In the last quarter of 2011, the sale of smartphones witnessed an unexpected decline throughout the globe. It was not because the consumer market had reached its saturation level. On the contrary, the reason may be that high-end smartphone consumers were waiting for Apple’s iPhone announcement before making a buying decision.
The dip, however, appeared only temporary as Apple recently announced the launching of their much awaited iPhone 4S as the company’s best selling smartphone ever, beating out sales of the earlier version of iPhone 4 launched over a year ago. The posthumous presentation of the late Steve Jobs is selling like hot cakes throughout the world as the high-tech mobile lovers thronged the Apple stores in all big cities of the world. It has already become a record-breaker as more than one million units were sold in 24 hours. It is interesting to note that Apple smratphones users included Barak Obama and David Cameron who are said to be fond of playing games on iPhone.
Apple Stores worldwide were gripped the familiar scenes of gadget geeks scrambling for Apple’s latest smartphone, the US giant’s first new release since the death of co-founder Steve Jobs who could not see the success of his dreamed product; featuring browsing the web, streaming video, uploading content to YouTube, and downloading on their carrier’s mobile broadband connection. It is available at $199 in US local markets. However, a Karachi-based online retailer ‘homeshopping.pk’ is offering the unit for Rs92,990 that reflects an unbridgeable gap in the prices as compared to the global market. Carriers noted that they ran out of pre-order inventory and were sold out on the first day of launch despite some customers feeling dissatisfied that the iPhone 4S isn’t a revolutionary evolution from its predecessor, but rather only brought forth modest improvements.
The iconic chief executive’s death brought a more somber air than usual to some of the Apple shops celebrating the launch of the iPhone 4S, with fans laying flowers alongside the long queues waiting for their chance to buy their desired product.
Apple users see themselves as an elite group, and their sense of community was boosted by the tributes for Jobs and by jokes about the debacle suffered by Apple’s rival Blackberry, whose mobile network was disrupted this week.
In Frankfurt, scuffles broke out in the queue as shoppers camped overnight, in Paris several of the most prized versions of the model sold out at dawn and in London more than 300 fans mobbed the brand’s biggest store. Some love Apple’s range of computers, smartphones and media tablets because they have changed the way consumers relate to technology. In some cases, they have changed the users’ entire way of life. Bidding to build on the proven track record of the best-selling smartphone, Apple says the latest iteration boasts faster speeds, a voice-controlled assistant called Siri and an improved camera. For some, it looks too similar to its predecessor; and many fans, investors and analysts were initially under-whelmed following its October 4 unveiling, but sales are expected to benefit from an outpouring of sympathy for Jobs.
One of the most talked about features of the new product is Siri, the intelligent assistant. ‘Siri’ is an automated voice control system unique to the 4S and unlike existing voice control systems, ‘Siri’ can be used to control many different iPhone functions: whether it’s having text messages read aloud to you and being able to dictate a reply or asking to find the best local Italian restaurant, ‘Siri’ can do it and lets you do it hands free. The idea is that you can ask your phone any question and it will answer it. Questions could be like what the weather is, or you could ask it to read a text message or you could ask it to set an alarm for a specific time. It can even search Wikipedia and Wolfram-Alpha to look for answers to your questions.
There are users of earlier model iPhone 4 who find the new model little different from its predecessor at it looks a lot like the iPhone 4 it’s replacing. But you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Looking beyond the first glance, there are several changes that put it miles ahead of older iPhones and will tempt iPhone 4 owners to upgrade. Overall, the iPhone 4S is a great piece of technology from a company with tried and tested experience and is recommendable to anyone who fancies buying a top-of-the-market phone. Apple is calling iPhone 4s as a world phone. It supports both GSM and CDMA network and comes in both black and white colour with same prices. As mentioned above, Apple didn’t redesign iPhone this time – iPhone 4S looks exactly like iPhone 4 – however, there are plenty of upgrades in terms of hardware (and software obviously). Alexander Wyld wrote: “As an iPhone 4 owner the new features aren’t enough to justify the upgrade to me and I shall be eagerly awaiting the next iPhone model”. These comments are a testimony to the fact that Apple lovers are waiting for the next iPhone 5 by the company to stay ahead in the race of mobile technology. The performance of the new iPhone will be seen as an early test for Apple’s life after Jobs, the creative visionary whose death was mourned worldwide by government leaders, industry titans and ordinary fans alike.