket past the Galaxy's numbers yet again. The Galaxy series tends to have about a 6-month lifespan, the iPhone a one-year lifespan. Please show me the total number of Galaxy IIIs sold (not shipped) on a month-by-month basis or at least on a quarter-by-quarter basis. The iPhone always sells in the ten-million-plus range every quarter and often close to the 20-million rate. The only exception to this is the quarter before the next model comes out, at which point the iPhone's sales drop, but have yet to totally die away. Right now the Galaxy has the advantage only because of that annual slow-down of iPhone sales.

The iPhone used to be (at least in my perception) leaps and bounds ahead of any other smart phones, but over the years the gap has been closing. I haven't actually done the research and looked up the numbers on a year-by-year/month-by-month basis, so I'll admit my perception could be either right on, or a mile off, or anything in between.

If I were at Apple, I wouldn't be content to be in the lead only 3/4 of the time. Maybe there's not much they can do about that last quarter, because people are anticipating the next release, but I still wouldn't be happy about it if I were them. I'm thinking they need to come up with something really awesome to keep their reputation as innovators.

are technically better; that does not excuse the fact that the OS they use is in many ways still behind the curve when it comes to quality. A device is more than just bits and pieces--it's the overall device in a customer's hands that determine better or worse. For that 20% of Android devices now using Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean, the OS nearly matches iOS in quality though I still read about 'choppy scrolling' and 'forced reboots'. 80% of Android users are stuck with older versions that seem more hobbyist-grade offerings than consumer ready. On the other hand, 80% of Apple's iPhone/iPads are running iOS 5 which has been out just as long as ICS has for Android.

If you want my personal opinion though, I'd buy stock in Microsoft soon because while Windows 8 may get a slow start, its integration across phones, tablets and desktops will put it ahead of Apple at least on the short term. Microsoft isn't trying to 'copy' Apple, they're trying to surpass Apple. I believe they will--for a while.