iPhone 5S: A Golden Opportunity?

You can’t get excited about Apple products anymore ’cause they don’t present anything new and groundbreaking these days, right? Wrong! The highly anticipated launch of new iPhone 5 iterations over the weekend is big news for Californian giant, who now offers two new flagship models of its classy phone: the 5S, a technologically advanced, suave model for Apple aficionados, and the 5C, a cheap solution which still costs almost four times as much as the cheapest Chinese smartphone „for the masses” called Hongmi. Apple’s growth is slowing down despite its plans to open new stores, especially in its most promising markets in Asia, but even so, massive amounts of people were waiting in lines in the US and other countries yesterday and the day before that, cheering the advent of the new smartphones, despite only some innovations provided within the two new devices.

In US, in particular, people went completely bonkers for the new gadget, paying homeless to stand in lines in their stead, getting in fights over who’s up for the store door first and camping out weeks ahead of the launch near the stores. In fact, CNET reports that a lot more people were waiting in queues for the new phone this year, compared to the last year’s highly anticipated launch of the „basic” iPhone 5. Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster says that over the weekend, Apple may have sold 5 to 6 million devices; others put the figure at more than 7 million, which is more than the 5 million orders fulfilled last year over a similar period during iPhone 5’s launch. And the reactions so far? Overwhelmingly positive.

„It’s setting the tone for mobile commerce. You’re going to be able to go to your fancy phone and buy whatever you want with your fingerprint” says Todd Schoeneberger, a managing partner at LandColt Capital and an Apple shareholder after witnessing iPhone’s 5S cool new feature: the possibility to use your thumbprint as a security measure for confirming purchases (instead of the credit card numbers or other personal data) or locking your phone from unwanted access. The 5S comes as an improvement over the „basic” 5, which debuted around a year ago last September and features an improved CPU, better camera and generally faster operation, on top of the new Touch ID feature. This last handy function allows the user to scan their fingerprint (or add a new fingerprint if the phone is shared) and then allows for a quick and seamless integration of it into the secured payments systems, password-protecting or locking your phone.

The Touch of miDas?

The new function has been hyped in the media for a while now. Reviews of the 5S came in a few days back, and most of them had been glowing. One review states plainly; „It sounds like a gimmick, but it’s a real advance, the biggest step ever in biometric authentication for everyday devices.” And since it’s apparently the hip new thing, we can expect Android devices to offer similar function sooner rather than later. However, it’s not clear if they can achieve the same level of fidelity and responsiveness that the new 5S boasts, owing to its higher clock speeds and the ergonomics of use now synonymous with iOS.

At the same time the other model, 5C, offers similar specs to the original iPhone 5, but is slightly lighter and comes in a variety of „cool” colours, ranging from pink to yellow. It’s biggest draw is its price; between USD 100 and 500 (with contract) for a device that sports Apple’s logo, contains almost all of the features of the Fifth, and is readily available for purchase. But these prices only apply to the US; here, 5S can cost anywhere between USD 500 and 700. Elsewhere, e.g. in China, it can cost around USD 850, whereas similar purchase will set an Australian back even USD 1200. However, despite the most attractive price point and according to the preliminary reports and online availability, the 5C model is not popular at all. It’s not the cheap phone despite what Apple might market it as, and Tim Cook, company’s CEO, said as much in an interview for Bloomberg BusinessWeek; „We never had an objective to sell a low-cost phone. Our primary objective is to sell a great phone and provide a great experience, and we figured out a way to do it at a lower cost.” Online, the 5S has already been outsold and is now available for delivery next month, while all 5C iterations were still up for grabs within the standard shipping period, suggesting low interest or higher stock amounts. But the biggest seller so far is the uniquely coloured golden 5S.

Golden is not a colour you’d usually associate with your typical smartphone, yet Apple went for the rather ostentatious accessory instead of its usual no-nonsense image, and with good reason. Chinese market is one of the largest consumer bases for the Cupertino-based company, with the Chinese treating most of their mobile tech as a status symbol more than anything related to communication. The „bling” factor of the iPhone has been comparatively low so far — most of its „classics” come in black, white or „space grey”, as Apple calls it. The cheapo 5C is also available in outlandish colours, while 5S is available in matted, classy gold and retails in China at around USD 900 – a steep price to pay they’re still more than willing to dish out. And it’s not just the Chinese who find the precious colouring attractive: „It’s all about the gold!”, exclaimed one anonymous shopper at the queue to the storefront located at New York Grand Central.

Shares of Apple have responded quite well to the queues and sales of their new products, giving a 5 percent point boost to the Apple’s rather dwindling share prices. Pundits say that Apple’s stock is generally undervalued these days, perhaps offering an incentive to buy stock in Cupertino giant if you haven’t done so yet. It’s especially interesting to see that kind of interest in the mobile market, considering BlackBerry’s recent troubles.

