APPLE’S STRATEGY FOR 2013

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT 
WHAT I THINK SHOULD BE APPLE’S STRATEGY FOR 2013

Dear Synapse Circuit Readers!

I wish you compliments of the Season! I also hope that the Christmas edition of Synapse Circuit has given you some good guidance with your gifts this year!

I hope that you all are safe and sound; that you have finished your preparations for the Christmas holidays! I was out earlier on today and the streets were stressful with people running amok! It’d be all for nothing if a certain prophecy turned out to be true! It’s funny how such a prophecy should be all the trending at the moment; the goalposts keep moving. 1999, 2000 and now a precise date: 21/12/12. Well, at least I got my Samsung Galaxy Note II just in the nick of time! Hahahaha! Anyway...

THE STRATEGY THAT APPLE SHOULD ADOPT IN 2013

IT’S THE MAN THAT MAKES THE SUIT
Yes, I am talking about all those frivolous lawsuits that Apple have put on the likes of HTC, Samsung, etc. It’s about time that Cook grows a pair and walk away from the bitterness that Jobs left on his deathbed. Incidentally and certainly not disrespectfully, why didn’t Jobs think about investing a considerable chunk of his billions in preserving his life? I mean, shouldn’t his life come before going “thermonuclear” on Android? Do you think Jobs would have lived longer had his focus was his life? It’s something to think about. Maybe Jobs thought that the iPhone and its iOS was his life. I ought to read his biography in more detail...

Now that Cook is that the helm I think he ought to just drop all the litigation against the competition. It has become apparent to me that Apple has suffered as a result of pursuing these pointless court battles with the competition – notably Samsung! I think they, Apple, could have earned more than the 1 billion-odd that Samsung has been made to pay! Again, I do think that this ruling was not fair to Samsung. Just think of what Apple might have been able to come up with for the iPhone 5 if they focused on making it better!

The trouble with Jobs is that he was blind with rage to see that he boxed Apple in a corner by adhering to the stock iPhone design. Well all know how Jobs felt about a 7” tablet. But such notions were ignored with the latest iProducts. Yet, Cook insists on delivering the same cheesy, smug and annoying new product presentations that mask the shortcomings of its products and ridicules the competition. But Cook and his cohorts are the ones that look ridiculous when they produce substandard products: iPhone 5 and iPad mini.

The way Cook sells the iPhone 5 is as if they have discovered the winning formula of desired screen size. No! They talk up the iPad mini only to reveal that it doesn’t have the famous retina design and its awkward 7.9” is not financially competitive. I think my prediction has come true that the iPad mini has confounded their leading tablet market. It’s rather like cloning Darth Vader from his earwax. You’re going to get something substandard. Now rumour has it that Apple are working on adding a retina display for the next version of the iPad mini. This I’ve gottta see! I’ll be curious if the price remains the same once the retina display is added to the mini. Once the retina is added to the mini I think people will go for the cheaper mini than the full blown 10” iPad itself and thus collapsing its own leading tablet market. I know that I could get the same performance from the cheaper 7.9” tablet I wouldn’t bother with the 10”! But that’s just me!

To recap so far: End the lawsuits and concentrate on making iOS better. Android’s Jelly Bean surpasses iOS 6 easily and is therefore looking like yesteryear’s technology. It’s good that Cook has given designer, Jony Ives more of a role in the iPhone and iOS but I think Cook could go further and have LG or, yes, even Samsung, design different iPhone models. I really think that the Ives’ iPhone design is boring compared to that of the Galaxy SII, III and Note II! I think that LG, HTC and many other manufacturers are designing better looking handsets than the iPhone.

PUT A MUZZLE ON IT!
I understand that a certain amount of fighting talk is a part of the technological circus arena or boxing ring. It reminds of Muhammad Ali pre-fight hype. The only trouble is, as I have being saying, it only puts Apple in a corner whereby the iPhone has been vulnerable to ferocious attacks by Android. Furthermore, Apple damages itself when they snort derision in the direction of larger screen sizes but add an inch to the iPhone like it’s a revolution. Hahahaha! They look stupid! The first thing that Jony Ives should design for Cook and Schiller is a muzzle!

