Apple has updated Apple.com with a new page, and sent out an email campaign, aimed at telling us just why people love iPhones... and why competing phones just aren't as good. The timing, so soon after Samsung announced the Galaxy S4 is certainly interesting, and feels like it marks a shift in Apple's strategy towards the more aggressive, more competitive product marketing. Apple did a lot of this in the "Get a Mac" days with their "I'm a Mac" and "I'm a PC" character commercials, but it hasn't been a major focus of their mobile campaigns until now.
Mixed into the new webpage and mailer, are lines like:
Every detail and every material — particularly the sleek aluminum enclosure — has been meticulously considered and refined.
The Galaxy series is, famously, plastic/polycarb and not generally considered to be as high quality plastic/polycarb as HTC or Nokia uses.
Yet [the Retina display] remains a feature found only on iPhone and other Apple products.
Other companies have fielded larger, denser screens. Apple might be referring to technology like the in-cell display and the individual color calibrations to make an overall case for their displays.
But it’s extraordinary that we fit such a powerful battery into such a thin and light design — all thanks to Apple scientists who created unique battery chemistry instead of settling for a large, off-the-shelf option.
iPhone has an impressive battery life for it's size. I'd still argue that a slightly thicker iPhone could enjoy even more impressive battery life and few people would quibble at the difference in volume.
And the A6 chip works hand in hand with iOS 6 to be extremely power efficient. So you don’t sacrifice battery life for speed.
Apple, like BlackBerry, makes every bit and every atom, so they can fine tune the performance. Samsung uses a third-party operating system (Google's Android) but has put a dual quad core beast into the Galaxy S3. Does that really matter? Given how Android still isn't optimized for interface, if interface is important to you, then sure it does.
And while other smartphones simply tout large amounts of megapixels, taking great pictures is about so much more.
Some smartphones tout large megapixel counts. The HTC One has "only" a 4-megapixel camera but the sensor is 2 micros, which is huge for light gathering, and it has OIS (optical image stabilization) so it can keep the aperture open longer on stationary objects and collect more light . Nokia's Lumia 920 does similar. Oversampling is where they're going.
The iPhone 5 has an amazing camera, arguably still the best camera in mobile, and at a size so thin it's literally a miracle of engineering, but others have also broken the megapixel bad habit.
With iPhone, all that [media and app] content comes from one source: Apple. [...](/Other mobile platforms have a myriad of fragmented store options, resulting in availability issues, developer frustration, and security risks.)
This is the malware knock on Android, which is mostly a problem for those who steal apps from untrustworthy sources. Amazon does have their own Android app store, however, and there are issues for developers given the enormous diversity of the Android device catalog. Every benefit has an associated drawback.
Every iPhone comes with support from real people who know everything there is to know about iPhone and iOS — people you can call at 1-800-MY-APPLE or speak to in person at your favorite Apple Retail Store whenever you have questions or concerns. With other smartphones, you’re not sure where to go for help. Call the manufacturer, and they tell you to call your service provider. Call your service provider, and they tell you to contact the OS developer. Getting answers shouldn’t be that hard. And with Apple, it never is.
This is the nuke in Apple's current arsenal. You can walk into an Apple store with a busted phone, and thanks to AppleCare+ and iCloud, you can walk out again a few minutes later with a brand new phone that's also exactly your phone. No one else is doing this because no one else has the retail footprint Apple has.
The stuff up top is interesting, but for any mainstream customer who lives anywhere near an Apple Store, this is the real reason why you should love the iPhone most right now.
Apple's never been the marketshare leader in smartphones. Nokia and RIM had a huge lead when the iPhone launched, and Android has the lead now. Apple is and remains the profit-share leader, but for the first time they're engaged in a real battle for mainstream mind share. The Galaxy S4 might be the first phone to get as much attention as the iPhone.
Some might find this new campaign defense or reactionary. Maybe. Either way, it's a shift, and that's exciting. A scrappy Apple is going to be fun to watch.
If you got Apple's new iPhone love letter, let me know your reaction. And head on over to Apple's new "Why iPhone" page, read it through, and let me know what you think.
Source: Apple.com Why iPhone page
