[LINK] iPhone 5 … Problematic

Frank O'Connor francisoconnor3 at bigpond.com
Thu Sep 13 19:48:04 AEST 2012


On 13/09/2012, at 6:46 PM, Ivan Trundle <ivan at itrundle.com> wrote:

> 
> On 13/09/2012, at 5:55 PM, Frank O'Connor <francisoconnor3 at bigpond.com> wrote:
> 
>> its lost sight of providing customer value and seamlessly integrating that ecology
> 
> Okay, I'll bite on this one. Losing sight of providing customer value in what way? 

OK ... the speaker dock in my place would have to be replaced and/or duplicated so that it could power and play both the old iPod and the and the new iPhone 5. So now I'd need two speaker docks ... just what I needed. That adds value ... right? Alternatively, I could simply not use the iPhone as a music device ... and that also adds value, right? I mean losing device functionality adds value ... that's obvious.

No Lightning powering dock until mid-October according to Apple ... so you gotta power the sucker from the 'puter using a finite number of USB ports (Your mileage may vary but I've only got one free one ... and a multitude of devices that need updating and the like from said port.) Adds value, right?

Alternatively you can buy the Apple adapter for $35 or $45 (depending on what length cable you want) and plug that into the devices/cables/ etc you currently have available and unplug it when you need to use other iDevices ... a competition for 30 pin resources and a travelling adapter that will no doubt get lost in any one of the various locations it has to go to give your iPhone 5 functionality ... but hey, adapters are like sunglasses ... who cares if you need to regularly replace them? Adds value?

The bottom line is that you effectively have to repurchase peripherals for Lightning capability (and in my case continue with old 30 pin peripherals to maintain pre-iPhone 5 compatibility on my other iDevices) ... but that adds value, right?

You get my point here I hope ... Apple has opened up the field for third party iDevice manufacturers to make a killing, but the bozo client pays for the privilege by reintegrating all his hardware via numerous purchases of devices that have already been purchased on the 30 pin standard.

The Nano-SIM card is another case in point ... at the moment only Apple supports/requires it ... so it's not real huge on the list of product placement priorities by any major telco. That will probably change as more iPhone 5's are sold ... but buying into same over the next three months will probably net you plans and deals (particularly with the propensity of 4G to boost your data usage) that may not be economic or in your interests. Additionally, supporting people who aren't on extended plans (read pre-paid unlocked users like myself) aren't on the telcos lists of customers they'd kill for ... so it's unlikely the telcos will pull out all stops to get a supply of Nano-SIMs in and widely distribute same. (Which is why I said Apple may have to stock same online to sell unlocked iPhone 5's.)

> 
> Customer value is all relative, and only a differentiator, in order to gain attention and approval - not a sum total of performance, or specs.
> 

No ... in terms of cash expended customer value is pretty damned empirical and absolute ... and given that I'd have to buy a heap of Lightning compatible peripherals simply to get the interchangeability and functionality I now enjoy ... without, I might add, any increase in the capabilities, features and abilities of said third party peripherals ... I can't see how you could possibly consider that that I'm getting any 'value' at all from the iPhone 5.

Lets just agree to disagree, Ivan ... because you're starting to argue from what looks like a marketing perspective whilst I'm arguing from a customer/client perspective. In my experience ... never the twain shall meet. And my concern about value is not the value that accrues to Apple, but the value that accrues to me ... I'm funny like that.

Just my 2 cents worth ...





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