OpinionHave you heard? There is an Apple event coming. So, what can you expect from reveal annual Apple iPhone this year? Anything we know for sure, but losses are abundant enough to make some reasonable forecasts.
While we wait, I've compiled some thoughts on what to what to expect. So these are my predictions for Apple iPhone event 2013. Agree or disagree? Head to the comments for a discussion (kind).
Rumours of a ' cheap iPhone ' have made the rounds for months, but yours or my idea of ' cheap ' is not the same as Apple. There is no need for an iPhone unique and eye-catching, cheaper? Surely. Is long overdue and iPhone 5 rumors are strong enough that it is now a near-certainty. But this means that you'll be able to pick up a brand new iPhone for £ 200? Not on your nelly.
It's smart for Apple to court consumers more frugal mentality, but not sacrificing quality or a healthy profit margin. More likely, the iPhone 5 c (if that's what it will be called) will sit somewhere between the current iPhone 4S (from £ 449 SIM-free) and the iPhone 4 (by £319 SIM-free).
Imagine the current iPhone 5 innards in a cheaper to build the design, perhaps using the camera by 4S rather than that present in the iPhone 5. We think that most have a decent idea of how will this iPhone ' cheap '. Slap a price tag SIM-free £ 350 to £ 400 on it (around 25% cheaper than the current iPhone 5) and Apple has a good chance to sweep a large slice of the market ' mid-range '.
Whatever Apple chooses to do, it is most likely to launch a new phone at current price 4S compared to a seriously cheap.
Or, in other words, there is no way that Apple will launch two new phones with the moniker ' 5 '. Is a recipe for confusion that Apple is too smart to fall. Assuming Apple launches iPhone ' cheaper ', and I believe it will, would you send the wrong message to give him the same numerical moniker as a high-end phone from Apple. Would say: "here are two iPhones that just like any other," devaluing the high-end phone.
This could go different ways. Apple could lose 5S and go straight up to 6, saving the 5 ' c ' name for the cheapest model. The cheapest iPhone could give a different name, such as iPhone color (sic) or similar, or it could go down a similar path as it has done with the iPad and the numerical naming altogether. I don't foresee which path choose Apple, but I am sure that will make sure that no one would confuse the two.
The operation is simple, really. Apple cannot keep secrets. That much is obvious. While everyone is still talking about a iWatch, we are yet to see a single significant loss on it. For this reason alone I am sure will not be displayed. Also, consider the Samsung and Sony are decidedly mediocre efforts so far, Apple has no need to rush to show his hand.
See also: Samsung Galaxy Gear hands-on and Sony Inpulse 2 hands-onTwo iPhone, iOS 7 and a bunch of other things (that you'll take a moment) is enough for an event, then new iPads will probably wait until October. Why? When OS X Mavericks is due, which makes it a good time to combine some new Mac ads with the latest news on your iPad.
One of the most persistent rumors is that the iPhone 5 includes an integrated fingerprint reader in the home key, and I think he will play in a great theme of wooing more deliberately enterprise customers.
That's why now is the time to double-down on Apple's existing (and somewhat accidental) as the Executive phone of choice. BlackBerry is in disarray, Microsoft has messed around mobile and (strangely) largely ignored enterprise and Android is seen as too risky and insecure for companies safety series.
A fingeprint reader on the iPhone could enable Apple to support two-factor authentication, which is linked to many a sys admin, and I wouldn't be surprised if Apple has introduced some features of most enterprise software support along the way.
This was speculated after some leaked screenshots of the App Store, and it's a rumor that I'm happy to hang my hat, because:
a) would this be consistent: iLife, at least, is already free on Mac (et al. iPhoto is included on any new Mac). iWork (pages etc.) is not, but maybe Apple will also change? IWork apps on Mac OS are long in the tooth.
b) supports Apple's ecosystem: there are now beta web app versions of iWork on iCloud.com and what better way to support them and do the iCloud, iOS app free?
Profits from apps are likely to be modest, thus making them free will not hurt the bottom line of Apple a lot but will strengthen Apple's ecosystem and ' lock-in ' effect. It makes perfect sense.
A lot of column inches was wasted on the idea of an actual Apple TV: a screen and everything. This will not happen. The margins on televisions are too thin and too little of the benefits.
What Apple will do, however, is give the Apple TV, a serious software update and maybe a hardware one along the way. In addition, the updates will focus on content: TV and games. Through partnerships and TV applications, such as Sky News one that appeared recently, and games via AirPlay with iPhone and iPad and the lot said that iOS game game controller.
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