Apple is not a company well known for understatement. Hence every new Mac has to be hailed as "the most powerful Mac we've ever produced", and every year's iPod line up is described as "our best ever iPod line" - statements so inane that they surely go without saying. Imagine if Apple announced that this year's iPods are not quite as good as last year's.
Funny then, that the new 16GB iPhone was launched today with such a distinct lack of fanfare. One might almost describe its launch as furtive.
Could it be that the backlash from last year's iPhone price drop has got the company so spooked that they're fearful of prompting more ire with something so bold as a press release for the new 16GB model?
Whatever the reason, the new model should certainly help to inject a bit of sizzle into iPhone's sales. It's just a shame that Apple doesn't dare to shout about it!
2 comments:
minor upgrades go unannounced at Apple these days.
It's true that it's not uncommon for Apple to quietly release a minor upgrade on a Tuesday. As it turns out, there was a press release as well - with a quote from Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPod and iPhone Product Marketing, no less.
But is the 16GB iPhone really a minor upgrade? Also, since the new iPhones are available immediately, there's no reason why they couldn't have been announced at MacWorld in January - after all, the Time Capsule product isn't even available yet, and that made it into the keynote speech.
The spin in Greg Joswiak's quote is also interesting. He says "For some users, there’s never enough memory" - almost implying that this new top-end product is a niche. Were it not for the backlash on the price drop, I can imagine that Steve Jobs would have put a very different spin on the 16GB upgrade in his keynote. Something like "User satisfaction on the iPhone has been off the scale... But what we've found is that people love having their music, video and photos on their phone so much that they want more. 8GB just isn't enough..."
Instead, we have a low-key Tuesday web launch.
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