Kozminski Techblog

Every year Apple “generously” give us a new version of its phone. Lately, even doubling impressions, since there are two iPhones and even more colours. Some say that changes are good from the point of view of the user. But I have the impression that Apple behaves like a wolf in sheep’s skin. In the old days iPhone was setting the standards – not always had the best components but innovative features combined with (no doubts) the best design in the market and unmatched clarity iOS formed product practically unbeatable. Until now. In my opinion Apple shot itself into its foot. After the death of visionary Steve Jobs from the main innovator in the mobile market dropped to a miserable copyist of Asian copmetitors solutions which has not worked well. The famous “bend gate“, smaller batteries and skyrocketing prices in Poland discourages more customers. Of course queue for new iDevices is not declining but it remain some disgust. But the thing I was most upset was that suddenly “normal” iPhone (without Plus) has become secondary product. It is no longer the best product on the market in favor of greater Plus model. Why? Of course it’s about money. If you want to buy the iPhone which „lasts” whole day on a single battery charge you have to purchase Plus with a larger battery (obviously it’s more expensive). The same is about the camera – only in iP6Plus there is optical photo stabilization (more expensive). Not to mention the added functionality of the system in Plus (some features similar to the iPad’s software). Of course company explains lack of those by size of the casing or screen in iP6 but really „basic version” of this phone could easily handle all these functionalities. In addition there’s new swindle called “ChipGate” – the latest S versions processors comes from two companies – Samsung and TSMC. On paper the specification of this first looks little bit better (first of all why there are any differences?) but in practice during tests it turned out that it consumes much more energy for the same activities and was getting hotter. Moreover the calculations showed that there are more better processors (in percent of all) installed in… Plus versions (which are of course more expensive!). The cherry on top is that in practice customers in store can’t choose which processor will have because there’s no possibility to turn it on before buying (only in refurbished versions). Last but not least is that Apple continues to treat Poland as a third world country. In theory in Poland Apple’s market share ranks at around 2,14% but it still does not explain why Siri – which is one of the basic functionalities since the iPhone 4S and one of the main tools in using iWatch – is still not Polonized. Not only that iDevices premieres in Poland are delayed, we need to pay more for them comparing to other countries and in addition we can’t use all the features of the iOS. This way Apple simply pulls out lots of money from client’s pockets by not ensuring access to all its solutions and forcing customers wanting to have the best possible equipment to purchase more expensive variants. The icing on the cake is basic capacity of 16GB. To what extent is this enough – a few hundred pictures, songs and few apps? Of course you can buy a bigger capacity versions that are… more expensive. The conclusion is one – the company that once was famous for its innovation and unmatched facilities for not small amount of money has become a company that has increased the capacity of the screens in their devices (unthinkable at the Jobs times) and the efficiency of extracting even more money from their customers pockets.