Tasting the Ice Cream Sandwich [LWN.net]

Tasting the Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted May 16, 2012 23:25 UTC (Wed) by anselm (subscriber, #2796)
In reply to: Tasting the Ice Cream Sandwich by Cyberax
Parent article: Tasting the Ice Cream Sandwich

So it made no sense for them to develop 3G phones (which is NOT trivial - just ask OpenMoko people).

Nokia was doing it even in their cheap phones at the time, so it can't have been that hard either.

And iPhones are certainly NOT mediocre - they have top-notch hardware with new features (like 'retina displays' or gyroscopes) appearing well in advance of other competitors.

We were talking about the first iPhone, which was a very slick package but definitely not a great phone compared to others in the market at the time. Of course Apple has been beefing the iPhone up since then – after all they need to give their customers a reason to get the latest phones, and the competition isn't slacking off, either. (Arguably some of the iPhone competitors do have nicer hardware from a practical-use POV – the »retina display« is cool but a somewhat bigger screen is often more valuable in real life.) But the same effect was visible with the iPad, where the general consensus was that the iPad 2 was the device they ought to have, and could have, come up with instead of the original iPad – which was missing all sorts of obvious features that were introduced with the second version, just so all those people who thought the first one was cool already had to go out and get the next one, too, just to stay on top of things.

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Tasting the Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted May 21, 2012 13:32 UTC (Mon) by anselm (subscriber, #2796) [Link]

Nobody is talking about »forced upgrades«. The original iPad didn't have a camera, so when the iPad 2 came out, many owners of the first iPad thought that would be a cool feature to have and got the new version (after all, being able to video-chat with other people using FaceTime must count for something). How difficult would it have been for Apple to put a camera into the first iPad? Virtually all the mobile phones at the time – including the iPhone – had at least one already, so it's not as if the requisite pieces weren't out there and mass-producible already.

The reason this works is that smartphones and tablets are considered lifestyle products rather than computers. You carry them around in public and people – even complete strangers – see you using them. Having (and being seen as having) the latest Apple stuff to play with is an important part of many people's lives, so it makes sense for Apple to introduce piecemeal upgrades to skim off that part of their customer base who must have everything just because it is new. If the original iPad had had the two cameras already, then fewer people would have felt the need to get a new one a year after the original one came out. (Do note that the new iPad is called exactly that - »the new iPad«. This strongly suggests that to be »with it«, you want that version and not the »old« one.) Even people who would hang on to their computers for a comparatively long time do not seem to mind replacing their phones every two years or so, and even quicker if the new phone seems better to them.

Tasting the Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted Jun 1, 2012 16:45 UTC (Fri) by bronson (subscriber, #4806) [Link]

If people are foolish enough to spend $600 merely to be »with it« then more power to Apple. They should be encouraged to take advantage of that revenue stream.

But, in real life, I don't think there are as many fashion victims as you say. Used Mac hardware is still outrageously expensive, even previous-gen iPhones and iPads without cameras. That seems to directly contradict your theory.

Tasting the Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted Jun 2, 2012 12:18 UTC (Sat) by anselm (subscriber, #2796) [Link]

But, in real life, I don't think there are as many fashion victims as you say. Used Mac hardware is still outrageously expensive, even previous-gen iPhones and iPads without cameras. That seems to directly contradict your theory.

No, it doesn't. Used Apple stuff is still Apple stuff, i.e., cool and fashionable. If you want Apple stuff in preference to other stuff but can't really afford to buy it new then you buy it used. Many people seem to want even the used Apple stuff so there is a lot of demand. Demand keeps the prices for used Apple stuff up.

The new Apple stuff is quite expensive in order to cream off those people who must have the new up-to-date Apple stuff and are ready to pay for it. Do note that, e.g., the iPad 2 is still available new but priced somewhat lower than it used to be when it was the top-of-the-line model. This makes it more accessible to people who want new (as in, unused) Apple stuff but not the very new Apple stuff at the premium price. It takes a trained eye to distinguish the iPad 2 from the »new iPad« but it still has an Apple logo, so the »lifestyle incentive« of being seen with cool Apple stuff is the same. (Also, it's supposedly not a bad tablet at all.)