In earlier news, BlackBerry – one of the first companies in the world to offer smartphones – said they’re going to downsize by 4500 jobs in all of its branches. This is due to the record losses posted by the mobile company, which expects to have a whopping USD 1 billion loss in its second-quarter report that will be published in a few days. The Canadian company does everything to cut its costs in half, in order to stay afloat by 2015, following a sharp decline in its share prices. Last quarter, BlackBerry sold only around 4 million devices – whereas companies like Samsung and Apple have been able to shift 70 and 32 million devices in the same quarter, respectively. The signalled write-down of almost USD 1 bln is a clear sign that BlackBerry is looking for a buyer. This means that one of the last competitors in the smartphone market is going down, leaving just Apple and Samsung (as well as a few others) in the battle for the consumer’s hard-earned in the handheld market. Time will tell, though, if producing and selling golden phones is indeed such a golden opportunity it seems to be right now.

VOCABULARY
groundbreaking – przełomowy
launch – wypuszczenie na rynek
iteration – odmiana
flagship – flagowy, sztandarowy
suave – układny, tu: elegancki
aficionado – wielbiciel
despite – pomimo
especially – zwłaszcza
line – kolejka
to cheer – wiwatować, wnosić okrzyki (na cześć)
advent – nadejście
to provide – zapewnić
device – urządzenie
in particular – w szczególności
to go bonkers – dostać szału (UK)
homeless – bezdomny
in sb’s stead – zamiast kogoś
to camp out – tu: biwakować pod sklepem w oczekiwaniu na jakiś produkt
queue – kolejka
compared to – w porównaniu do
anticipated – wyczekiwany
order – zamówienie (np. produktu)
to fulfil – wypełnić, wykonać
to obtain – uzyskać
overwhelmingly – niezwykle, ogromnie
to set the tone for sth – nadawać czemuś ton
fancy – wyszukany, wymyślny
fingerprint – odcisk palca
shareholder – udziałowiec
to witness sth – doświadczyć czegoś
feature – cecha, funkcja
thumbprint – odcisk kciuka
security measure – zabezpieczenie
to confirm – potwierdzić
purchase – nabytek, zakup
unwanted access – niepożadany dostęp
to debut – zadebiutować
to feature – cechować się, mieć
improved – ulepszony
CPU (Central Processing Unit) – tu: procesor
handy – przydatny
seamless – gładki, bezproblemowy
payments – płatności
password-protecting – zabezpieczanie hasłem
to hype – nagłaśniać, rozreklamować
review – recenzja
glowing – pochlebny (np. o recenzji)
plainly – prosto, bez ogródek
gimmick – tani chwyt, bezsensowny dodatek
advance – postęp
biometric authentication – potwierdzanie tożsamości za pośrednictwem technologii biometrycznych
hip – modny
to achieve – osiągnąć
fidelity – tu: wyrafinowanie
responsiveness – tu: zdolność do szybkiej reakcji, responsywność
to boast sth – (móc) się czymś pochwalić
clock speeds – prędkości zegara (o procesorze)
ergonomics – ergonomia, łatwość użytkowania
synonymous with sth – będący synonimem czegoś/równoznaczny z czymś
specs (specifications) – dane techniczne
variety – różnorodność, rozmaitość
draw – atrakcja
to sport sth – nosić coś
to contain – zawierać
readily available – łatwo dostępny
price point – pułap/poziom cenowy
according to – zgodnie z
CEO (Chief Executive Officer) – dyrektor naczelny
preliminary – wstępny
to outsell – wyprzedać się
to be up for grabs – być do wzięcia
shipping – dostawa
stock – tu: zapasy
biggest seller – najlepiej sprzedający się produkt
uniquely – unikalnie, nietypowo
to associate with – kojarzyć z
ostentatious – ostentacyjny, pretensjonalny
accessory – akcesorium, dodatek (np. do odzieży)
no-nonsense – rozsądny
status symbol – symbol statusu społecznego
bling – błysk, błyskotka
comparatively – relatywnie, stosunkowo
cheapo – taniocha, tandeta
to retail at X – być w sprzedaży po X
steep – stromy, wygórowany
willing – chętny
to dish out – wybulić
precious – drogocenny
to exclaim – wykrzyknąć
share – udział, akcja
to respond – zareagować
boost – wzrost
dwindling – malejący
pundit – ekspert
stock – tu: akcje
undervalued – niedoceniony, sprzedawany za tanio
incentive – zachęta
considering – zważywszy na
to downsize – zmniejszać ilość pracowników
due to – z powodu
loss – strata
to post – opublikować
whopping – gigantyczny
to cut costs – obciąć koszty
to stay afloat – pozostać na powierzchni, utrzymać się (np. na rynku)
decline – spadek
to shift – sprzedać masowo
respectively – odpowiednio
write-down – obniżenie ceny, spisanie (wartości)
competitor – rywal
to go down – upaść
hard-earned – gotówka, ciężko zarobiony grosz
handheld – tu: mobilny, komórkowy