Thursday, January 22, 2009

Is the iPhone Stalling?

Apple fans breathed a small sigh of relief last night as their beloved electronics company reported another set of sexy quarterly numbers. Laptop sales soared thanks to the new range and iPods rocked. But, hidden in the news, was a weaker set of iPhone sales. Has the mighty iPhone stalled?

I think so. You see, the mobile phone market has a strange edge to it. The Western world, where most iPhones are sold, is used to mobile phone models changing and upgrading faster than a geek on speed. And the iPhone, revolutionary when announced 2 years ago, hasn't really changed much since then (perhaps other than the app store).

Apple need to move the iPhone on. They need at least 2 iPhone models - one all-touch and one with a fold out key board. They need to offer a couple of different colour options - one predominantly female and one male. And they've gotta unearth some revolutionary new features.

Then they need a sexy, rockin' iPhone Nano for the masses. Simpler to use, with less funcionality and a smaller screen (maybe not even touch) but with the Nano range of colours - a basic phone, music player and Internet device. 

With these changes the iPhone might pick up momentum again and fight back the onslought from Blackberry, Nokia, Samsung and Google's Android.

Apple learnt fast with the iPod that you need a range of devices to cover then dominate the market. The mobile phone sector is much more competitive and if anything they'll need a larger range to make a meaningful difference there too.

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