Apple se je očitno znašel na razpotju: ali na vrhuncu, kamor ga je ponesel predvsem iPhone (ter seveda bratranca iPod in iPad), vztrajati v premijskem razredu in počasi izgubljati tržni delež ali pripraviti cen(en)ejši pametni telefon za milijarde ljudi in (po “microsoftovsko”) pognati dobičke v stratosfero. Odločil se je za drugo. Današnje lansiranje premijskega modela iPhone 5S in plastičnega modela iPhone 5C kaže na strategijo kanibalizacije znotraj podjetja. Toda hkrati kaže tudi na tisto, kar je pokopalo status Microsofta – žrtvovanje inovativnosti za profit kot osnovnega strateškega vodila.

Nova modela ne prinašata praktično nobenih revolucionarnih tehnoloških rešitev. “Fingerprint identifikacija” lastnika so stara tehnološka jajca. Tak app lahko že dolgo snamete na netu naložite na vaš stari telefon. Edina “revolucija” je cenena plastika. Stevu Jobsu se tak plastik-fantastik ne bi mogel nikoli zgoditi. Se spomnite, kako je dober mesec pred lansiranjem prvega modela iPhona znorel in kazal sodelavcem praske na plastičnem zaslonu prototipa? Jobs je nagnal svoje sodelavce, da so v nekaj tednih “izumili”, tehnološko dodelali in pripravili za proizvodnjo steklen zaslon, odporen na praske.  Zdi se, da smrt Steva Jobsa pelje v mučno umiranje na obroke Applovo inovativnost.

Kot pravi Neil Irwin:

It is simultaneously introducing the iPhone 5C, with a slower processor and bright plastic casing in funky colors, that will give the company a product better able to compete with cheaper competitors among the cash-strapped around the world. Its price will be as low as $99 with a two-year service contract. (Does the “C” stand for colorful, or for cheap? Both, one assumes.)  And it is introducing the 5S model, which will be more expensive and offer all sorts of bells and whistles–a better camera, better processor, fingerprint-based security, new sensors that will enable a new wave of fitness apps, and more. The colors are a dignified gold, silver, and gray, and the cases made of aluminum.

The risk here is obvious. Apple is trying to have it both ways, and if they make the 5C too good, it will start to cannibalize sales from their higher-margin, higher-priced premium phone. If it’s too bad, then people will still favor Samsung and other competitors’ products.

So the colorful plastic surely isn’t just about using a less expensive material to lower the 5C’s price. It’s also trying to make sure the 5C model has a goofy, slightly cheap look that an affluent attorney or financier wouldn’t want to carry in their pocket.

…

The lesson for mobile phones in 2013: Market segmentation of the sort Apple is trying can work. But if the company is going to continue its gangbuster growth rate of the last several years, it is probably going to take some genuinely new and innovative product, not just some pretty new colors.

Vir: Neil Irwin, Wonkblog

Tukaj pa je še zanimiva analiza  avtorjev Williama Lazonicka in Mariane Mazzucato, sodelavcev Institute for New Economic Thinking, ki se sprašujeta ali je inovativnost Apple prignala do konca ali pa odločitev za financializacijsko obnašanje pomeni konec Applove inovativnosti:

In analyzing who creates value as a basis for considering for whom value should be extracted, we raise the implications of Apple’s changing business model for the future of innovation at this heretofore exceptional American company and even in the U.S. economy as a whole.  Employing the theory of innovative enterprise, we ask whether innovation remains Apple’s end, or conversely whether its financialized behavior means the end of Apple innovation.

Vir: Institute for New Economic Thinking Blog

Mene osebno konec inovativnosti Appla pri telefonih ne bremeni. iPhone je zame neuporabna igračka. Bi me pa zaskrbelo, če bo Applova inovativnost spustila dušo pri računalnikih.