“Is Apple losing its ‘appeal?'” John R. Quain asks for FoxNews.com. “With such stellar products as the iPhone and iPad, every Apple announcement is a potentially game-changing event. And yesterday’s debut of the new iPhone 4S could also change the marketplace — just not in the way you might think.”
“By failing to make any major changes to the phone that changed the mobile world — indeed, merely catching up in some areas — Apple has left open the window for Windows and the iPhone’s other competitors, from Samsung to Google to HTC,” Quain reports. “The biggest lunch-bag letdown was that Apple failed to introduce a true fourth-generation (4G) iPhone. With the increasing reliance on smartphones for video, websurfing, email and more, the best devices use the fastest, newest networks possible. New 4G phones even spur carriers like AT&T and Verizon to improve their networks. On that front Apple is lagging — badly.”
Quain reports, “To be fair — and awfully confusing — there will be a semi-4G iPhone 4S coming October 14: AT&T’s version of the iPhone will use its “HSPA+” higher speed data network (the Verizon and Sprint versions will use slower, older data networks). Technically speaking, HSPA+ is not a full-blown, 4G technology, like WiMax or LTE: It’s merely an enhancement to an earlier technology. But HSPA+ is pretty darn fast — fast enough that T-Mobile has been advertising it as ‘4G’ anyway. (Whether AT&T will start advertising that it has ‘the only 4G iPhone’ remains unclear –I asked. It certainly sounds better than, ‘We have the only HSPA+ iPhone!’) But AT&T itself plans to replace that network, meaning if you want to avoid obsolescence and get a fast 4G phone, you’ll have to buy an Android smartphone on Verizon or Sprint. No iPhone for you.”
Full piece – Think Before You Click™ – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Some people are just plain stupid. Others are so morbidly vacuous that you just have to stop and stare in horror. Quain is the latter category’s poster child.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Shawn” for the heads up.]
What a crock of shit.
Fox can kiss my 尻
Your “Siri”
Fox News … the voice of treason.
What hiccup?! Because the wildest rumors didn’t come true.…
Apple is the only company with the the stones to tell the wireless services that 4g isn’t up to their standards
It’s Al Gore’s fault, isn’t it? Didn’t he “confirm” that TWO iPhones were on the way?
This makes more sense than any of the nonsense flying around the Web —-> http://www.anandtech.com/show/4925/why-no-lte-iphone-5-blame-28nm-maturity
I switched my personal computer over six years ago now to Mac from a PC. I I have had absolutely no regrets entering the world of Apple since and its other products. While I still use PC’s at my work, I use Apple products, including a MacBook Pro, iPad 2, and iPhone 4, for my personal life. With my years experience with PC’s and Windows over the years, I can honest say that Apple’s ease-of-use, design, and “just works” things you always hear about are true. I’m also impressed with Apple’s record for innovation and the “wow factor”. They don’t just beat the competition, they go “even further than that”. I hope this trend continues now with the late Steve Jobs “in the cloud”.
However, there’s one other trend I have been noticing over the years since I entered the Apple world. With the company being tight-lipped about new products (for many good reasons), it has seemed to cause people the need to make up the lacking information with speculation and rumours of what new products will be. Expectations are no longer reasonable ones… becoming more like “wish lists” of features. Just because a feature can be added, doesn’t mean it should be added. If adding a new feature somehow sacrifices the user experience or compromises the price point, then Apple will not go that route. And yet, the level of disappointment falling out from the iPhone 4S announcement takes the cake. I am personally not disappointed. But, because much time has passed since the iPhone 4 release, people have assumed this would be more than enough time for a big jump in features.
I would have expected people to be more reasonable in their predictions by now if you look at history (but perhaps my expectations are too high as well.). It’s human nature to think the way we do, people think one way or the other for various reasons. But, let’s not set expectations so high that, if one does not meet them, you are only setting yourself up for disappointment. I’ll be buying the iPhone S4 asap. Long Live Apple!
“morbidly vacuous ” that’s too funny!