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AT&T notches record 200,000 iPhone 4S pre-orders in 12 hours | Electronista
EXACTLY as I predicted after actually watching the keynote.
This is a perfect example of why tech pundits (and hardcore nerds) are so often wrong about Apple -- it's because they are hopelessly out of touch with what normal people think and want.
The iPhone 4 itself -- after being greeted with early criticism and controversy -- quickly recovered and became far and away the best-selling single model of smartphone EVER. The iPad? Pundits yawned. The public ATE IT UP.
If you think about the iPhone 4S for even two seconds on an objective level, it's a pretty compelling upgrade for people who hung on to their iPhone 3/3GS (particularly the latter) or bought their iPhone 4s early on when they first came out. Both groups -- which number in the tens of millions -- are ready for an upgrade. And the iPhone 4S -- particularly once Siri gets real-world demos out there, but also because of its faster performance and better camera -- is everything they liked about the iPhone 4 only better (and cheaper!). For them, this is a no-brainer.
The so-called "4G" cellular (which is a marketing term that means, quite literally, NOTHING specific) doesn't impress the average person because apart from sounding vaguely faster (and an excuse to raise data rates), it doesn't mean anything to them. Most people w/smartphones use less than 500MB of cell data a month -- a few megabits faster is only going to increase the temptation to run up their bill, so "4G" isn't exciting to them; it's incremental at best.
In fact, the iPhone 4S achieves what is by some measures "4G" speed, so there ya go, there's your "4G iPhone." Anyone who's been to Flickr knows that what's FAR more interesting about the iPhone 4S than "4G" is that it's camera is now officially good enough to replace a (zoomless) point and shoot. Oh, and let's not even mention what the dual processor does for gaming ...
In short, for most smartphone users, the iPhone 4S is a pretty compelling upgrade, and for the rest the cheaper iPhone 4 and 3GS means it's finally time to get on board the iPhone train if they haven't already.
Apple is gonna sell many, many millions of iPhone 4Ses, just you watch. They caught the "upgrade cycle" EXACTLY right in my opinion.
(having said that, I'm only a year into my iPhone 4 so I personally will probably wait for the next model -- it's doing everything I need it to do and will run iOS 5, so it's not economically advantageous to me to jump ship right now. If I had gotten my iPhone 4 when they first came out, I'd be ALL OVER this iPhone 4S.)
EXACTLY as I predicted after actually watching the keynote.
This is a perfect example of why tech pundits (and hardcore nerds) are so often wrong about Apple -- it's because they are hopelessly out of touch with what normal people think and want.
The iPhone 4 itself -- after being greeted with early criticism and controversy -- quickly recovered and became far and away the best-selling single model of smartphone EVER. The iPad? Pundits yawned. The public ATE IT UP.
If you think about the iPhone 4S for even two seconds on an objective level, it's a pretty compelling upgrade for people who hung on to their iPhone 3/3GS (particularly the latter) or bought their iPhone 4s early on when they first came out. Both groups -- which number in the tens of millions -- are ready for an upgrade. And the iPhone 4S -- particularly once Siri gets real-world demos out there, but also because of its faster performance and better camera -- is everything they liked about the iPhone 4 only better (and cheaper!). For them, this is a no-brainer.
The so-called "4G" cellular (which is a marketing term that means, quite literally, NOTHING specific) doesn't impress the average person because apart from sounding vaguely faster (and an excuse to raise data rates), it doesn't mean anything to them. Most people w/smartphones use less than 500MB of cell data a month -- a few megabits faster is only going to increase the temptation to run up their bill, so "4G" isn't exciting to them; it's incremental at best.
In fact, the iPhone 4S achieves what is by some measures "4G" speed, so there ya go, there's your "4G iPhone." Anyone who's been to Flickr knows that what's FAR more interesting about the iPhone 4S than "4G" is that it's camera is now officially good enough to replace a (zoomless) point and shoot. Oh, and let's not even mention what the dual processor does for gaming ...
In short, for most smartphone users, the iPhone 4S is a pretty compelling upgrade, and for the rest the cheaper iPhone 4 and 3GS means it's finally time to get on board the iPhone train if they haven't already.
Apple is gonna sell many, many millions of iPhone 4Ses, just you watch. They caught the "upgrade cycle" EXACTLY right in my opinion.
(having said that, I'm only a year into my iPhone 4 so I personally will probably wait for the next model -- it's doing everything I need it to do and will run iOS 5, so it's not economically advantageous to me to jump ship right now. If I had gotten my iPhone 4 when they first came out, I'd be ALL OVER this iPhone 4S.)
