Where now Apple?
Posted: February 4, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment »Where now Apple?
With so much buzz last week about the iPhone coming to Verizon, the press seems to have forgotten the fact that Apple are excellent marketers and this launch marks a key point in the iPhone lifecycle to go mass market. And going mass market is a pretty good indication that a product has reached the latter stages of its lifecycle. Although the iPhone 5 is slated for release later this year and all industry buzz is pointing to a completely redesigned handset, it will likely not be the quantum leap forward that made the iPhone the unbelievable category killer (or creator) that it is currently. Rather, it will be an update of what is a great but ageing product.
The iPad is also an excellent product. And with the iPad 2 approximately 30 days out it remains to be seen if Apple will support that launch with a similar mass market strategy – bringing it to both AT&T and Verizon’s networks (they seem likely to do so). The “tablet” market is making inroads with many new and some very strong products recently launched or in the final stages of development, including Asus Eee Pads and Slates; the LG Slate; BlackBerry Playbook; Samsung Galaxy Tab; Dell Streak; Motorola Xoom and many others. And while earlier this week it appeared that the Samsung Galaxy Tab had made great inroads in taking market share from Apple, revised indications now seem to reverse such gains with Apple maintaining over 90% of the market.
To remain ahead, not only in the market place, but in consumers eyes as the consumer products innovator, Apple really needs to redefine another market fundamentally in the way they did with Smartphones and online music. Interestingly, the WSJ published an article today entitled Are Apple’s best years over. The author opines “I see only one problem: I’m not sure what worlds are left for Apple to conquer.”
I believe their most recent foray and relaunch of Apple TV will be their next primary focus. Apple TV will move from the proverbial “hobby” that Steve Jobs has said it occupied up until recently into a very consumer forward platform delivering significant revenue to Apple. I’ve blogged before, a long time ago, about consumers not needing cable companies as their content provider and the improvement and model behind Apple TV will likely accelerate this need. I believe Apple TV will be viewed in a few years much like iTunes is viewed now – the preeminent source for video content (like iTunes is the source for music). I’ll publish more on this topic in the future.
Let’s hope that the Apple team have at least few more great ideas in the wings. It certainly makes the industry and our tech lives more interesting.
