There is a reason why I hate going to parties or attending family gatherings in the weeks leading up to the launch of a new iPhone.
The only thing people across age groups and professions want to know is what the next iPhone is all about and when would it be launched. They would know zilch about smartphones, but they certainly know about the iPhone and want to know more about the next one, most probably to impress others.
It is no surprise then that millions of eyes will be set on Tim Cook as he takes the stage in less than 35 hours from now to unveil Apple’s best iPhone ever. It will, without an iota of doubt, indeed be better than the iPhone 4S, which till today is the best iPhone available to buy. Yet, majority of the millions following the launch will be disappointed.
The moves, which are repeated every year, now seem like a well-rehearsed dance in which industry pundits, analysts and buyers take part. Mind you, Apple is nowhere in the frame. Some analysts, who’d often cite sources in the supply chain, will start drumming up about the next iPhone a couple of months after the latest iPhone is launched. They would start sending out notes to their clients, which would turn up with a scribe covering Apple. Competing analysts would start adding their two cents or more. The process usually culminates with either when Apple’s share would touch $1,000 or how the iPhone will add to the United State’s GDP.
Things get worse when fanboys start making realistic concepts that start cropping up on the Internet. These reach case makers, who start making cases based on these renders and make up a quick buck or two quickly and get immediate global press coverage without having to hire a PR agency or spend any marketing dollars. Of course, rumors spread about what revolutionary features would be there “for sure” in the iPhone. Last year the iPhone 5 was supposed to get a new tear-drop design and made out of liquid metal. I’m told this time the home button would also have a fingerprint scanner.
If one phone alone can add 0.5 percent to a country’s GDP, double the share value of the world’s most valuable tech company and have a fingerprint scanner hidden in a button, one cannot blame people for having high expectations. But Apple never meets those expectations, which leads to disappointment. Somewhere, even seasoned journalists get caught in the self-created hype about the next iPhone. They are disappointed too. This is reflected in quickly hashed stories after the announcement that scream how disappointing the iPhone is and how Apple is doomed. Some others would have the specification comparison charts ready that would compare the new iPhone with its closest rivals to show how inferior its hardware is when compared to other smartphones in the market.
Apple, being Apple, usually does not bother about what the press is talking about its products (unless it is something serious like ‘Antennagate’ after the iPhone 4 launch). Instead, it gives a gap of a week or two between the announcement and the availability of the iPhone. During that period most buyers realize it indeed is the best iPhone they can buy. It might not have everything they were made to believe but it is definitely better than the previous generation and is in many terms better than the competing Android smartphones. Apart from the hardware improvements, Apple also adds numerous software enhancements that make it a better phone to ‘use’.
In the end it is all about numbers. Apple had sold over 98 million iPhones since the introduction of the iPhone 4S in October 2011 till June 30, 2012. If you recall, the iPhone 4S was the most disappointing smartphone as it was visually identical to the iPhone 4. Yet, it turned out to be the most successful iPhone ever.
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