With the new iPhone 5S and iPhone 5c finally here, people are trying to figure out what this new format will mean for Apple’s future. What Apple has done is set up a class system with its phone product line, similar to that of luxury cars . As reported by techcrunch.com:
“The Mercedes S-Class has been the flagship of the German automaker’s sedan lineup since the early 70’s. It’s a car that provides the finest technology that the company has to offer with powerful engines, safety advancements and creature comforts often making their first appearance in any mass-produced vehicle.
“The iPhone 5S is Apple’s Mercedes S-Class. It features technologies that spell out the future of both Apple and other companies like Samsung that take many of their cues from the iPhone. iPhones have always been ambassadors for technologies that then made their way out to the general market. Not necessarily always firsts, but executing well and proving their desirability. And, with their ubiquity, making them must-have watermarks for other manufacturers… Now, Apple has its own new model to trickle its technology down to: the iPhone 5C.”
Previously what Apple would do is discount the older model phone for more budget conscious consumers, but now users will get a ‘new’ phone with slightly upgraded features at a more affordable price than the top of the line iPhone 5S. What customers should not think is that the ‘C’ in 5C stands for cheap. Apple would never put out a cheap product to compete with lower level phones. The iPhone 5C is still a luxury product, just a more affordable one compared to the iPhone 5S. If the iPhone 5S is Apple’s S Class Mercedes, then the iPhone 5C is its C class; still more luxurious and more expensive than a regular phone but more accessible than the top of the line.
Because this is the first time Apple is executing this strategy with the iPhone line, some are critical. However, those critics have a short memory of Apple’s history, as this strategy has been used with all recent product lines. The best example of it may be with the iPod. When Apple started releasing it in different and more affordable models, it achieved enormous success with the brand. When you couple that with its strategy of using color as a marketing tool, something it’s done since the first iMacs and iPods as well; this is business as usual for Apple.
