Gravity: Bad News for Apple

It's not surprising that even though Apple and Microsoft have not participated in CES this year, they have made headlines over companies that have booths/presentations. Of course, for Microsoft, it's all about getting Windows 8 accepted by the general public. But Apple doesn't have that problem, they have the most well-known brand in the smart phone industry with, of course, the iPhone. 

Rumors have come up about Apple producing a lower-end iPhone (~$100-$150). In my opinion, this is a terrible move, if it is true. First of all, there is a lower-end and smaller size iPhone; it's the iPhone 4s and it's only $99. The iPhone brand would be completely changed with this new iPhone. Since the original iPhone was released in the summer of 2007, the brand represented quality, expensive, exclusivity, innovation, and simplicity. It was as simple as it could get, there was only one current model. Developers only had to develop for the current model (maybe a generation before) and it was smooth since the hardware was all the same. With the introduction of another model (presumedly with lower performance), developers will not have the luxury of developing an application that'll work on all the current models of iPhones. This is one huge advantage Apple had on all the other phone manufacturers. The iPhone brand will be diluted with this move. And the customer satisfaction numbers for Apple have been going downhill for a few years and this may further lower them. 

But there is no doubt that a lower-end iPhone would sell well especially in their new market, China. But at what cost to the iPhone brand and its future?

In CES news, President Bill Clinton spoke at Samsung's keynote! Exynos 5 Octa chip looks pretty good... big.LITTLE (dual-quad-core, 1.8GHz A15, 1.2GHz A7). I'm drooling... don't mind me. And I haven't mentioned "Youm", the flexible OLED display. But it was shown on the Windows platform...