Apple fans do not want limitations because Cook and Schiller aren’t able to think and speak at the same time! And judging by the 10 million downloads of Google’s Map for iOS I am not alone in my way of thinking. But hang on... I was expecting more than 10 million downloads because Apple have sold more than 10 million iPhone 5 units... Hmmmm... Like I’ve said and keep saying, what Apple says it has sold and the reality are different things. It’s no wonder that Apple’s share value has dropped like it has. Again, the stark reality is a lot different from the Apple PR Hype Machine! I think it is a shame! It’s obvious that there are Apple fans out there and Cook has been letting them down. Think about it, how different is the experience of buying an automobile from a secondhand car dealer who is very economical with the truth any different from buying the iPhone with its “beautiful Map application”? Google has potentially bailed them out when they didn’t have to! They could have even charged a small fee to iPhone customers for their brilliant maps.

Another thing Apple could do with is to be practical with their devices in terms of the material; I would prefer a rubberised backing instead of aluminium for their tablets. It’s great that the iPad looks like something out of a sci-fi movie, but unfortunately the materials is prone to scratches and dents. I think the iPad would still look great if they used practical materials that can cope with everyday use; perhaps this can bring the costs down. I think everybody should have a tablet be it iPad, Nexus, KindleFire, etc. At this moment in time an Apple tablet is a luxury for me but I don’t desire one. My PC – for the moment – does what I need to do on a day to day basis. Again, I have had my PC for a couple of years now. I hate the feeling of having to scrap a device each year! Build some longevity into these things! It makes me laugh that people look at me oddly when I take my Galaxy S out... Yes, I know it is not a tablet, but the phone still serves me after all those years. Sure, it is modded with a custom ROM but the Galaxy S works better than it ever did!

To recap: Please, please and pretty please with sugar and strawberries on top: Please stop putting Apple in a situation whereby it cannot produce what its audience wants which is larger screens and a better operating system that lends itself to sharing easier.

Look at what the competition is doing! They not only produce flagships, but they also produce handsets from their flagships that may be smaller and less extravagant where the functionality is concerned. A lot people today just want their phones to take decent pictures and video and to share them. Oh, they also want basic apps that will allow for free calls, texting and so on. Not everyone wants to fill up their storage with the 100,000-odd apps out there. Give iPhone fans a freedom of choice! I would go further by allowing other manufacturers to design and produce iPhones! Why not Apple cash in on Android and produce an Android phone? Why not do a dual booting phone: iOS / Android? Or how about a doublesided screen with iOS on one and Android on the other? Wow, dual SIM, dual operating system. I think that sort of innovation would go down with people who love technology! I’d have one!

Here’s my double-barrelled question to Cook: Why try to build a Map app when Google Maps exists? Would you have been better off developing iOS further?

Here’s another question, “Why couldn’t you have taken the iPhone design further? It stinks!”

Again, I am certainly not an Apple hater. I think the products are great looking – to a degree. I mean, I like the look of the iPad but I don’t think it’s built for practicality. I’d be holding it with kid gloves! The iPhone looked ok to begin with  but, in my opinion, Samsung, HTC, LG, Motorola and just about every high-end Android handset manufacturer have and continue to design and put out better looking phones on the market! It’s time for Apple to change it up where design is concerned!

I do hope Apple will bounce back! Why? Because... Yes, you know it... Competition creates innovation! Apple is not going to be doing much of that if they continue to take the competition to court! Or is because Apple doesn’t have any ideas that they feel they must make up for their distinct lack of vision by suing the competition? C’mon... There’s no way that Apple could have come up with something like the Note II! Uh-uh! No way!

However, now that Apple has seen what others can do they might be inspired to come up with some much needed innovation! Think of your fans, Apple! Think of your fans!

Thank you for reading! In the meantime please check out Synapse Circuit magazine: http://www.synapsecircuit.com