Very unlike Apple but I think a smart move by them...get their product into more hands, maybe people who thought the iPhone was out of their range before.
I disagree..
Having sold phones.. I've seen people who are broke doing whatever it takes to get an iphone..
Part of what makes apple so alluring is that "hard to get" factor.. Even as popular as the iphone is now.. there is still a status symbol nature involved in it.
Actually.. I know a lot of people who have kinda lost interest in the iphone just based on the premise that everyone has one.
Apple was once cool and new.. It sold heavy, it sold hard.
The problem is, its not new anymore. Even if everyone doesn't have an iphone, they can get a smartphone, and it can be completely different from the iphone and still do everything they want it to.
Iphone will always have a market but, a lot of my friends have lost interest in it because, it is no longer unique really. There is something that did what it does, if not better then at least done differently meaning people can suit their individual needs.
I don't want to jump to conclusions based on Verizon Iphone sales however, I will say that I theorize that part of why Verizon iphone sales did not go BOOM like a lot of people were expecting, is because as I said, everyone realizes iphone isn't all that is out anymore, and no one wants to have the exact same thing as everyone else.
I think there is enough diversity in the android world that even though two people have two different phones with similar hardware, that you can feel like your phone is different from the next persons. Run the same apps, they have Handcent that pops up when they get text, I just have the notification bar.
We can still both play angry birds, access the market ect.
I can get an android on my network that my family is locking me into, she can get an android on the network she is on.
Android at least in my experience isn't a status symbol.
It is flexible, powerful and practical for a wide market.
Iphone by contrast is lacking in power. It is powerful enough to do a wide variety of task, it is considered "high end" but, the exclusive nature is disappearing fast.
With verizon getting the iphone, this means it is available to even more people.. I personally think that alone was a bad move for apple.
If apple really wants to stay in the lime light.
They are going to have to start appealing to more people.
Doing so means they lose their "status symbol" notion.
I think long term it is lose/lose.
Apple was the "rebel" fighting the "evil" microsoft.
Now that apple is bigger than microsoft who is the "evil coorporation"?
Android by contrast is backed by google yes..
but, it isn't one coorporation that is floating android.
You have
Google.
HTC.
Motorola
Huawei
Samsung
Verizon
Att
Sprint
Tmobile
+ more.
I don't deny that Microsoft has done some horrible things in the past. However, there is a flip side to that coin.
Apple by contrast has done some good but, now that they are popular, they are what they were fighting, and in some ways worse.
Microsoft has been out of the box more flexible than apple.
Apple got a chance at a come back with the iphone but, even now, they suggest you do not just some but, everything their way.
The ipods and iphones have brought them back into the lime light and gotten a few people who would have never considered mac to give it a try.
Mac may continue to gain some popularity. It doesn't matter that the pc's in highschool are 300$ cheapo dells that run relatively poorly.. that is the *only* experience some people have.
So when they go to buy a laptop for college, they buy a mac.
Even if mac is is over priced, it is still a 300$ vs 1000$ computer.
However, that same 1000$ could allow you to custom build a comp that would blow the mac away.
it is a recurring theme of "you pay more" For whatever it is worth, I am not saying apple is the only one who over prices computers, but, I am saying that when you buy the mac, ipod, or whatever else even if you way over pay, you receive hardware that works to average joe's expectations or better.
If apple releases smaller iphones, they will do it well, and it will probably still meet average joe's expectations.
But, it is going to be hard to go for a second tier apple product, when there are first tear options that are going "hi, I don't have the apple logo, but, I do have the same storage, bigger screen, plus I am same price or cheaper, with better specs"